Stake Indexing Statistics for July 2012

1940 CENSUS ARE 99% COMPLETED

but did you know that it will be a few weeks till all records can be viewed on FamilySearch?

• Family Search is doing a quality check of all records before releasing them to the public
• Each record that had a blank line added, will be verified
• Each location for line 17 - 19 will be double checked; especially those for children under 5, or those with "same House" or Same Place".

A big Thank You to all of you who worked on the 1940 Census records. Even if you only did one name, your work is greatly appreciated. 

What Can We Do Next??? 

Join in the community projects on immigration and naturalization.

The next interesting project at Family Search involves the immigration and naturalization records for every port in the United States from 1860 - 1989. These can be found under "Community Projects" in the drop down lists of current projects. Try the California records first as they are on a beginning level. Each batch has 20 records and I have found all of the cards to be typed. There are few data items required and the records are like the WWI or WWII draft card project. Please read the project information and field Helps First.

Some Interesting notes about Immigration was posted in a Newsletter I recieved from Family Search and they incluced these facts: 

• 1875 Our Nation passed the first immigration law
• 1900 1 in 7 travelers died in trans atlantic voyages
• 1907  1,285,349 Europenas entered the county
• 1930 More people emigrated out of the county than came into it
• 1986  Since 1986 Congress passed seven amnesties for illegal immigrants

Try your hand at these records, they are fun and easy to do. 

 Stake Indexing Statistics for July 2012

 The Stake Cummulative for the Year is now:

821,271 names

 

The Monthly total for each Ward 

Ward                                      Indexed       Arbitrated

Clinton                          2520              1484

Edmond First                        6194               6600

Edmond Second                      840               6581

Okc Fifth                               2562             15092

Okc First                                8243             18292

Okc Third                              5520             16239

University                                  40

Quail Creek                           6351             12813

Village                                    2729

Woodward                             4441              8825

Oklahoma City Youth Indexers

WARD                                      INDEXED

 

Youth Edmond First                 320

Youth Edmond Second              92

Youth OKC First                      122

Youth Village                            152

Oklahoma Musem of Art - blown glass exhibit

 

 Oklahoma History-Research Center Book Sale

If you love old books about genealogy, history, education, or old maps and pictures and other genealogy treasures, then you won't want to miss the sale at the Oklahoma History Research Center this week-end. Some of these books are out of print copies as well. Admission to the Research Center is free.

Sale begins on Wednesday Aug 1, 2012 and goes through Friday Aug 3,2012. The hours are 10-4 pm on Wed and Thurs. 10-3pm on Friday.

The Oklahoma History Center is located off of Lincoln Avenue, across from the State Capital.

June 2012 Stake Indexing Report

Happy Fourth Of July !

July 2nd, 5 Million Names Challenge

Family Search extended to the World-wide Indexing community, the challenge to index and or arbitrate 5 million names on July 2nd, in one day. In April 2012 we came very close to the mark with 4.92 million names indexed and arbitrated. Well, I am here to report that we did not make the 5 million name challenge. Instead we, as a world-wide indexing and arbitrating community were able to complete, in one day,  

10 MILLION names!! 

 Unbelievable, incredible, and truly a FANTASTIC Job.A big thank you to all of you in the Oklahoma City Stake for helping Family Search reach such a remarkable level of achievement.  At this rate it is predicted that by August we will have finished all of the 1940 census records. Great Work, it is greatly appreciated.

June Indexing  Report for the Stake

 (we just keep paddling along)

YTD  Stake total = 710,650

June Report by Ward 

Ward                                                          Indexed          Arbitrated

Clinton                                                        3440              3305
Edmond First                                              3970             11706
Edmond Second                                           280               6012
Okc Fifth                                                    3175             21840
Okc First                                                    7581             13457
Okc Fourth Branch                                            1
Okc Third                                                   7200              2000
Quail Creek                                               11496             6920
Village                                                         2375      
Woodward Branch                                      3641            12926
Contributors that moved                                  44                 160

Youth by Ward                                             Indexed        

Edmond First                                                    920
Okc Fifth                                                              1
Okc First                                                        1002
Okc Fourth Branch                                           120
Village                                                              320  

 New at Family Search

Did you know that Family Search is now providing a way for you to talk to a "Research Assistant" live when you have a problem with your family history research. So far, help is only available in a few states but they hope to expand that as more volunteers sign up to become a research assistant. Two of those states are Ohio and Pennsylvania. At the current time this is a Pilot Project and it is designed to offer help to the researcher in finding places to locate records.

