LDS Image Collection

[Jenny M Benson]

I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images. I was side-tracked, followed the link and
entered Birkenhead as a pace to search as I and so many members of my
family are from there.

Wow! I was immediately presented with 28 groups of records which
include Cemetery Records, Tax Records, Voting Registers, Church Records
...

I have only had time so far to glance at a few images, but I have seen
Cemetery Records for Flaybrick Hill, Land Tax Records dating back to
King George III and Baptism Records for St James's Church which include
the names of Godparents!

Yes, it's a pain having to trawl through scores of images to find the
precise one you want, but it's well worth it! And many of us have
plenty of time on our hands at the moment!

[knuttle]

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.  I was side-tracked, followed the link and
entered Birkenhead as a pace to search as I and so many members of my
family are from there.
Wow!  I was immediately presented with 28 groups of records which
include Cemetery Records, Tax Records, Voting Registers, Church Records ...
I have only had time so far to glance at a few images, but I have seen
Cemetery Records for Flaybrick Hill, Land Tax Records dating back to
King George III and Baptism Records for St James's Church which include
the names of Godparents!
Yes, it's a pain having to trawl through scores of images to find the
precise one you want, but it's well worth it!  And many of us have
plenty of time on our hands at the moment!

You have discovered a gold mine. I have spent many hours in these
records. Most are always free, if they have been digitized.

They can also be accessed at

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list/

One tip, while there is no electronic index, there is an index in the
individual book that are in the electronic file. (One electronic file
may contain several books or volumes.) Use simple math and your
knowledge of the general layout of a hard copy book to get into these
multi book files and find the indexes.

There are also files that contain the pages from a paper folder, in the
order they came out of the folder. While these require you to go
through them page by page, they are some time the best genealogy record
for the family at that time.

[Tickettyboo]

Post by knuttle

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the
closure > of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to
browse their > unindexed collection images.  I was side-tracked,
followed the link and > entered Birkenhead as a pace to search as I and
so many members of my > family are from there.

Post by Jenny M Benson
Wow!  I was immediately presented with 28 groups of records which

include Cemetery Records, Tax Records, Voting Registers, Church Records ...

Post by Jenny M Benson
I have only had time so far to glance at a few images, but I have seen

Cemetery Records for Flaybrick Hill, Land Tax Records dating back to >
King George III and Baptism Records for St James's Church which include

Post by Jenny M Benson
the names of Godparents!
Yes, it's a pain having to trawl through scores of images to find the >
precise one you want, but it's well worth it!  And many of us have >
plenty of time on our hands at the moment!

You have discovered a gold mine. I have spent many hours in these
records. Most are always free, if they have been digitized.

They can also be accessed at
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list/
One tip, while there is no electronic index, there is an index in the
individual book that are in the electronic file. (One electronic file
may contain several books or volumes.) Use simple math and your
knowledge of the general layout of a hard copy book to get into these
multi book files and find the indexes.
There are also files that contain the pages from a paper folder, in the
order they came out of the folder. While these require you to go
through them page by page, they are some time the best genealogy record
for the family at that time.

Also searching the catalogue by using a place name brings up everything
the LDS have for that place. Often the details of each item give a
better description (including time frame, type of record and item
number on the films) which can cut down the time looking through.

For instance I have found many civil cemeteries for County Durham that
way, varying time frames etc, but its well worth searching by place
name.

[John]

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 07:08:00 -0400, knuttle

Post by knuttle

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.  I was side-tracked, followed the link and
entered Birkenhead as a pace to search as I and so many members of my
family are from there.
Wow!  I was immediately presented with 28 groups of records which
include Cemetery Records, Tax Records, Voting Registers, Church Records ...
I have only had time so far to glance at a few images, but I have seen
Cemetery Records for Flaybrick Hill, Land Tax Records dating back to
King George III and Baptism Records for St James's Church which include
the names of Godparents!
Yes, it's a pain having to trawl through scores of images to find the
precise one you want, but it's well worth it!  And many of us have
plenty of time on our hands at the moment!

You have discovered a gold mine. I have spent many hours in these
records. Most are always free, if they have been digitized.
They can also be accessed at
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list/

Thank you. That is very nice.

J.

[John]

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:55:27 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.

URL, please? I'm far too tired to drill down through WikiPedia
references.

Thank you.
J.

