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Author Topic: Family Search Indexing
Tatiana
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This is kinda cool! You can go here and help index census records and other old handwritten (then microfilmed) records into text. It's kind of weird at first figuring out the old-timey handwriting and the odd (to modern ears) names, but it gives me a neat feeling of traveling back in time, and just makes the time when my grandmother was a child come to life for me.

So I thought other people might enjoy it too. Volunteer a little of your time to do data entry and help build humankind's online database of our ancestors throughout history. It seems a neat thing to be a part of. To begin indexing, just click on "start indexing" from the site. It downloads a java app and lets you get started on your first batch.

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Ivygirl1937
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That's cool. We have a huge book with most of our family in it, but it's tedious to go through sometimes. But it's neat to read about my great-great-great-great-great-great, etc. grandmother.
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TomDavidson
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Be aware that this is a LDS church initiative.
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Tatiana
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Tom, it is and yet it's available online for anyone to use for free, so it's not just for Latter Day Saints. The Church is just donating a lot of server space and programming and scanning and so on to this project which is really for all people to use.
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TomDavidson
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*nod* I'm only mentioning it because I know that some people on this site have ethical qualms about assisting the LDS in their genealogy work. I don't actually have any problem with it, myself.
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Dragon
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Really? What is wrong with LDS genealogy work?
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Tatiana
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Ah, okay! You're so right! I'm sorry I didn't make it totally clear up front, in that case. I didn't think of that angle.

Dragon, we LDS baptize our dead ancestors by proxy. We try not to baptize people against the wishes of their living descendants, but it's a huge database and sometimes things do slip through. Other people hear about this and feel like it means we force people to become LDS after they're dead regardless of their wishes. That's not at all what we believe we're doing. We see it as extending an opportunity to all people that they can accept or reject according to their wishes, sort of like a "get into LDS heaven free" card which they can either use or toss in the trash. Otherwise, those who didn't have access during their lifetime to the restored gospel would be left out in the cold, which wouldn't be fair or loving at all. We feel that our ordinances have unique powers, and we want to share that with all humans past, present, and future. It's a sensitive point with some people, though.

My mother won't allow me to do any of my ancestors on her side, for instance, nor my father. It makes me sad but I accept her choice.

Latter Day Saints are exalted along with their families, in the afterlife. Our families are eternal. So far I have no eternal family, but no doubt all losses will be restored and all lacks will be made up and then some, to overflowing.

We do our family history work as a way of becoming close to our ancestors, and learning about who they were as people. We write journals to our descendants so they can know us as people too. Families mean a lot to us. So that's the main reason why the LDS church is so into Geneology and old records.

We have the largest family history databases in the world, but everyone is free to access the records. They're for all of humanity, not just for the Saints.

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dkw
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quote:
Originally posted by Tatiana:
Other people hear about this and feel like it means we force people to become LDS after they're dead regardless of their wishes.

Or have other reasons that they object to the practice.

We've had I don't know how many threads on this topic, most of which have gone into the dozens of pages, and I don't remember anyone objecting because they thought that dead people were being forced to become LDS.

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pooka
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I thought of that angle when you first posted this topic, but I didn't want to bring it up.

We also have assisted in several genetic disease discoveries as an inintended consequence of the family history effort.

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Dragon
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Thanks Tatiana, that's a very thorough explanation. Makes sense from both sides too.
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Tatiana
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Oh, sorry, dkw. I didn't mean to mischaracterize anyone's objections. I don't really understand why people object, to tell the truth. I just know they do, so I want to respect that.
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Tatiana
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Oh pooka, is that your stained glass depiction of Joseph breaking the ice for someone's baptism that I saw in the Ensign issue from earlier this year? It's beautiful! It was listed as being by someone with your maiden name so I wasn't sure if that was you or possibly a relative of yours or what.
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Tatiana
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Back to the OP topic, I've done 150 names so far and it's really cool! I'm going to aim for 500 a month the first month, then see how it goes from there. I might increase that or decrease it depending on how much I get into it, or get tired of it, in the next few weeks.

Right now I spend a certain amount of computer time doing brainless stuff like playing freecell. I've been wanting something to replace that with that actually accomplishes something, since I have so little to show for my 30,000 plus (I'm not kidding) games of freecell I've played in my life. [Smile] Maybe I'll do this instead.

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pooka
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I was named after my mother, it is her window [Smile] I actually took my husband's last name when I got married.
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Tatiana
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Wow, your mom is talented! [Smile]
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