Oprah Magazine Explores Ancestry's Free Trial

The August 2012 O, The Oprah Magazine features the article "Up A Tree" by Leslie Larson about genealogy!  I love to see our passion portrayed in a mainstream magazine.  Ms. Larson writes about her tense experience with Ancestry.com's free 14 day trial.  She sorted out a lot of the mystery behind her muddled ancestry, discovering that the stories of her inheritance did not align well with the documents she uncovered.

You can also sign up for a free trial.  As a tip, make sure that your schedule for those 14 days is relatively free of other commitments.  Every clue leads to more clues and the possibilities multiply exponentially.  You can easily spend hours and then days pursuing these avenues, forgoing sleep and non-essential activities, as detailed in the article.  Some have written to me that they are put-off by the requirement of a credit card for the free trial.  I have not heard any complaints that Ancestry charged people an unwanted subscription fee.  I think that it is silly to require a credit card for the free trial.  Ancestry can easily cut you off after 14 days and then ask for a credit card to continue.  You can maintain a free membership to Ancestry and access the free databases and indexes, but your ability to research will be very limited.  The larger libraries subscribe to Ancestry, so you may continue your research there, but you should not wear your pajamas in public.

1940 Federal Census

I have not written about the 1940 United States Federal Census that became available in April.  Frankly, I was waiting for an index.  Not waiting.  Working on other projects until an index was available.  The sites froze often in the beginning and my eyes tired quickly looking at page after page.  Volunteers are still indexing and I thank them for their work.

New Jersey is not indexed yet.  You can browse the images for free at FamilySearch.  I saw what I wanted to see from New Jersey (thank you J.D.I.) and will view the rest when the index is available.



FamilySearch.org

The index as well as the images will be free to all through FamilySearch.  The index is free at Ancestry, but the images are not free.  Quivering leaves on my family tree indicated that New York's index is available, so I looked for some people.



Ancestry.com
1940 United States Federal Census
Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York

Ancestry has quite a few bells and whistles.  The person of interest is highlighted in yellow and the rest of the household is green.  You should always review the neighbors, and Ancestry makes this easy.



Ancestry provides a typed name as you scroll through neighbors,
and highlights the neighbor's line in peach.

As you stroll along the page, the names are still viewable in a typed format.
The highlights continue.
The names of columns are visible at the top.
This ensures that you gather information from the correct line.

Hobby versus Career

Thomas MacEntee over at GeneaBloggers is posting several articles about money and genealogy. 

People have asked me and I have asked myself, "Why don't you do this professionally?"

I am not sure.  My day job as a nurse pays the bills, but it's not as glamorous as what you see on television.  People do not place a high monetary value on genealogical research.  They do not realize the time, effort, travel, and reading required to uncover a scattered or elusive lineage.  People also feel that the records should be of little or no cost, while we know that states charge upwards of $30 for a vital records certificate.  People often email me (often with misspellings and without providing their name) asking me, "Can I have all your research on this line?"  As if I didn't spend years crawling through cemeteries, sneezing over moldy record books, and straining my eyes deciphering grainy microfilm to reach the point where I am in my research.  If I wanted my research online for anyone to take and credit themselves, I would have already done that.

Did I digress?  Pardon me.

I am enjoying Mr. MacEntee's articles and encourage you all to read them as well.

Me (left) and my sister Danielle (right) in 2004
at Holy Cross Lutheran Cemetery
Bushkill Center, Northampton County, Pennsylvania