Wiki User Lesson Three

I. Review lesson one and two

Take this quick quiz to see how well you remember the information from the previous lessons.

A. What are the five steps in the research process?

B. Name two ways to get to a state page.

C. T/F - You can make changes to a Wiki page.

D. What is the name of the document that will help you decide where to start your search?

E. Name two forms that are available on the research forms page.

F. What is the name of the link you would look for if you wanted to see if your ancestor was a pioneer?

G. What page (U.S., State or County) would you find that information on?

H. What are two ways to search census records?

I. T/F The process for requesting vital records from states is standardized.

J. On a State page, if you see a picture of a keyboard and it says the name of the state followed by “online records”, this means the state has some vital records that you can access online.

K. All county records have been transferred to the state level, so there isn’t much use searching county records.

L. The get help section is just for technical issues.

Now go to the last page and see how you did. If you missed any questions, go back through the lesson to make sure you understand the concepts.

II. Other Countries

The completeness and arrangement of other countries varies in the Wiki. Some have received a great deal of attention, others have only basic information. In this lesson, we will look at three countries: England, Germany and Mexico.

III. Highlights of an England page                    

A. From the search bar on the main page, type in England.

1) Select “England Genealogy”

2) Read the first paragraph about England and then go to the Beginner’s Corner.
         

3) Click on, “I want to find a birth, christening or baptism” and read the information there. You will notice there is not nearly as much information for a foreign country as there is for the United States. This is still a work in progress.

4) Use the back arrow to go back to the main England page. Click on the main article England Getting Started. You will find this just under the list in the Beginner’s Corner. This is an excellent guide to how to begin your England research. 

6) Go back to the previous page, (use the back arrow) where you see the map of the Counties and click on one of the counties. Notice the side bar on the left. All of the links in red are ones that have not been completed. In fact there is nothing there. If you are interested in England, perhaps you would consider working on adding information to these pages. Please let us know if you would be interested in being a contributor.

7) Use the back arrow to go back to the list of counties. Click on the Devon county link. 

Then look in the center section of the page. Notice the link to Jurisdictions.   

                           

Click on the interactive map to view jurisdiction for one of the parishes.   

                       

If you click on a county, you will see the following pop-up:

            

                                    

If you click on the link that says, List all parishes in Devon, a list will appear on the left hand side of the page. Note: not all counties have parishes.

8) Go back to the main England page. (You can click on the black X in the tab above that says Historical Maps and then click on the back arrow.)

9) Now look at Topics towards the top of the side bar to the left. Let’s try Probate Records. Click on the link for Probate Records. Scroll through the list and notice the vast amount of records available.

10) Go back to the main England page and scroll almost to the bottom of the page where you see, Beginners Guides. 

                     

There is a lot of information here for new users. If this is something you are interested in, take the time to view the videos and read the articles.

11) Scroll back to the top of the page. Under the heading, other topics in the side bar on the left, select “Newspapers”. Scroll down and you will see a list of Digital Issues Online.   

                      

Notice there is also a Wikipedia link for a list of online newspaper archives. Newspapers are always a good resource for local news and information.

III. Highlights of Mexico Page

File:280px-Palacio de las Bellas Artes (Mexico City).jpg

A. Spanish or English Version? If you speak Spanish, you can change the Wiki page to Spanish. From the main Wiki page, scroll to the bottom of the page until you see:

                    
Click on Español and it will change the text to Spanish. You will note that there are also many other languages available in the Wiki. If you are fluent in any of these languages and would like to help translate, please let us know. 

B.  Type Mexico in the search bar and select Mexico Genealogy.

C. Beginner’s Corner – The top of the side bar on the left you will see “Beginners Corner”, with a list of links.

                   

1) Getting Started: This article will guide you through the steps for getting started researching you ancestors from Mexico. If this applies or interests you, please take the time to read through all of the articles to learn as much as you can.

2) Quick start guide: If you are not new to research and just want to get busy, click on this link. There are a lot of useful links and information on these pages.

