06 March 2011

Current Status of Database

For the past two months since my last post, I have been entering records from a variety of sources on-line and in print. However, I had also been entering and verifying burials of Civil War veterans for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). So my mornings before work when I spend and hour to an hour and a half have been taken up with data entry for the SUVCW.

Add to that, I renewed my subscription to Ancestry.com. For years I've wanted to upgrade from US to World, but did not care to spend an extra $150. When I renewed, I asked about any specials, For 40 bucks more, I could upgrade to World and have a 13 months subscription. I hopped on that! Now I'm spending some time locating and printing records for Swedish Church records. Since 3/4 of my ancestry is Swedish, this will take some time.

For each of my Swedish ancestral families, I'm copying the marriage of the couple, the household "census" records (usually in 5 year increments) that list all members of the household, births and deaths of each child, and any movings into or out of the parish. It's amazing to be able to have documented evidence of every year of a person's/family's life!

BUT....I am continuing to add approximately 1500 to 200 records to the Oklahoma Pre-1920 Death Index. If I can get a couple of good weeks in, I may actually make my goal of 300,000 entries by the end of the year.

So far I have had 8 requests for records. Most have been "fishing expeditions"- people not sure if their relative died in Oklahoma, but checking to see. I have to give a response with reservations if it is negative: I have not yet found the record of the death, if it in fact occurred in Oklahoma". The two I was able to locate greatly pleased the seekers. That alone makes this endeavor worthwhile.

Until next time....