HERITAGEQUEST ONLINE
©2010 by Donald R. Snow
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This page was last updated 2010-02-18.
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WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO CLASS
- Welcome to our Family History Update class
- Instructors are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu and dms34@juno.com ) of Provo, Utah; St. George, Utah; and Nauvoo, Illinois.
- These notes with active Internet links are posted on the Utah Valley PAF Users Group website http://uvpafug.org under Class Outlines , Don's Listings . Many other class notes for family history are posted there, too.
- This class will discuss and look at examples on the website HeritageQuest Online which has many genealogy records and is free to use with public library cards.
WHAT IS HERITAGE QUEST ONLINE (HQO)?
- HeritageQuest Online (HQO) is a genealogy website with primarily US databases and is only available through libraries and not to individual subscribers
- A library has to subscribe to it, then you can use it at home through their website with your library card barcode
- Your local public or university library may already subscribe
- Available in all LDS Family History Centres
- See article and list of many libraries subscribing to HQO at Encyclopedia of Online Genealogy -- http://www.eogen.com/heritagequestonline
- Databases on HQO
- US Censuses
- 24,000 full text genealogy books
- PERSI -- Periodical Source Index to thousands of genealogy journals worldwide
- US Revolutionary War records -- Military service records, pension applications, and results
- Freedman's Bank Records -- a bank formed after the US Civil War and in which many freed slaves deposited their money - applications had to include some of their recent family genealogy so they could prove who they were
- US Government Serials sets -- official US government documents
- Can print or download all data on HQO, or can set up a Notebook on HQO to keep it in and then download or email the Notebook to yourself
- Most HQO screens have good Helps (upper right hand corner of screen) with detailed discussions about the databases and searches
US FEDERAL CENSUSES ON HQO
- Has all US census images and many indexes of censuses from 1790 to 1930
- By searching HQO for a surname you can expand the search results by state and county and see numerically the distribution of that surname in the US
- To browse the census for any city you want -- click on Browse and go to the state and city
- The Census Book by William Dollarhide
- Entire book is in pdf on HQO -- is not included in the 24,000 books there - to find it click on Browse/Help-with-the-Federal-Census
- Excellent source of information and details about each of the US federal censuses
- Can read and/or download it
- Includes maps of the states and counties at each census
- Includes Census Forms for each census, so you can see the column headings and use them to write info about what you find
- Census images on HQO are black and white, not grey-scale
- Means that many images are clearer on HQO than on Ancestry.com or other websites that use grey-scale
- BUT, black spots on images in HQO may be readable on grey-scale images on Ancestry.com
- Viewing, saving, and printing census images
- Can view at 100%, 200%, or 400% -- 100% shows entire page on screen, but 200% and 400% may be easier to read
- Can view images as positive or negative -- is sometimes easier to read one than the other
- Saving images
- Can save to computer or to flash drive as pdf or tif files and can email them to yourself
- Can set up a Notebook to put everything in during your session and then save or email it to yourself
- Easy to do printscreens to save the images by using a program such as FastStone Capture -- v 5.3 was last freeware version of FastStone Capture -- http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html
- Printing images
- Easiest to download image as a pdf and print that using Adobe Reader so you have more control over the print process, e.g. can print it landscape and get full page image
- Can also print images with a program like FastStone Capture
FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS ON HQO
- Includes full text scanned images of 24,000 family history books
- Emphasis is on US genealogy, but does include some international volumes, e.g. Genealogical Gleanings in England by Henry F. Waters
- Completely word-searchable, so no need to look at indexes
- Can browse or search by People, Places, or Publications
- To see all volumes and journals, browse by Publications
- Can search by name or place with additional keywords
- Examples of books included
- Dollarhide's The Census Book -- see details above in the US Censuses paragraph
- Massachusetts Vital Records books (yellow covered series), about 250 volumes -- examples
- Woburn, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
- Lynnfield, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
- Many family and county histories, etc.
- Can download entire volume or only selected parts, but limit is 50 pages at a time -- can save to your Notebook and then download, print, or email it to yourself later
PERSI = PERIODICAL SOURCE INDEX ON HQO
- PERSI is a list of references (NOT the full text articles) of thousands of worldwide genealogy journals
- Index is done by Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which has a large genealogy collection including all the journals they index
- Index is by surnames in the article, locations, e.g. town, county, state, and other prominent words
- Can see a complete list of all the genealogy journals they index on HQO at PERSI/Periodicals -- 4-letter codes identify the journals
- Also shows issues and years that Allen County Library has and other Known Repositories for that journal
- Can usually order a copy at your local library of the article through Interlibrary Loans or through Allen County Library for a fee
- Can also check sites like OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) WorldCat to see which libraries might have the journal -- http://www.oclc.org/us/en/default.htm
US REVOLUTIONARY WAR MILITARY RECORDS ON HQO
- Click on "Read More About Rev War" for details
- Contains Selected Records from Reolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Applications Files -- 80,000 pension and application files of American military, naval, and marine officers and enlisted men
- Gives much information about the military man and his family
- Can search by name, state (18 states then), and military service
- Can print or save the images, as above
FREEDMAN'S BANK RECORDS ON HQO
- Click on "Read More About Freedman's Bank" for details
- After the US Civil War (1861-1865) when the slaves were freed many opened bank accounts in the Freedman's Bank
- Applications included details about spouses, children, parents and siblings, so it has lots of genealogy
- Indexes of the Freedman Bank records were also done by the LDS Church and these images and indexes are also available on http://www.familysearch.org in Record Search Pilot - http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#c=133425;p=2;t=searchable
- These records are a major source of genealogy data for the Black Community in the US
US CONGRESSIONAL SERIAL SET ON HQO
- Click on "Read More About US Serial Set" for details
- Includes records from Congress, Petitions, Military, Post Office, Indian Affairs, Public Land Records, and more
- Searchable by name, place, keywords, and date ranges
CONCLUSION
- HQO is a rich source for US genealogy research -- also has some information for other countries, e.g. Canada and England
- Excellent source of US Census data, but some indexes are not every-name indexes, only head of household
- PERSI has many helpful genealogy references worldwide and is very much underused
- Has many full-text volumes online that you can read and download -- easier than going to a library and you have your own copy
- HQO is available in FHC's, but may be available to you at home through a local public or academic library
ASSIGNMENT
- Check with your local public or academic library to see if you have access to HQO at home with you library card.
- Log on to HQO somewhere to see how the US Censues are stored and searched. Type in some surname and see what the surname distribution in the US is for that surname in some census year.
- Go to the Book Search and type in the surname or location of one of your ancestors and see what full-text books on HQO you can find that might be of interest.
- Try a search on PERSI for one of your ancestors or ancestral locations.
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