Arbitrators

If you are interested in getting some training or need help with your arbitrating, please feel free to call me ( 405-367-7159) or email me (lgmgilbert2@yahoo.com) and I will be more than happy to set up a class or do some one-on-one training with you at the Family History Center located in the Stake Center. Remember that Arbitrators have the final word on the names indexed and must be willing to read all the instructions and field helps to get it right. If you go to the Family Search blog page you can read a lot of comments about the job we are doing at arbitrating. Some of it is not very good, but most of it is. So keep up the good work and arbitrator records that you index, it helps.

May2012 Stake Indexing Stats

Nauvoo Temple - Stake Youth trip in July

The May Indexing was the best we have ever done as a Stake. The efforts this month are a big credit to each of you for your hard work and devotion so that  those people can now have their Temple work prepared. As you well know this  work is directed and inspired by the Spirit of Elijah see (Malachi 4: 5-6)You are all angels in the service of the Lord.

 

154,307 Names in May

574,944 Cumulative Names in 2012

 Contributions by each Ward or Branch: 

Ward                                                             # Indexed          # Arbitrated

Clinton                                                          6922                    2600

Edmond 1st                                                   7264                    7160

Edmond 2nd                                                  2105                  13600

OKC 5th                                                       3142                  20560

OKC 1st                                                       7407                  17417

OKC 4th Branch                                            441                     3320

OKC 3rd                                                      8017                    2920

University                                                        210                          0

Quail Creek *                                               14100                  12991

Village                                                             847                          0

Woodward Branch                                        5040                   14470

Youth Edmond 1st                                         1800

Youth OKC 5th                                               120

Youth OKC 1st                                               800

Youth OKC 4th Branch                                 1045

                        Ice Cream Socials

Congratulations to the Edmond First Ward for passing their  Magic number of 14,085 names. They did a total of 14,424 names which means they will be having an Ice Cream Social. All dates for the Ice Cream Socials are pending an update from the Stake Presidency.

Let you know as soon as I know. We are looking forward to coming to your Ward for this activity to show our appreciation to all.  Wondering what your Ward/Branch's magic number is?  Just read my Blog for April and you will find it. Or email me and I can tell you.

These really are my great aunts, photo taken in the 1940's in Philadelphia ,PA            

1940 Census Record on Family Search Update

There are now 14 states available to research on Familysearch thanks to all of the World wide Indexers.

The newest ones released are: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Vermont

 May Indexing is Fantastic !

Just to update you on our progress in May. As a Stake Indexing team we have already indexed over 1/2 MILLION names for this year.  There are now 409 registered indexers.96 of them are actively indexing.

Is that exciting or what??

Thank you all for your wonderful work and spirit in       doing this great work.

                                                     
Something New is happening in our Stake with indexing !  We are changing all of the Ward Indexing Specialist to be GROUP ADMINISTRATORS..  This will be a tremendous help to me with sending out reports each month to the Bishop's and High Priest Group Leaders.  There will be a training session at the Stake Center on June 2 at 9:00 am. I will send an email to remind you.

Taken from Ernest Hemingway's Balcony in Key West, FL

I spoke in the Clinton Ward last Sunday  about indexing/family history, and the wonderful tool it can be to open new doors to people who are investigating the Church. Everyone likes to talk about their families and news about Family History work is something we can all share with them. 

1940 Census updates and tips

Check those Place names in Column 17. Same House means they lived in the same house on April 1, 1935. Same Place means that they lived in the same area, not necessarily in the house they are in when the census was taken.  After you enter Same House, or Same Place  you should use "Ctl B" to enter a blank in the next two data fields, even if something is written in for the county name, or state name. 

ARBITRATORS: Be careful with the New York Census records. You should look at how the indexers put  in the above information. Both indexers could have done the same thing and arbitration will not show up as a mistake. See my message on the indexing page about handling those records. 

