Comments on: U.S. Content Update: 1880 Census Images, 1935-1945 City Directories, Improved Obituaries Collection & Iowa State Census Fix

By: Chris Lydiksen

Chris Lydiksen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:50:24 +0000

Ida, please visit this page to see the U.S. Content that has been released recently: Please visit this page to see more of what's coming:

By: Ida French

Ida French — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:32:21 +0000

Chris I hope I see some new U.S. updates soon. I only have two weeks left on my current subscription and all I see is a ton of updates for other countries and very little new stuff for the U.S. Family search and U.S. Genweb are starting to have more of what we want than Ancestry and those sites are free.

By: Chris Lydiksen

Chris Lydiksen — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:19:06 +0000

All, the city directory issue where the first image shown is not the first page of the city directory (or where the last image is not the last page), has been mostly fixed (by mostly I mean most of the city directories are displaying as you would expect in the browse now). This was not an easy or quick fix. We are aware of some lingering issues that will take longer to sort out.

Again, these directories were filmed in such a way that some individual directories ran across two rolls of microfilm. The larger project consists of over 8,000 rolls. There are thousands more city directories to come and we have adjusted the requirements to catch and fix this issue in subsequent batches.

Thanks for your patience on this.

One more thing. We extract names, dates and places from free-text (OCR-captured typewritten text as with city directories, newspapers, books, etc.) When searching free-text databases on Ancestry.com, you can search just for extracted names using the names fields. However, only names that are included in our name dictionaries are extracted. Our name dictionary does not include every possible given name or surname in history. “Lydiksen” is not even included. This is done to minimize false hits on name searches. That said, there is a project to augment these dictionaries.

So, and many of you probably already know this, if you are not getting results using the name fields, try entering the name in the keyword field. That will search ALL captured text, including names, dates and places (this is how I found my grandparents in New Jersey directories).

By: Chris Lydiksen

Chris Lydiksen — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:01:30 +0000

Thanks to all of you who’ve said thanks.

Bud, the 1930 census images are going to be replaced under the TGN-FamilySearch project. 1930 will likely be the last census in this project.

Carol, at present, you can correct names on the site, but not other fields. That functionality is on the roadmap for new features.

John, concerning FTM, you may want to add a comment to the FTM portion of this blog. I’ll forward your issue to the FTM team.

Caroline, please contact customer service at 1-800-Ancestry.

By: Caroline M. Burke

Caroline M. Burke — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:23:44 +0000

Why is it, when I log into Ancestry
New home page comes up,
14 days trial?

I have account with!
Please check and reply.

ccburke2@sbcglobal.net

By: John Covington

John Covington — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:12:22 +0000

If almost 99% of the 1880 census images have been replaced, then I must have the 1% that does not update with an image of the census page when I use the merge function in FTM 2009. Any comment as to why there are no images merged?

By: Carol Jenkins

Carol Jenkins — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:11:26 +0000

I’m glad to see all the additions but please tell me how to make corrections about my mother on the obituary collection. The obit content is fine, it’s the dates of her birth and death that are totally wrong in the indexing.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:11:29 +0000

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.lyricsdigs.com

By: Bud Dorr

Bud Dorr — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:29:36 +0000

Regarding upgrading the census images, I think the 1930 census images need to be replaced with clear images. The images for 1930 look as if they were photographed under water. I often have to go to Genealogy.com to read an entry. Forgive me if you’ve treated this problem before.

Bud Dorr
Casco, Maine

By: Ida French

Ida French — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:21:26 +0000

Chris, Thanks for getting back with us on the first and last page issue.