[Jenny M Benson]

Post by John
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:55:27 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.

URL, please? I'm far too tired to drill down through WikiPedia
references.
Thank you.
J.

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/

[John]

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 22:26:31 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by John
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:55:27 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.

URL, please? I'm far too tired to drill down through WikiPedia
references.
Thank you.
J.

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/

Okay, thank you. On seeing the page, it is not a resource I will ever
be using. Firstly, nothing shows up unless I allow scripts or trackers
from a couple of sites to run, when I do that silly thing there pops
up a sign-in page.

I'm not enamoured of sites that demand a login. Sites that *have* one
are fine, so long as I can access at least some of their information
anonymously and freely but blocking all access just so they can
collect meta-data to sell is a red-flag fifty miles wide.

That it is a *church* demanding personalisation is irrelevant. They
are little more than a commercial company with tax evasion benefits
and as such have the same morals and moral imperatives as any other
commercial entity. They are and must be profit driven.

I wish the world were less mercenary but I'm not surprised when it
isn't.

Thank you for the linkie.

J.

[knuttle]

Post by John
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 22:26:31 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by John
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:55:27 +0100, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson
I just opened Family Search to look for a Baptism record and paused to
read the message at the top of the screen about Covid-19 and the closure
of Family History Centres and it included an invitation to browse their
unindexed collection images.

URL, please? I'm far too tired to drill down through WikiPedia
references.
Thank you.
J.

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/

Okay, thank you. On seeing the page, it is not a resource I will ever
be using. Firstly, nothing shows up unless I allow scripts or trackers
from a couple of sites to run, when I do that silly thing there pops
up a sign-in page.
I'm not enamoured of sites that demand a login. Sites that *have* one
are fine, so long as I can access at least some of their information
anonymously and freely but blocking all access just so they can
collect meta-data to sell is a red-flag fifty miles wide.
That it is a *church* demanding personalisation is irrelevant. They
are little more than a commercial company with tax evasion benefits
and as such have the same morals and moral imperatives as any other
commercial entity. They are and must be profit driven.
I wish the world were less mercenary but I'm not surprised when it
isn't.
Thank you for the linkie.
J.

I think that FamilySearch is not as bad as you are making it out to be.

First the login. I registered over 15 years ago, and have never
received any thing from the Mormon Church. As I remember the
registration is simple, basically your name and email.

Second. There are free databases. Yes there are some that require
login in. However these are available because of agreements with other
groups. This simple login fulfills the requirement of those organization
to control the release of their documents.

FamilySearch databases cover the world. On the FamilySearch site you can
access records of European countries, UK, US, and and many other places.
As stated above many are free, and some with a simple registration.
In fact Ancestry has an agreement with the Mormon Church to allow their
members access to all Ancestry's records, in return Ancestry can give
include the Mormon Church records on Ancestry's site.

The Church is the Mormon Church. It has a large congregation that is
world wide. Because of their beliefs, their ancestry is very important
to them, so they maintain the largest genealogy library in the world in
Salt Lake City. (Note the second largest in the US is the Allen County
Library in Fort Wayne Indiana.)

In many area the Churches were the only ones who maintained genealogy
records. In Europe one of the parameters that must first be specified
is the religion of the person you are searching for.

Some of the best US records for genealogy research are the Catholic
Church records. So the Mormon Church is not the only one that
genealogical records are important.

If you forego using the FamilySearch site, you are not utilizing the
largest free site for genealogy records, and are only hurting your self
and hindering your research.

I think your religious bias is showing.

[John]

On Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:56:46 -0400, knuttle

Post by knuttle

Post by John
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 22:26:31 +0100, Jenny M Benson

<< snipped>>

Post by knuttle
I think your religious bias is showing.

Not really. I don't read the "Telegraph" website for the same reason.
Though that one is also behind a paywall which is an additional
discouragement.

I just remember the idyllic past when websites were set up to pass on
information, to entertain and to show off, not to be used as mass
surveillance tools.

I'm a grumpy, old curmudgeon, not an atheistic, anti-capitalist
zealot.

I've met and talked to Mormons on the Rumspringer or whatever they
call their missionary year, they tend to be universally nice, quiet,
tolerant, gentle, accepting people with a good sense of humour. Their
dogma may be batshit crazy but it is, objectively, not much crazier
than most others.

All of which is off-topic, so I'm gone.

J.