Happy to help

lilbees wrote:

Will Ancestry be the only one to have access to the 1940 census? Or will it be available from other sites? lilbees

It will be able from the LDS as well. I also did some indexing a few years ago for Steve Morse's site on the Street names for 1940 so you can bet, Ancestry will not be the only one involved in this or other projects that involve 1940 information.

I seriously can not wait for that Census. With the LDS offering it for free, (I assume) it will really make a difference for a lot of people.

BillieDeKid wrote:

Happy to help

Hey BillieDeKid, Just looking up a few ancesters on LDS and got a hit on Great Grand Mother Eliza Blackwell in the US Census 1900. Doesn't seem to be any film involved but excellent image of document. I now know where my G-Father and two siblings lived in the Chicago area. LDS is neat. JoeB

Good morning Joe. When looking for info using that link, anything you find won't involve any films, everything you see has already been scanned from the films and uploaded for everyone to use for research and you can save it to your hard drive.

The films come in to play when you can't find what you need on their free site, then you need to look up films and order. I'll give you an example............my families town in Italy is called Brognaturo, the LDS church has scanned the archive records for birth, death, marriages etc. from 1809-1910. None of this has been uploaded to their free site yet so I had to order films that came to my Family History Center (FHC) and I go there to look at my films and download images to my USB drive. Everything that the LDS has scanned will be on their free site eventually.

So when you hit a wall and can't find what you're looking for, that's when you'll need a film.

Hope this helps.

BillieDeKid wrote:

Good morning Joe. When looking for info using that link, anything you find won't involve any films, everything you see has already been scanned from the films and uploaded for everyone to use for research and you can save it to your hard drive. The films come in to play when you can't find what you need on their free site, then you need to look up films and order. I'll give you an example............my families town in Italy is called Brognaturo, the LDS church has scanned the archive records for birth, death, marriages etc. from 1809-1910. None of this has been uploaded to their free site yet so I had to order films that came to my Family History Center (FHC) and I go there to look at my films and download images to my USB drive. Everything that the LDS has scanned will be on their free site eventually. So when you hit a wall and can't find what you're looking for, that's when you'll need a film. Hope this helps.

Got it. I think I used one of those FHC sites years ago, the Bolingbrook library as I recall. I remember having to copy the records at the copy machine...no USB's back then. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

The LDS/FHL is seriously behind ancestry (at the moment) in census records. We are still working on the 1920s. I think they only have one state up in their pilot site which was the first one finished, alabama. We have completed several others. Delaware, DC, Connecticut, Massachusetts, arizona, arkansas (from off the top of my head, there may be more) We are currently working on new jersey and minnesota. Once we are done, it takes them a couple more months to get them up.

I am guessing, after they complete this, they will be on to the 1930s. They are also working on various state censuses and some very old other censuses. I am hoping, that by the time it gets closer to the release of 1940, we will have already gotten those to index.

Just keep in mind, what I mentioned in some other post here (something that I never really thought of before). If you cant find you person in the FHL index, after using every variation of the surname you can..which would include changing various letters of the name, then try ancestry. Different people are making these indexes and different people see things differently.

Another thing that I might mention is the searching functions. When I used ancestry for the 1930 census and the others. I was able to search by enumeration district. I couldnt find my person doing it by name, so I wanted to search by address. I dont see how you can do that (as of yet, on the FHL search). It is only their pilot program right now..but, then need to make the searches comparable to those at ancestry. I DID find my person, going by enumeration districts.

JoeB wrote:

BillieDeKid wrote: Good morning Joe. When looking for info using that link, anything you find won't involve any films, everything you see has already been scanned from the films and uploaded for everyone to use for research and you can save it to your hard drive. The films come in to play when you can't find what you need on their free site, then you need to look up films and order. I'll give you an example............my families town in Italy is called Brognaturo, the LDS church has scanned the archive records for birth, death, marriages etc. from 1809-1910. None of this has been uploaded to their free site yet so I had to order films that came to my Family History Center (FHC) and I go there to look at my films and download images to my USB drive. Everything that the LDS has scanned will be on their free site eventually. So when you hit a wall and can't find what you're looking for, that's when you'll need a film. Hope this helps. Got it. I think I used one of those FHC sites years ago, the Bolingbrook library as I recall. I remember having to copy the records at the copy machine...no USB's back then. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Joe - if you ever decide to order films, my center is Palos Park. I would be happy to show you the ropes.

Cathy wrote:

JoeB wrote: BillieDeKid wrote: Good morning Joe. When looking for info using that link, anything you find won't involve any films, everything you see has already been scanned from the films and uploaded for everyone to use for research and you can save it to your hard drive. The films come in to play when you can't find what you need on their free site, then you need to look up films and order. I'll give you an example............my families town in Italy is called Brognaturo, the LDS church has scanned the archive records for birth, death, marriages etc. from 1809-1910. None of this has been uploaded to their free site yet so I had to order films that came to my Family History Center (FHC) and I go there to look at my films and download images to my USB drive. Everything that the LDS has scanned will be on their free site eventually. So when you hit a wall and can't find what you're looking for, that's when you'll need a film. Hope this helps. Got it. I think I used one of those FHC sites years ago, the Bolingbrook library as I recall. I remember having to copy the records at the copy machine...no USB's back then. Thanks for clearing this up for me. Joe - if you ever decide to order films, my center is Palos Park. I would be happy to show you the ropes.

Everyone on this site is so friendly and helpful. Aren't there any "grumpy's" out there? Come on, show yourself...

JoeB wrote:

Everyone on this site is so friendly and helpful. Aren't there any "grumpy's" out there? Come on, show yourself...

No way..........if there were then Admin. (Carole) would have to start.......

I have to be nice to you Joe...you are close enough to stalk me anyway! Seriously, if you need me, pm me here and I will give you my phone number. I am always happy to help and at my center they always send people to me to learn the equiptment anyway! lol

Cathy wrote:

I have to be nice to you Joe...you are close enough to stalk me anyway! Seriously, if you need me, pm me here and I will give you my phone number. I am always happy to help and at my center they always send people to me to learn the equiptment anyway! lol

Thanks, I'm still learning this LDS stuff so it will be a while before I'm ready for the big time...

I have the World subscription and have used it for years - actualy a family member chips in a small amount towards my monthly bill - easier to pay in small bites - I have found over five years that there are things thsat will turn up on Ancestry and not on LDS and the other way around too. Also it has a lot to do with how one searches - and I use both the beta and the old search format on Ancestry. Strong sugesstion - when you find something, print it out immedaitely or you may never find again!

Thanks for the advice. Even printing everything gets pretty confusing what with the piles of documents cluttering my desk. Also I am trying to keep 2 databases current, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.com. This is proving to be a problem. Every now and then I simply upload a new GedCom file from FTM and start over. That's a whole new set of problems.. Oh well...it's fun...I think. What part of Florida are you folks from? We're from the Chicago area.

I had to buy a file cabinet for my stuff..lol You should buy a little something that is sectioned off, so you can file these things.

I agree, that if there is a search in two different places, online, you should use both of them...especially because different individuals created the index. What might not show up for you in one place, might in another.