The LDS Church (Latter Day Saints - also known as the Mormons) based in Salt Lake City, Utah, provide a free database called FAMILYSEARCH. These days, when it comes to genealogy research, what is available for free and what is available for fees and where reveals there is a lot of cross-over of data on various genealogy oriented on-line databases in general. Currently FAMILYSEARCH welcomes volunteer indexers and transcribers. You need not be a member of LDS to contribute. There is no charge for using their databases. (My opinion is: Not yet anyway.) However, when you post your charts/research on their database you agree others can use your research and that FAMILYSEARCH owns your research and it's their copyright - so think about that. (Should you give up your account what you post remains.) There are people out there using genealogy databases to privacy invade, which has happened to me, and other illegal activities, such as identity theft. And some people are very lazy with their research and yet post it authoritatively. You can't trust what's posted. You've got to proof it all for yourself or hire a pro.
When it comes to FAMILYSEARCH and LDS, theirs is a vast undertaking. I want to be appreciative. But I must also caution my fellow researchers to not depend on any databases. Quite often you will need to use older methods - such as sending that check for records to an archive or government entity. And when it comes to Hungary and much of the "Slavic Lands" or Europe, I know there is much frustration. My own for starters.
I've used microfilms owned by LDS prior to FAMILYSEARCH. That's why I know that the database of church records and other offerings such as the 1869 census, divided between Hungary and Slovakia (which was once part of Hungary) and which features BAPTISMS / BIRTHS is not comprehensive. Marriage and Death records are not included when it comes to these INDEXES. That means that you need to go to the film number itself by searching first for the town in the catalog and then searching through the IMAGES when available in order to find marriages and deaths.
It has been years now since LDS Family History Centers stopped being the temporary homes of microfilms which we genealogists ordered in for a short-term rental fee. Sometimes after several renewals the films were kept at that location. Putting the cart before the horse, LDS / FAMILY SEARCH promised that through indexing projects and putting these microfilms online for free, there would be no need to ever use microfilm again. As of a couple weeks ago I looked to see if ANY of the PRESENT indexing projects include areas of our interest and they do not.***
If you're like me, you can't afford trips to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the LDS runs the world's largest genealogy research library, to research there. (The stereotype is that genealogy is the hobby of the aged and retired with time on their hands and money in their hands). You may also not be able to afford heritage travel to the Old Country (For Hungarians reading this in Hungary - that means YOU!) or hiring a researcher long distance. Though we probably all know someone who has hired a long-distance genealogist and been happy with their work, I think the problem of affordability is real for most Hungarian-Americans.
After you've experienced researching Hungary and the Slavic Lands, American Genealogy research is easy. I've helped many people with their work as a teacher, coach, as a volunteer and as a professional. Yet I too have spent hundreds of hours trusting the supposed comprehensive nature of even the BAPTISMAL databases on FAMILYSEARCH.
What is WRONG with the LDS FAMILYSEARCH indexed databases particular to Hungary, Slovakia, and the "Slavic Lands"?
Here are my notes:
1) Please be aware. THERE are so MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS on the SAME MICROFILMS THAT HAVE THE BAPTISMALS. It IS NECESSARY, especially as there are so many common surnames, TO HAVE THE MARRIAGE INFORMATION in order to proof.
The INDEXING is ONLY for BAPTISMALS even if the "fine print" in red says RECORDS rather than BAPTISMALS. Even when indexed, the film may be one of those with NO IMAGES AVAILABLE. (I currently have two brick walls based on no images.)
2) BECAUSE OUR ANCESTORS LIVED IN A TIME AND PLACE WHERE LIFE SPANS WERE LIMITED (especially for women), and there were so many BLENDED FAMILIES due to death (rather than divorce) we need both the MARRIAGE (and REMARRIAGE RECORDS) to be supported by DEATH RECORDS. I see no indexing projects for marriages or deaths planned or being worked on.
3) INCONSISTENCIES: Some of what was INDEXED needs to be redone: It seems as if a different format was used at some point and as a result, there seems to be information missing, but you won't know that until you go to the original microfilm. The missing name of a parent is just one of these.
The information is not always transcribed accurately and so you don't know what you're missing till you do.
Missing mother's names are on some records. But worse, I've encountered the feminine names of mothers coming up where the masculine father's name is supposed to be. (i.e. When you fill in the SEARCH BLANKS for father's name do you put in Julianna or the mother's name as Istvan? Then you wonder why you tried every spelling variation and misspellings, and nothing is there. So that means you should try doing this to see if that will bring up what you need.)
4) NO MOTHERS LISTED AT ALL. We can count on our ancestors' cultural sexism for the reason - sometimes. (Genealogy has enforced my feminism for sure!) In some of the records, as you go closer to 1711, you find records written with just the father's name, and some just the mother's first name (implying illegitimacy). They were not trying to save paper. What you are reading is that the child's father is important, not the mother. That the child was considered the FATHER'S PROPERTY, not the mothers. (And so a child born illegitimate was NO ONE'S PROPERTY!) But that's not what I mean. I mean I went to the original record and there was so a surname for the mother, but someone indexing skipped it because they couldn't figure it out or didn't know what column to look at.
5) I've also noticed some entries in which someone indexing assumed that a profession listed was the person's name or middle name.
6) And due to ignorance of Hungarian names, I've located several where, because the person originally handwriting the document stopped to dip into the ink well with their quill, and they didn't connect two parts of a surname, the indexer only listed the first part. (So you would search for the first syllable!)
Yes LDS does have a link to report errors, but...
In coming posts, I'm going to give you some RESEARCH STRATEGIES TO USE that may help you get past these errors while using BAPTISMALS! Hopefully, this will help you move forwards (or is that backwards?) a bit.
Some of these strategies have worked for me.
Christine
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Please credit me when using this information. It's hard won for me and good karma for you!
This post was slightly edited on July 6, 2019 and July 13th, 2019 and July 29th. *** A project of indexing CIVIL REGISTRATIONS in BUDAPEST is underway.
Please credit me when using this information. It's hard won for me and good karma for you!
This post was slightly edited on July 6, 2019 and July 13th, 2019 and July 29th. *** A project of indexing CIVIL REGISTRATIONS in BUDAPEST is underway.
