14 Million New Ancestry Records

Hello - Thought this may be of interest to all members should they have need to use this particular website.

FamilySearch Adds 14 Million New Records, 9 Million are Hungarian

source--Mar 17, 2011 Bill Atkinson

FamilySearch Uploads another 14 Million Records - Bill Atkinson
FamilySearch Uploads another 14 Million Records - Bill Atkinson
FamilySearch adds another 14 million records and makes life easier and harder for more genealogists.

The press release of March 15 once more adds new records to existing collections and sets up at least two new collections. Check the press release for details but the big news is the addition of Hungarian Church records which are a transcribed, indexed record set but with no images available. For American genealogists a new Veterans Pension Payment cards image set and several state census additions will be important as well.
Accessing the Databases

As has been indicated before the best way to search these new records or newly added records is to go directly to the collection itself. (Fig. 1, Fig. 2) A search for “Harder” in the Hungarian collection returned about 6 hits, most of them baptisms like this result for Ilona Harder. (Fig. 3) The index will be in English but the originals when they are available might well be in Hungarian, Latin or German. This Hungarian index will be a very important tool in narrowing down the parish locations for many families.
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For any of the image only databases the image browser will come up on the screen and then the user is required to move through the images page by page. The image system, when it is working flawlessly, takes about 15 to 30 seconds to load the next image. This is where FamilySearch will crash or freeze up sometimes. What a person needs to keep reminding themselves is that the other two methods of accomplishing the job of reading that film are: 1) go to Salt Lake and spend some time at the FamilySearch Center, or 2) order the film online, wait 3 to 4 weeks for it to come in to the local FamilySearch Center and then go there to read it. The online system may have some quirks but it is a huge improvement. Personally I always have several tasks going on so that while the image loader is at work I jump to another task and then jump back in a few minutes.
US Records of Interest

The US Veterans pension cards are accessed through an alphabetical last name range index (Fig. 4). Since this provides access to images of the actual microfilm it can be a bit slow to load and it is a brute force search. Look at the total number of “pages” and then guess where the search name might occur. It will probably take 5 to 10 minutes to locate a person if they are there. The cards themselves provide the name of the soldier, his wife if he has died, and a dated record of payment ranges and payments. This database will be useful for locating ancestors or cousins that are difficult to find by other means.

Colorado, Illinois and Texas have about half a million records or images added to their databases. The Colorado addition is to the 1885 census which can be quite important since the 1890 Federal Census is not available. This is only searchable by county and at the county level by census type but the population schedule will be the most used. Once a census district has been chosen the actual pages are provided and the search is on. One disadvantage of the “image only” additions is that the researcher does need to have information on where ancestors lived before it will be of much use.
More Will Come

The interesting fact of this release is that there are already more new databases uploaded since the press release. A red star is placed beside newly uploaded databases and quick scan located : Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1971 released 16 Mar 2011, Maine State Archives Collection released 15 Mar 2011, Louisiana Orleans Parish Estate Files released 15 Mar 2011, Mexico, four parishes, released 15 and 17 Mar 2011, and that probably missed some. FamilySearch has become such a dynamic search site that regular visits are needed to keep up to date.
- Till we meet again - regards- edmondsallan