1940 Census (father, grandmother)

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by Wembley

Yeah I've used FamilySearch and its not free. I've looked at things then try to click on it to get the full record and there it asks for money for monthly subscription.

I don't know what or where you were looking because I assure you I use FamilySearch.org for free all the time and have never been prompted to pay. It's well known for being a completely free site. You must be mistaking it with some other website or something. The only thing I can think of is that they have information on their website about microfilm collections (which are not yet scanned or available on the website) which you can pay a fee to have sent to your nearest LDS center. But it's not a monthly payment.

I've also found the info lacking as in incorrect on some family members and not even there for others.

I'm not sure why you'd expect differently. Information is often incorrect on the original documents themselves - not necessarily a fault of FamilySearch. And indexing mistakes happen everywhere, on any site. You will find incorrect data everywhere in your genealogy search - it's what makes the research so difficult at times. Additionally, I don't know why you'd expect any website to have all records that ever existed digitized and available to you, especially for free. So of course there is going to be info lacking and records not found. Sometimes, you have to take your research offline. That's just the nature of genealogy and if it's not something you can accept as the norm, maybe this hobby is not for you.

I have an account at Ancestory I guess its considered a guest account because a distant relative contacted me for info and sent me a guest invite thing. So I can view her work on the family tree yet if I see anyone else who has posted pictures of our family for instance I can click on it and it asks for money. Luckily she was able to retrieve a photo of my great-great-grandparents for me but I hate to ask her to keep doing it.

With a free account on ACOM, you can only access material on other people's trees with an invite from the owner. You need only contact the tree owner and politely ask for an invite - assuming they are still an active member, most people will be willing to give you access.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by Wembley

Yeah I've used FamilySearch and its not free. I've looked at things then try to click on it to get the full record and there it asks for money for monthly subscription. I've also found the info lacking as in incorrect on some family members and not even there for others. I have an account at Ancestory I guess its considered a guest account because a distant relative contacted me for info and sent me a guest invite thing. So I can view her work on the family tree yet if I see anyone else who has posted pictures of our family for instance I can click on it and it asks for money. Luckily she was able to retrieve a photo of my great-great-grandparents for me but I hate to ask her to keep doing it.

I'm reading about the world archive thing at Ancestory right now and seeing if I can do this.

FamilySearch IS free. Not every record image is available at FamilySearch, and if it nicely redirects you to a pay site ... good on them. That doesn't mean that FamilySearch isn't free, though.

[bjh]

Originally Posted by Wembley

If you do volunteer work for either of these 2 places do they at least give you free membership to look up your own family without charging? Its ridiculous that every site charges and there are so many sites few people could afford membership in all of them. I don't mind doing the volunteer work as I enjoy doing computer work and I'm already a volunteer photographer at Find a Grave where I've also been going through rechecking names at local historic cemeteries and finding people who haven't been listed on the site.

Many public libraries have ancestry.com available for use in the library.

[ArkansasSlim]

I have been using the U.S. 1940 Census version, but finally got around to checking the Ancestry.com version and found it much easier to use and for some reason the scanned originals were much easier to read.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

I have been using the U.S. 1940 Census version, but finally got around to checking the Ancestry.com version and found it much easier to use and for some reason the scanned originals were much easier to read.

Having the scanned origionals is important. Somethings a garbled word makes sense to you since you know a little about them where it wouldn't to a transcriber. My uncle charlie (great uncle) had a ? in occupation, but knowing he worked as a carpenter I could tell what it was. Somehow just having the origional document to view is interesting. That with my grandmother she's marked with an M for married, crossed out an a D written over it tells me the divorce with grandpa was actually quite recent. (so with fewer years maybe I can find the document)

[ArkansasSlim]

We often "beat up" on the census takers, but here is one that is not his/her fault and I'm sure there are others. In the 1940 I'm listed in two places. One has me with my grand parents which is correct, but the other has me all the way across the state as the son of my step father, and I was not residing there and do not use his last name. I'm sure s f didn't understand the question and gave what he thought was correct, but researchers, even today, who do not know the facts can use that and really mess things up. When I get the census page copied and posted I'll note in the "comments" that error.

[bjh]

I don't know that anyone beats up on them. Anyone involved can make an error, census taker, the informant - which can be an ill informed neighbor, transcriber.

[nightbird47]

How soon once a state is fully indexed is it searchable? The post said California was at 99%. The census site isn't yet set up. After two tried at the wrong address with my grandfather, I'm waiting for indexed.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

How soon once a state is fully indexed is it searchable? The post said California was at 99%. The census site isn't yet set up. After two tried at the wrong address with my grandfather, I'm waiting for indexed.

You mean on FamilySearch.org? Once a state is 100% indexed, I think they have to review and process it or something first - IIRC I don't think it takes more than a couple weeks. CA is still saying 99% so it might be about a month before it's searchable. Just a guess.

[bjh]

They have to arbitrate the records, that means compare the records of two transcribers. They likely have other prep work before they can make it searchable.

Overall, it's pretty amazing how quickly it's getting done. They're a couple of months ahead of schedule, and the bulk of the work has been done by volunteers. The entire process will take about 4 months. If the government had done it, it would have been a year and millions of dollars.