6 ms·

Wait for this to appear on FamilySearch (if not already) and search there I think will be your best bet. FamilySearch is owned by the Mormons but free and very

Wait for this to appear on FamilySearch (if not already) and search there I think will be your best bet. FamilySearch is owned by the Mormons but free and very functional.

drewg123 5y ago
Yes, they are the best. I used them several years ago when constructing my family tree. And a big raspberry to their competitors that lock everything behind a paywall. I think one of them (ancestry) has exclusive deals with some states, so they have records you can't see without signing up.
- Asparagirl 5y ago
  They do. I’ve seen the contracts, and even the RFP’s that led to the contracts. It’s illegal. They will sometimes make a free gateway portal to those records, where you input your in-state zipcode to get access, or some other nonsense like that. But they actually have the gall to say in their contracts that the digital files cannot be redistributed by the (public, taxpayer-funded) state or local archive. Funny, the state law says they can’t do that… And so the non-profit I founded and run is starting to reclaim those public records, for the public, for free.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - JaimeThompson 5y ago
    If you can please link to the non-profit here, I think a lot of us would enjoy it.
    - Asparagirl 5y ago
      It’s in my HN bio, but here you go ;-) https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/
      - JaimeThompson 5y ago
        Thanks! Honestly I should have checked first but we can pretend that we did it for (rolls d20) SEO! Looks very nice BTW.
  - tomcam 5y ago
    https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ Excellent website and a great cause. I just donated.
edge17 5y ago
Just curious, is there any special significance in pointing out it's owned by Mormons?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- prpl 5y ago
  It’s used to baptize your ancestors, by proxy, in the temple
  - shampto3 5y ago
    To clarify, only direct relatives can give permission to baptize a deceased relative by proxy in the temple. So if you're worried that simply adding a name to FamilySearch guarantees they will be baptized, that is not the case unless you have a relative that is a member of the church.
    - Infernal 5y ago
      This explains a strange interaction I had on FamilySearch. I knew they were owned by the Mormons, but I was doing some cleanup (think deduplication/obvious typo correction stuff) on older records in my line, when someone on the site messaged me and essentially gave me first dibs on... I don't remember the exact phrase, "registering ordinances" or something like this for the person in question, because I was a direct patrilineal descendant. In retrospect I think it was related to this baptism-by-proxy thing, maybe?
      - shampto3 5y ago
        Yeah that definitely sounds like it was related to the baptism-by-proxy. There are other ordinances in the temple that are also done by proxy for the deceased which is why they phrased it like "registering ordinances". It sounds like a distant relative of yours saw your contributions and assumed your were Mormon and wanted to make sure you had the chance to be the proxy for your ancestor before another relative did it for you. That's not required, it was just a common courtesy. For clarity: I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). I've also done development work on sites that used the FamilySearch API, I've served as an "ordinance worker" in the temple, and have done some of my own family history work on FamilySearch.
Asparagirl 5y ago
FamilySearch is fantastic. They do require you to make an account to use their website, but it’s free. They are meticulous about records preservation worldwide and expansive about records access, at least when the underlying government archive or agency is not being a hardass about it. They even have teams filming and photographing records in some of the Ukrainian archives branches right now, even while under siege. They are serious about saving copies of world cultural history, it’s just that they emphasize family history. Huge respect for their work.

Wait for this to appear on FamilySearch (if not already) and search there I think will be your best bet. FamilySearch is owned by the Mormons but free and very functional.

drewg123 5y ago

Yes, they are the best. I used them several years ago when constructing my family tree. And a big raspberry to their competitors that lock everything behind a paywall. I think one of them (ancestry) has exclusive deals with some states, so they have records you can't see without signing up.

Asparagirl 5y ago
They do. I’ve seen the contracts, and even the RFP’s that led to the contracts. It’s illegal. They will sometimes make a free gateway portal to those records, where you input your in-state zipcode to get access, or some other nonsense like that. But they actually have the gall to say in their contracts that the digital files cannot be redistributed by the (public, taxpayer-funded) state or local archive. Funny, the state law says they can’t do that… And so the non-profit I founded and run is starting to reclaim those public records, for the public, for free.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- JaimeThompson 5y ago
  If you can please link to the non-profit here, I think a lot of us would enjoy it.
  - Asparagirl 5y ago
    It’s in my HN bio, but here you go ;-) https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/
    - JaimeThompson 5y ago
      Thanks! Honestly I should have checked first but we can pretend that we did it for (rolls d20) SEO! Looks very nice BTW.
- tomcam 5y ago
  https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ Excellent website and a great cause. I just donated.

edge17 5y ago

Just curious, is there any special significance in pointing out it's owned by Mormons?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
prpl 5y ago
It’s used to baptize your ancestors, by proxy, in the temple
- shampto3 5y ago
  To clarify, only direct relatives can give permission to baptize a deceased relative by proxy in the temple. So if you're worried that simply adding a name to FamilySearch guarantees they will be baptized, that is not the case unless you have a relative that is a member of the church.
  - Infernal 5y ago
    This explains a strange interaction I had on FamilySearch. I knew they were owned by the Mormons, but I was doing some cleanup (think deduplication/obvious typo correction stuff) on older records in my line, when someone on the site messaged me and essentially gave me first dibs on... I don't remember the exact phrase, "registering ordinances" or something like this for the person in question, because I was a direct patrilineal descendant. In retrospect I think it was related to this baptism-by-proxy thing, maybe?
    - shampto3 5y ago
      Yeah that definitely sounds like it was related to the baptism-by-proxy. There are other ordinances in the temple that are also done by proxy for the deceased which is why they phrased it like "registering ordinances". It sounds like a distant relative of yours saw your contributions and assumed your were Mormon and wanted to make sure you had the chance to be the proxy for your ancestor before another relative did it for you. That's not required, it was just a common courtesy. For clarity: I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). I've also done development work on sites that used the FamilySearch API, I've served as an "ordinance worker" in the temple, and have done some of my own family history work on FamilySearch.

Asparagirl 5y ago

FamilySearch is fantastic. They do require you to make an account to use their website, but it’s free. They are meticulous about records preservation worldwide and expansive about records access, at least when the underlying government archive or agency is not being a hardass about it. They even have teams filming and photographing records in some of the Ukrainian archives branches right now, even while under siege. They are serious about saving copies of world cultural history, it’s just that they emphasize family history. Huge respect for their work.