3) Research strategies: This is on the quick start guide. It will give you ideas of where to look if you don’t know who to search for or where to start.

4) Locating a Place of Origin: If your ancestors came to the United States, it might be difficult to discover what part of Mexico they came from. This page will give you ideas of where to start looking.

5) Mexico Resources. This is a good list of some of the resources that will help you in your research. It includes such things as Translation and handwriting help.

D. Google Translate. If you have never used google translate, it is a wonderful tool for other languages.

1) Open a browser. In the search bar type in google translate and press enter

2) You will see this response:

             

3) Select Spanish from the list at the top, or if you are looking for another language not listed,  click where it says Detect language, click on the down arrow and select the language you wnat to use.

4) Click on the box below and type the word you want to translate.  

5) In the second box where it says “English”, you will see the translation.

6) This works in reverse as well. You can select English in the left hand side and Spanish on the right to translate a word from English to Spanish.

E. Next, go back to the list of topics on the side bar on the left.

                      

1) Let’s look at church records. Under the heading Topics on the side bar on the left, scroll down to church records.

a) If you know what religion your ancestors were, it might help you to look here.

b) You will notice there are a lot of online records here as well.

2) Use the back arrow and select cemeteries. If you have ancestors from Mexico, this information will be very interesting to you. Take the time to read and learn as much as you can. Getting familiar with these pages and what they contain will help you in your research.

IV. Highlights of German Page

A. Go back to the Wiki main page and type Germany in the search bar. Then click on Germany Genealogy

B. Look at the first link in the sidebar on the right hand side, Beginners Corner.

                   

C. Click on “Getting Started”. The first three sections are a review of the research process. Pay special attention to the section entitled, "What you need to know to begin research in Germany". If you have Germany ancestors, this information will be very helpful to you.

D. Go back to the main page and click on church records, which is found under topics. There is a wealth of information here to help you as you research your German ancestors. Even if you don't have any direct connection to Germany in your family, you may have family memebers who married people from Germany.

E. You can also use Google Translate to help you learn the meaning of German words.

V. Do Your Own Research

Now take some time and look at a country page that is of interest to you. Are you able to find the record of an ancestor, or at least know where to begin searching for it?

VI. Military Records.

Have you ever wondered if your ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War or one of the two world wars? This will show you how to find out.

A. In the search bar, type in the state in which your relative lived and select the genealogy for that State. 

1) On the sidebar on the left, select Military Records. Notice that this tells you the dates of many of the wars.   

         

                

2) Scroll down and click on Civil War

3) Click on the link that says, “Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Systems

4) Read the first paragraph.

5) From the information you have on one of your ancestor, you would select one of the eight categories listed below. For this exercise, select Soldiers and followed the prompts.

6) Type in the name Henry C. Anderson. There is a drop down to select a state. You choose it my the first letter of the state. Select W for Wisconsin and then click on Wisconsin. Notice that the name of the state does not show, but it does show that you selected one state.

Then click, show results

             

7) There were two matches, both Henry C. Anderson. One was in the 14th regiment, Wisconsin Infantry and the other was in the 31st Regiment. How would you know which one is your ancestor? You can click on each of the Regiments and see where they were formed. If you know where your relative lived it would make it easier to determine which Regiment he was in.  Once you determine which regiment you ancestor was in, you read the information found her to get a better understanding of what his life was like. If you can confirm that this was your ancestor you can use this information when writing his story.

VII. Answer Key

A. Gather, Choose, Find, Evaluate, Share

B. Click on the map or enter the name of the state in the search bar.

C. True

D. Record selection table

E. Any two of the following: census worksheets, Family Group Sheets, Pedigree Chart, research log, to do list, Analysis for possible match, Analysis for My Ancestor or Time Line.

F. migration

G. State page

H. Date or location

I. False – Most states have their own method of processing requests for information.

J. True

K. False – Most records start at the county level. It is a great place to start your search.

L. True.