 

New and Interesting Newspaper Research Site

There is a new Site out there that may be of interest to you in your research. It is called Chronicling America Historic, American Newspapers and covers newspapers that have been digitized and put on-line for you to see. It covers American Newspapers from 1836-1990 and tells you how to find newspapers dating back to 1690 - today. This project is part of the Library of Congress collections.   Check it out at this link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

April 2012 Stake Indexing Statistics

Nauvoo Temple

April 2012 Stake Indexing Statistics

This has been a fantastic month for indexing in our Stake. Thanks to all of you for your hard work. Every name we can index or arbitrate provides a way for researches to locate their families and prepare their names for Temple work.
 The statistics for each Ward are listed below.

• WARD                         INDEXED      ARBITRATED
• CLINTON                   6480                1765
• EDMOND 2ND           4248                9973
• EDMOND 1ST            3652                9857
• OKC 1ST                   10277              12795
• OKC 3RD                    4712              12052
• OKC 4TH BRANCH   3856               5046
• OKC 5TH                    4021             16512
• OKC UNIV.                  371
• QUAIL CREEK         10695               9138
• VILLAGE WARD        2488
• WOODWARD             7800              7914

     GRAND TOTAL 148,797 NAMES. 

A new record for the Oklahoma City Stake. This includes what the Youth have been doing. See their numbers for the month below:  

Youth Indexing Stats for April        

WARD                                        NAMES INDEXED

• CLINTON                                1
• EDMOND 1ST                     1742
• OKC 1ST                             1324
• OKC 4TH BRANCH           1075
• OKC 5TH                             310 
• VILLAGE                              530         

Report on Progress of the 1940 Census Project

Just one month ago today, April 2,  the 1940 census images were released to the public by the National Archives. Since they were already digitized it did not take very long for FamilySearch to make them available. By April 13th all of the states had been made available to begin indexing. As reported by Thomas McGill of Familysearch.org, we are doing a fantastic job indexing these records. He recently announced that the original goal was to try to complete indexing all the 1940 census records within 6 months. He said that from April 2 through April 19th we, as a worldwide group of indexers, had already indexed 41 million records and arbitrated 19 million. At this rate the project may reach it's goal in less than 6 months. 

To read more about this project please go to http://ancestoryinsider.blogspot.com. The link can be found on the right side of this page. Sign up to get their weekly updates. 

The concern now is having enough arbitrators working to be able to meet that 6 month goal. If you have indexed at least 2000 names then you might want to consider becoming an arbitrator. At the present time we have 396 indexers signed up in our Stake, of that number only 96 people indexed in April. We also have included in that total 28 arbitrators who are working very hard in April. Their goal is to arbitrate 10 batches for every 1 batch that they index.  If you are wondering what an arbitrator does come to our next meeting, which I will be notifying you about next week.  If you have an interest in becoming an arbitrator please email me and I will work with you to reach that goal. 

2012 Ice Cream Socials

 The Ice Cream Socials will continue for each Ward who can surpass the "Magic Number" this year. That number is set at 150% of what your goal was for last year. That means your Ward/Branch needs to do more than the Magic Number in one month. The youth totals will be added into the Ward totals. I have calculated the "Magic Numbers" for 2012 and they are shown below: Good Luck.

    Ward                  Magic Number

• Clinton                               29,091
• Edmond 1st                       14,085
• Edmond 2nd                         7062
• OKC 1st                           47,454
• OKC 3rd                          24,621
• OKC 4th Branch               11,100
• OKC 5th                           13,059
• OKC University                   2,049 
• Quail Creek                       46,797
• Village                               25,839  
• Woodward Branch              9,627

 Looking over these numbers and the results for April it looks like we have 2 Wards and 1 Branch that have already met their goal and will be having an ice cream social in the near future. President Baclawski and I look forward to coming to your Ward with a bucket of ice cream to just say "Thanks to You" for participating in the Stake Indexing program. A date will be set-up with your Bishop or Branch President and you will be notified at a later date when to expect us. Remember your Ward should  provide the paper products and any toppings you would like.

