ILCLINTO-L Archives

Archiver > ILCLINTO > 2000-08 > 0966874421


From: "Dorothy Falk" <>
Subject: [ILCLINTO] More Census Image Options
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 11:13:41 -0500


>From another list.
Dorothy


-----Original Message-----
From: Cheryl Rothwell <>
To: <>
Date: Monday, August 21, 2000 11:02 AM
Subject: [IL-CENTRAL] More Census Image Options


The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy
Newsletter and is copyright 2000 by Richard W. Eastman. It is
re-published here with the permission of the author.

- Ancestry.com to Place U.S. Census Images Online

The dream of many genealogists is about to come true: we will soon
be able to view original hand-written census records on our PC
screens while seated comfortably at home. In this case, it will be
all of the U.S. census records that have been released by the
government, including the years 1790 through 1920. Once completed,
this online database will contain more than 450 million names.

Ancestry.com, the sponsors of this newsletter, released the
following announcement:

CENSUS IMAGES ONLINE COMING TO ANCESTRY.COM
Images Online(tm) Enables Members to View and Print Images of
Census Records Instantly

Ancestry.com, part of MyFamily.com, Inc., the leading online
family network, today announced the launch of an immense
project to create digitized images of every record from the
U.S. Federal Census between the years 1790 and 1920. Beginning
today, sample images from census records have been posted to
the site, enabling users to preview the types of information
contained on these original documents. These census records,
which Ancestry.com recently obtained from the National
Archives, contain more than 450 million names.

"The ability to view census records online is one of the most
significant advancements in online genealogy to date," said
Curt Witcher, manager of the Historical Genealogy Department
of the Allen County Public Library. "Viewing original
documents online not only saves people time and money by
enabling them to view census records in their own living room,
but original documents contain a wealth of information and may
help researchers go beyond what they can find in an index."

Once these images are launched as part of the new Ancestry.com
Images Online(tm) service, the original census records will be
viewable and printable online with an Ancestry.com Census
Subscription. Through Images Online(tm), these census records
will more faithfully reproduce original documents than mere
indexes or bi-tonal, black and white images available with
competitive offerings. The first images will be posted this
fall, and subsequent postings will bring hundreds of millions
of images to the site throughout the year. With the addition
of these new census records, more than 1 billion records will
be fully searchable on Ancestry.com by the end of this year.

"By offering images of these census schedules, Ancestry.com is
taking online genealogy to the next level," said Andre
Brummer, general manager of Ancestry.com. "Census records are
one of the most significant sources of family history
information. Making original documents available online
enables people to view and print documents that have
traditionally been stored on microfilm and are only available
in limited numbers of archives and libraries throughout the
nation."

In addition to the 450 million new records, Ancestry.com
recently began an innovative project to reconstruct the vast
amount of information lost when a 1921 fire destroyed nearly
the entire 1890 census. The census substitute is the largest
project of its kind and will fill the void that was created
when the fire destroyed insight into an entire generation's
family demographics, occupations, and much more. Ancestry.com
is using remaining fragments of the original 1890 census, 1890
special veterans schedules, several Indian tribe censuses for
years surrounding 1890, state censuses (1885 or 1895), city
and county directories, alumni directories, and voter
registration documents to construct a census substitute. More
than 20 million records have been identified for inclusion in
the census substitute.

You can view sample census images online at:
http://www.ancestry.com/home/celebrate/census.htm

The 1890 Census Reconstruction Project is at:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/1890sub/main.htm


This obviously will be a huge boon for genealogists. SierraHome's
Generations brand and Heritage Quest made a similar announcement a
few weeks ago. They said that they would offer the entire U.S.
census online "sometime this fall." (See my July 8, 2000
newsletter for details.) The new Ancestry.com announcement says
that "The first images will be posted this fall, and subsequent
postings will bring hundreds of millions of images to the site
throughout the year." In other words, the two companies will be
releasing the first documents about the same time.

Does this sound like a race? You bet. And genealogists will
benefit.

Both companies will be enhancing the original images to improve
readability. The online images should be easier to read than many
of the microfilmed copies. The Ancestry.com Web site says that the
Images Online census records will more faithfully reproduce
original documents than mere indexes or bi-tonal, black and white
images available with competitive offerings. The records will be
easier to read since they will be viewed in full 256 shades of
gray. SierraHome also has a lengthy description of their digital
enhancements of the original handwritten records on their Web site
at http://genealogydatabase.com/learnmore.html.

Ancestry.com already has some sample images on their Web site
today from the 1790, 1860, 1870 and 1900 U.S. censuses. I took a
look at these samples and indeed they are easy to read. The images
are first displayed in a Java Applet viewer. I was able to look at
the images in a standard Internet Explorer or Netscape browser.
However, you can add a lot more functionality if you download and
install the free MrSID plug-in for your browser. Full instructions
are on the Ancestry Web page.

With the MrSID plug-in installed, I was able to make the displayed
image larger or smaller, zoom in and out, and save to a file or
print on local printer. I found that I could zoom in to the point
where only a few names filled most of the computer screen. I could
look at the individual strokes of the enumerator's (census
taker's) handwriting. Every single example that I looked at could
be decoded, even those made with mediocre handwriting.

I also saved one image to a disk file and then later imported it
into Microsoft Word. The whole thing was simple. This brought the
entire census page into Word. If I write a book or even an article
about a particular ancestor, I probably would only want to import
a part of a page: those lines that list the ancestor, his or her
family, their property and possibly a few other lines showing
their neighbors. To do that, I would first use a paintbrush
program of some sort to cut out only the part I want to use and
save it to disk. I can later import only that snippet into my
genealogy document.

You can view sample census images online at:
http://www.ancestry.com/home/celebrate/census.htm

The Year 2000 looks like a great one for anyone researching U.S.
ancestry. This is the year in which U.S. census records become
available online for all.

If you want to see the current issue as well as back issues of
the newsletter, look on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/d_p_1_archive.asp

To subscribe [free] send an e-mail to

This thread: