Getting "Unstuck"

Have you ever had that "don't know what to do next" feeling? I actually have research going on so many lines that sometimes it is hard to concentrate on just one family. Or sometimes I get stuck on a family and make no progress for a while.

When I want to become "unstuck" I use a piece of software that looks at my genealogy database and tells me what's missing. GenSmarts2 is described by their website as "... a utility that uses artificial intelligence to analyze your existing genealogy file and produce research recommendations." I call it magic.

After a little bit of setup, including identifying your genealogy software, adding subscription sites, etc. GenSmarts2 will look at your genealogy database and give you research suggestions. I just ran it against my database and it came up with several suggestions. Actually, it came up with 32,484 suggestions.

Now that is a bit overwhelming! However there are lots of ways to make it more manageable. One way is to ask GemSmarts2 just to show you only suggestions about a certain person or a certain research location.

I am currently out of town and wanted to bring some research ideas with me. So I asked for just those suggestions that I could find at the Minnesota State Archives Website. That whittled that very large number down to 375 suggestions. It seems like a reasonable number to take along on vacation. I printed out the suggestions, one line per suggestion, and brought the nine pages along with me. I could have saved the file electronically and reviewed it that way, but I like to have it beside me as I go through the list.

There are other printing options, too. You can print:

• all of the ToDo's that you have highlighted.
• only those marked "Plan to Search."
• only those marked "Searched and Found."
• all displayed."

You have choices on the detail as well:

• To Do List - One line per To Do
• Moderate - Multiple To Do's per page
• Full - One Page Per To Do
• Worksheet - Combination of Info + Input Form
• Research Pack - Collated set of To Do's and People

I would strongly suggest that you review the documents before you print them. Anything with more than one line per To Do on a limited number of suggestions could get very lengthy very fast.

Another feature is the "Available Online" button. As you highlight a suggestion, if the suggestion points to an online resource, you can click the button and GenSmarts will not only bring you to the website but will also auto-fill the search form with the name for you. Now, that's helpful!

GenSmarts2 currently works with the following genealogy programs:

• RootsMagic (including RootsMagic 5)
• Family Tree Maker (including FTM 2012)
• PAF 5
• The Master Genealogist
• Legacy
• Ancestral Quest
• Ancestry Family Tree
• Brother's Keeper (Version 6)
• Ultimate Family Tree
• Family Trees Quick and Easy (contact us for info)
• Heritage Family Tree Deluxe (contact us for info)
• Gedcom

I have not come close to describing all of the features of the software so visit the GenSmarts2  website to get more information. The $29.95 USD pricing seems very reasonable for all of the help that it gives me. One piece of information that is not on their website: Even though GenSmarts2  is PC only software, it runs fine on my Mac with Parallels. I've been using it for several years without a problem.

Very often, as I am working on a list of suggestions, I find a piece of information that leads to a breakthrough and more research on that particular individual. GenSmarts2 never fails to get me restarted.

Are Your Ancestors from Minnesota? Part 2...

As mentioned in one or more previous posts, I use the Minnesota Historical Society (MnHS) website frequently when researching my Minnesota lines. I am particularly fond of the birth and death indices, but there are many other resources that are helpful to family researchers.

One such resource is the index to the Minnesota State Census. The index is just that, an index, and does not link to the actual images. Those images can be ordered online from MnHS for $9 each. The actual images can also be found on Ancestry.com if you are lucky enough to have a subscription.

Ancestry.com is also available at many local libraries for patrons. If you are planning a trip to a library that has Ancesty.com, using the MnHS index online ahead of time can save you some searching time at the library and allow you to quickly access the images you need during your visit.

As explained on the MnHS site, "This index includes Minnesota State Census records from 1849, 1850, 1853, 1855, 1857, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895 and 1905."

Did you notice what I did? There are census records available for 1885 and 1895. Since the 1890 Federal Census records are all but destroyed, the state census can supply an excellent 1890 substitution for those Minnesota families.