 

March Statisticts - 1940 Census Update

Happy Easter

March 2012 OKC Stake Indexing Statistics

81,662 Names Indexed and Arbitrated  

 What each Ward and Branch accomplished: 

Ward                             Indexed                    Arbitrated

Clinton                          641                               140

Edmond First               716                             2618

Edmond Second           460                             6614

OKC Fifth                 2618                          12745
OKC First                   4028                           6307
OKC Fourth Branch    4767                           6559
OKC Third                  3435                         10067
OKC University             671
Quail Creek                  4765                          1156
Village Ward                1597                 
Woodward Branch       3719                          4306   

The Stake Youth are Indexing

 Meeting the Challenge of the Young Women and Young Men Leaders to do 50 names a week. This is how they are doing their first month:

WARD            TOTAL # NAMES INDEXED IN MARCH

Clinton                                    42

Edmond First                        308

OKC Fifth                             319

OKC First                            2567

OKC Fourth Branch              136

Village Ward                         359

      If you can help a youth to learn how to index the 1940 census records that would be great. They have so much to offer and I know that the Stake Youth Leaders have faith in them to meet the challenge. I believe the top youth  indexers will be given the chance to be the first ones on the bus to Nauvoo, getting to choose their seats before the others board.  
Some Youth Leaders  have gotten together with talented Ward members to offer some nice incentives and to make it more challenging. For instance, a free hair cut, a big candy bar,  or a chance to make your own leather belt, drawing upon the adult members of the Ward who have special talents that they are willing to  share.
Wednesday nights the Family History Center  is open so that the youth, or any members, can come and get help with indexing or preparing names to take to the Nauvoo Temple. The Family History Center is available other nights if you call and make an appointment. You will find the phone numbers on the bulletin board across from the FHC. Learn how to prepare your family names from the convenience  of your own home.

 1940 CENSUS UPDATE

The 1940 Census records became available on April 2 and we began indexing and arbitrating the first five states that were released. As of today, Friday April 6th, there are now 14 states available to index. 

These include, Delaware ( which is 95% finished) Kansas, Oregon, Colorado, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Minnesota, New Hampshire, California and Pennsylvania.  To learn more about this indexing program go to the following hot link to see a very short video and get more information about the census:   the1940census.com  
Check out the new links on the right side of this blog page to see more about the FamilySearch webpage on the 1940 Census records.

Salt Lake City Temple Taken from the roof of the Conference Center Aug 2011

General Conference Week-end

March 31st - April 1st

 

1940 US Census Project begins in 5 days

Join the historic national service project to index and preserve the records of the "greatest generation". Are you or your parents to be found in this census record project? These records will become available to indexers on April 2, 2012 and it would be nice to see all of the Oklahoma City Stake Indexers working on this project.

 

Things to remember as you the index 1940 Census

 

• When you index the residence fields, you should correct misspellings and expand abbreviations,  If you can do so accurately.
• If "Same House," Same Place," or "Rural"  was recorded in any of the residence fields, type just what you see in the City or Town of Residence and mark the county ad state residence fields BLANK ( Ctrl B). That means the person lived in the same house or same place since 1935. It does not mean that every one is living in the same house on that page.
• If the household number field was left blank on the census form and the census taker recorded a new street address in column 2, mark the household number as blank; do not copy the household number from the previous household. 
• If a relationship was recorded as "Wife-H" in column 8, do not index the -H; just type Wife in the relationship field.
• If you see roman numerals used for a title or term (such as "V" for 5th), use the lookup list to index the correct roman numeral in this field.
• Do not expand names that have been abbreviated, such as Wm to William.Type what you see.
• If you are unsure whether a name is a given or a surname index it in the given name field.

The Data Entry area is set to 40 records. Some pages have less than 40 records so since all entry lines (40) have to be accounted for you must mark blank lines using Ctrl +Shift+B , or click the "Mark the record Blank" icon at the top of your data entry area. Record the blank lines where they occur, not all at the bottom.

 

To Try your hand at a practice batch download a "Simulation Batch" when you are in the Indexing Program. Only do one batch as they are for practice only and you may notice that they are all the same.