FamilySearch Turns to Indexing Immigration and Naturalization Records

Yesterday, FamilySearch announced another major indexing initiative: Indexing Immigration and Naturalization records.

I am excited about this as I have numerous "persons of interest" who immigrated and became naturalized. Over the years, I have found arrival records of many, but I have a lot of work to do to find naturalization records of many ancestors.

Here is the brief announcement:

22 August 2012 

More than 160,000 volunteer indexers made the 1940 U.S. Census available for searching in just five months. The project was an unprecedented success that dramatically illustrated what the genealogical community can accomplish when united in a common cause. 
 
Now many volunteers are turning their attention to the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Community Project, an indexing effort to make passenger lists, naturalization records, and other immigration related records freely searchable online. Hundreds of thousands of North American volunteers are expected to contribute over the next 18-24 months, focusing initially on passenger lists from the major US ports. 
 
Individuals, societies and other groups that want to participate should visit familysearch.org/immigration to learn more.

The FamilySearch website already has information about the project, including charts of the various projects and their progress toward being completely indexed. Here is what the website says:

Immigration and Naturalization Records and Research

The United States is a nation of immigrant families. Records that document the immigration and naturalization of our ancestors include crew and passenger lists, immigration and border crossing records, passports, and citizenship and naturalization documents. Many of these documents are not yet indexed, making them difficult to find.

Make More Records Searchable Online

Getting started with indexing is as easy as 1, 2, 3

Join hundreds of thousands of volunteers in a community effort to make more of these records searchable online, so everyone can find their ancestors. This same volunteer indexing effort made the 1940 US Census available for searching within five months of its public release. Indexing is a fun challenge that rewards both the volunteer and the future researcher.

1. Download and install the software.

2. Register as an indexing volunteer and designate the volunteer group you wish to be affiliated with (if you have one).

3. Sign into the software and download a "batch of images to transcribe.

Learning Opportunity: Finding Your Czech/Slovak Roots Coming on March 31.

An all-day seminar for family history researchers with Czech and Slovak ancestry is being sponsored on Saturday, Mar 31, 2012 by the Genealogical Committee, an auxiliary of the Western Reserve Historical Society. It will be held in the Norton Gallery of the Society's History Center at 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 4410.

Seminar leader will be John T. Sabol, who will discuss research methods he has used to find his roots, which are both Czech and Slovak. A Cleveland native, writer, and historian, Sobol has written three books plus several church histories and genealogical articles. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International.

The morning session will consist of two presentations stressing the ultimate goal of finding the locations in the Czech and Slovak Republics where your ancestors came from. Since research in these countries is village-based it is of central importance to know your ancestral village. Once this is known, it opens doors to a number of research avenues.

The afternoon session consists of roundtable discussions about finding your ancestral village. Participants will be able to share their successes and failures in hopes of learning from each other.  Roundtable participants are urged to bring documentation or clues regarding their ancestral origins in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Each discussion group will be moderated by a volunteer from the  Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI).

For more information, access the detailed flyer with a registration form by clicking here. 

Complete Program for 2009 Tri-C GO Genealogy Conference

I'm proud to announce that I am a presenter at the upcoming Tri-C GO Seminar. Here is the news release:

On Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, the Cuyahoga County Council of Genealogical Organizations (Tri-C GO) will hold its 2009 all-day Genealogy Seminar at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, with the theme of “Finding Your Ancestors Using New and Time-Tested Resources.” A registration form with program details is available at www.wrhs.org (click on Library/Archives and Genealogy Center, then Genealogy).

There will be two presentation tracks in this all-day event with handout materials provided for all lectures.

Track l: Using lime-Tested Research Resources
'Tapping into Archived Courthouse Records"–Dr. Judith Cetina , manager & archivist, Cuyahoga County Archives.
"Get 'Em Talking-Interviewing Relatives for Ancestral Information"–Sunny Morton, writer and lecturer.
"Discovering Archival Collections & Resources"–Ann Sindelar, reference supervisor, WRHS Library.
"Researching in German & Other Ethnic Newspapers"–Jean Hoffrnan, Gertified Genealogist.

Track 2: Using New Research Resources
"Finding Family on Footnote.com"–Wally Huskonen, Certified Genealogist.
"New Approaches to Researching Passenger Lists for Ellis Island and Other Ports of Entry"–Robert Jerin, lecturer, author, travel guide.
"New Resources for Internet Research”–Jann Pflieger, former director, Sandusky Family History Center.
"Googling for Great Grandpa & Other Ancestors"–Wally Huskonen, Certified Genealogist.

The Tri-C GO seminar is organized each year by a committee representing genealogical organizations throughout Cuyahoga County, hence the name Cuyahoga County Council of Genealogical Organizations. The WRHS Genealogical Committee has the lead responsibility for developing and hosting the 2009 program.

The WRHS website provides driving directions to the University Circle location. The registration fee includes parking in the WRHS parking lot. For information, call Stacy Murry at 216-851-7768.