The information returned during a state census search can vary by census year. Information returned when searching in the 1905 census, for example, includes:

Name
Age

Ethnicity
Birth place
County
City/Township
Gender
Census Year

To the upper right is an image from my great-great-grandfather's census record returned when I searched by first and last name. By his age, birth place, and residence, I can be relatively sure this is my great-great-grandfather even though there was more than one Andrew Jackson Riggs in the state at the time. I could search again, using only the last name, the county, and year of census to identify other possible family members.

I hope you enjoy using the resources available at the Minnesota Historical Society site as much as I do.

Are Your Ancestors from Minnesota?

The Minnesota Historical Society (MnHS) has some great tools for family researchers. Because both my husband and I have family from Minnesota, I have these tools bookmarked so they can always be close at hand. If truth be known, I actually have them memorized and can get there with just a few keystrokes.

The tools that I happen to use the most are the birth and death certificate index searches. The birth certificate index search is a great tool that sometimes gives difficult-to-find information just on the search results. The site explains, "This index currently covers the years 1900-1934, supplemented by about 2700 pre-1900 records."

This site contains records transcribed from county records and therefore will contain errors. But because of the search tools, it is sometimes possible to find records that have been transcribed erroneously. The search fields for the birth records include:

• Last Name (exact, starts with, ends with, or contains)
• First Name (exact, starts with, ends with, or contains)
• Mother's Maiden (exact, starts with, ends with, or contains)
• Year of Birth (pick a range anywhere from pre-1900 to 1934 or use the default of All)
• County (All or select one)

There is also a choice for "No soundex, Soundex, or Extended Soundex," The results can be displayed sorted by Last Name, First Name, Birth Date, or Birth County.

If you are like me, you picked up on the mother's maiden name field. While it doesn't have to be a search field, if the information was transcribed, the maiden names are available in the results list. This is a great way to find the maiden names of those hard-to-find women that married into the family. 

While the number of available years doesn't seem to be all that helpful, it really fills in a gap. The widely available 1900 census gives the birth month, year and birth state for each living family member born before 1900. Ancestry.com also has a Minnesota birth index the dates of the index are 1935 to 2002. So between the Minnesota Historical Society and Ancestry.com, there is a full century of births available. While not everyone has an Ancestry subscription, it is often available at local libraries.

I don't often order the actual certificate but they are available with a click of the "Add to Order" button on the results page for a fee of $9. I have used this index as a source over 400 times in my family file so it has been well used.

The other resource that I use most often at the Minnesota Historical Society website is the death certificates index search. As explained by MnHS, "This index covers death certificates from 1908 to 2001, supplemented by death cards from 1904 to 1907."

This search is very similar to the birth search with the same search fields and the same search options. Both searches also allow you to enter the birth certificate number as a search field. I would imagine might be there to allow for fast searching once you have narrowed down the results list to the ones you want to order.

What I really appreciate about the death certificate index is that there is an additional results option. You can save the results as .csv (Comma Separated Value) file. The site gives instructions for copying and pasting the text results into a text editor and saving as a .csv file. This is useful if there are a lot of results and you want to sort and search on different fields. 

I am fortunate to live less than 20 minutes away from the Minnesota Historical Society.  I don't have to order death certificates but can go to the MnHS when time permits (which unfortunately isn't very often). But to prepare for visits, I downloaded the information for certificates I want to look up and imported into Excel. I created a Word template that has all the additional fields I wanted for recording death or family information. I merged the downloaded information into the template and then add the other information available to the resulting document as opportunities arise. Other fields that I added:

• Current address of the deceased
• Death location
• Birth date and birth location
• Marital status and spouse name
• Father's name and birth location
• Mother's name and birth location
• Informant
• Cause of death
• Burial information

I have used the Minnesota Death Certificates Index as a source over 900 times and have many more to look up. There are many other family research resources available at the Minnesota Historical Society both online and at the library itself. Thanks to MnHS for making these great resources easily available!