Friday, September 25, 2015

... still screening ...

The front page of the October 27, 1857 Daily Alta California is still not showing up in FamilySearch. If there is a review process, it is very slow. If it has been censored, it would be good of FamilySearch to let me know the reason.

(The newspaper shows as "Screening in process" in multiple accounts. I added the document to three entries on August 19.)

Thursday, September 3, 2015

... still screening ...

After I put up the last post about Sidney Tanner and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, I added the newspaper to his FamilySearch entry and also tagged William Mathews and Ira Hatch. The terms in the title or description must have triggered a review by a human, because two weeks later the newspaper still shows as follows.


Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Wills and Probate: Sidney Tanner

Have you heard about Ancestry's wonderful new U.S. Wills and Probate collection? I've been using it all day and have found some great information for my book, including a notice that was misfiled into a probate folder although it belonged elsewhere, but was valuable in explaining a strange part of the history of a Missouri family.

Since I've been concentrating on Sidney Tanner's history recently, I pulled up his probate record. It was a difficult situation, since he had two wives, but only one was legally able to appear in court.

Each probate file is indexed by contents, as you can see in the right sidebar, making it easier to navigate through the file. I do wish it were possible to download the entire file with one click!


Sidney's file does not include a detailed inventory, which is disappointing, since that's my favorite part of any probate, but it does give a snapshot into the circumstances of his later years.

Have you used this new collection yet? Find anything interesting?