Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

Last week, FamilySearch reported that the 1940 census indexes for all 50 states is complete, as are the indexes for Guam, Panama Canal, and Virgin Islands.  The final two territories, American Somoa and Puerto Rico, should be posted soon.  According to their blog post on August 21 , the project “started on the April 4 th of this year. With the posting of the last states today, we have published the census 73 days earlier than expected!”  That’s incredible!! The ISGS indexing group was a major contributor to this project, having indexed over 325,000 records, and arbitrated another 57,000.  So go ahead, pat yourself on the back…you earned it! This project will certainly help people find their family, or even themselves, in the 1940 census.  Were you able to finally find someone using the index?  Tell us about it in the comments! P.S.  If you got the indexing bug from helping to index the 1940 census, why not continue contributing to FamilySearch in...

The Illinois State Genealogical Society group for FamilySearch Indexing keeps on truckin’ during the month of June, keying over 81,000 records and arbitrating over 10,000.  To date, we’ve indexed over 280,000 records!  Way to go everyone! And, on July 2, FamilySearch set a goal to index/arbitrate 5 million records within a 24-hour period.  Not only was the initial goal of 5 million reached in less than 16 hours, but it was surpassed.  Over 7.2 million records were indexed and over 3 million were arbitrated, for a total of 10,340,879.  That’s amazing!  The ISGS group generously contributed to the goal by indexing over 17,000 records and arbitrating over 1,600.  A special thanks to our top contributors on July 2:  Pamela H., Arlene J., Julie T., and Cheryl W. Illinois is currently 53% complete—that’s a 22% increase from our last status update in early June.  The project overall is about 81% complete and we are nearing the finish line. ...

During the month of May, the Illinois State Genealogical Society group for FamilySearch Indexing keyed over 87,000 entries.  We ranked sixth among large societies for the most indexed in May.  Since the project kicked off in early April, this group has indexed almost 190,000 names!  As of today, Illinois is 31% complete, which is a 10% increase since our last status update just a few weeks ago.  Over 56% of the entire project has been complete.  The following states are completely indexed and can be search on the 1940 Census page on the FamilySearch website: Alaska Arizona Colorado Delaware Florida Hawaii Idaho Kansas Louisiana Mississippi Montana New Hampshire New Mexico Oregon Utah Vermont Virginia Wyoming The following states are nearing completion: California Indian Iowa Maine Minnesota Nebraska Nevada North Dakota Oklahoma Rhode Island South Dakota Washington Every little bit helps, so even if you can only index a page o...

The Illinois State Genealogical Society group for FamilySearch Indexing has 82 indexers, 11 of which are also arbitrators.  The group has been busy indexing since the beginning of April and so far, has keyed over 150,000 records.  Illinois is about 21% complete, so keep up the good work!! If you are not affiliated with the Illinois State Genealogical Society group, you can update your indexing profile.  For instructions on how to do this, please visit our blog post How To Change Your Affiliated Group in FamilySearch Indexing . If you are interested in joining the effort to index, visit the 1940 Census Community Project website to get started .  Be sure to select Illinois State Genealogical Society as your affiliated group when you sign up. Over 19 million records have been indexed and arbitrated by volunteers.  To see the status of the indexing progress overall and by state, visit the 1940 Census page on FamilySearch.  To ALL the indexers and arbitrato...

Yesterday we posted that the 1940 census images for the state of Illinois are ready to be indexed through FamilySearch.  We encouraged you to select Illinois State Genealogical Society as your affiliated when setting up your indexing account.  But how do you change the group when you already have an existing FamilySearch account?  Follow these simple steps below to change your affiliated group. Open and log in to the FamilySearch Indexing software. Select Options from the Tools menu. Click on the Personal Info tab. Click on the link Change My Information .  This will launch the FamilySearch website login. Enter your login information. Under Additional Indexing Information , confirm that Group says Illinois State Genealogical Society .  If it does not, click the Edit button. Choose Illinois State Genealogical Society from the drop-down menu to select a Group . Click the Save button. That’s it!  Now, not only will you receive credit for ...

Did you know that at this very moment, members of the Illinois State Genealogical Society are busy indexing the 1940 Census images which were released to the public on April 2, 2012? You can join in this volunteer effort to produce a searchable index which will be freely accessible to the genealogical community and the public.  Here's how: Visit the 1940 Census Community Project site here to download the indexing software, create a FamilySearch account and then get started with your first batch of Illinois images. Learn more at this recent ISGS blog post . FamilySearch has produced a series of training videos at  https://the1940census.com/video-training/  to help you understand how indexing works. PLEASE make sure that when you set up the indexing software you select Illinois State Genealogical Society as your affiliated group.  FamilySearch has set up incentives and prizes for genealogy societies who index the most images - so make sure your indexing efforts ...

ISGS Supports 1940 Census Indexing with FamilySearch.org We are excited to announce that ISGS has joined the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project to help index the 1940 U.S. Federal Census! By indexing records from Illinois, we will be an essential part of this monumental grass-roots effort that will put one of the richest genealogical data sets in the world online - complete and free of charge forever. Go to www.the1940census.com/society and register to participate with ISGS: When you open the software, a sign-in screen will appear: If you already have an account with FamilySearch , just input your name and password and click OK; if not, click Register for a New Account to set one up. When creating your account, remember to select Illinois State Genealogical Society from the dropdown box for Group on the profile screen. Every person indexing with our society gets us closer to milestones that qualify us for incentives provided by the sponsors of the project, so sign up tod...

In just 35 days, the images for the 1940 U.S. Census will be released to the public. Are you and your genealogy society ready?  Here's how you can get ready for the release and also get your society members involved in the indexing project for the census images: Only images will be available for the 1940 U.S. Census starting Monday, April 2, 2012.  It will takes several weeks until the first partial index is available. You can help speed-up the process by volunteering to index. Click  http://the1940census.com/getting-started/ , download the indexing software and then register as an indexer. If you are a society leader, visit the Societies page at  http://the1940census.com/society/  on the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project website and sign up today! You'll receive information on how your society can participate in the indexing project. Visit the Resources page at  http://the1940census.com/resources/   for plenty of "how to" materials related to th...