Georgia Civil War Correspondence


It’s Wednesday!  That means we’ve published a new project for keying.  As part of our on-going commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, our project this week is Georgia, Civil War Correspondence, 1847-1865.

Before you start keying, take a look at the project page.  You’ll see that there are four main form types.  We are keying a minimal amount of information – names, correspondence dates, and a location when it exists.  But, if you are anything like me, I’m sure you’ll get caught up reading these letters with great fascination.  I’ve even Googled several of these men and the locations and events they are talking about because I wanted to learn more.  It’s been quite the history lesson.

Until next time – Happy Keying!

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Reader Comments

I am curious. Do most keyers go to different projects, or do they stay with one until it is finished?

Phyllis

I just do what I can,when I can to help wherever I can!x

I have one or two projects that I concentrate on until they are finished. That said, I always like to look at new projects like this one. Can’t wait to work on it.

@ Phyllis,
I do have my standard primary project that I’m always working on, but I do like to occasionally download an image set of an entirely different kind. I think it keeps the keying interesting; I’d go crazy keying only one project over and over. Also, the Ancestry community has sparked a real interest in world history, and some of these documents are fascinating!
~ Matt

Hello again. I clicked the “project page” link at the top of this article and I got a 502 error page as follows:

502 – Web server received an invalid response while acting as a gateway or proxy server.

There is a problem with the page you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed. When the Web server (while acting as a gateway or proxy) contacted the upstream content server, it received an invalid response from the content server.

~ Matt

@jen

This happens sometimes when the wiki server is busy. The only cure seems to be to try back later.

Thank you. Working just fine now.

~ Matt

This project is not showing up on my download list.

I have been doing the USHMM projects, but I am so excited to see some Southern records, and Georgia is very exciting because I live in Marietta, GA! So I am taking a break from the Holocaust to key these and I am loving the chance to touch local history so closely!

I have another question. If I am now keying some of the Georgia information, being a new project to me, and I think I am keying correctly, if I am not doing very well, how would I know it? It seems that all the keying projects are lumped together in my score.
How do I know how I am doing on the newest project?
Phyllis

@Seraphine 10: Make sure you have removed all filters. If you have a filter turned on, it might be filtering out the project. Also, if all image sets have been checked out, then the project might be Unavailable until some image sets get sent back unfinished or because of an error. Also, make sure you are looking at the keying projects, if you want to key a particular project; or the review projects, if you want to do some reviewing. It’s also possible that you are looking at the Arbitration/Review projects list and not the Keying projects list. When a project is still rather new, sometimes it’s only available for keying because there aren’t any image sets available for review.

@Pyllis: You can go to the project wiki page for a specific project and it will show you your project stats, including how many records you have keyed for that project and an accuracy rating. But the accuracy rating will only be there if the image sets you have keyed have already been reviewed. Also, make sure you log into Ancestry.com before loading the project’s wiki page, otherwise, it won’t show your project stats. I hope that helps.

Does anybody know how the Progress percentage is calculated for each project? Is it the number of image sets reviewed divided by the total number of image sets? I always just assumed it was the number of image sets keyed divided by the total number image sets, but it can’t be because usually there aren’t any image sets left to download for keying once a project reaches about 75% completion.

Jessie:
That helps a lot! Exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks!

@Jessie

Keying counts half, Arbitration/review counts half.

I am almost embarrassed to ask this, but here goes.
On the Georgia keying, when you come across a file folder, and you key the information on the folder, are the subsequent items pages that were actually IN that folder?

thanks, Phyllis

@phyllis

That should be the case most of the time.

Given no problem in storage with images out of order.

Another question: On the folders,
there have been two lines of writing at the top left side. The first was a company name, which I keyed.
The one about an inch below was an
individual name (not any of the “forbidden” names). Is that keyed, too?
Phyllis

Phyllis, i try to key a project until it is finished, simply because when I get one I can read and understand I stick with that one. I’m not great on the handwriting so try to stay with ones like California RR and before that New Zeland Directories.

WOW! I have been messing up very badly. Are the stats on the wiki page (detailed by what was correct/incorrect) applying only to the things I entered? I realized the last box reflects only my percentage.
I have apparently been choosing the wrong form. The items I have are really not letters, and for the most part very few file folders. They are lists of names who have been elected to open military positions or legal document pages. I have been choosing book page, although it doesn’t exactly match the description, since it does have names, some dates, etc.

I am returning the ones I have unfinished until I find out what I am doing wrong.