What happened to the Virginia Online Records??? [closed]

Question

Does anyone have a good explanation as to why Ancestry removed the entire collection of Virginia records known as "Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983" sometime around January?

That collection included all the original Order Books, Wills, Court Records...you name it.  Living in in California, it was my lifeline to what is otherwise only in a Virginia library or involves ordering microfiche etc. and sitting in a local library.

You were able to use the drop down menu (click under Northampton, and pick any county....and then see all the original records drop down on the right) to research colonial Virginia.  The collection "name" and function is still there, but all of the viewable records are blanked out with a bogus set of junk from England.

I have done the "chat thing" several times, sent personal contact emails and even talked to someone on the phone - dumb answers like "clear my cache" or whatever.  This is an intentional 'take-down" and I just want to know why - since I plastered the links to all my ancestor's wills, land transactions etc. on various profiles, and didn't always download a copy of actual document - dumb me!

Go here and look, if you have an Ancestry account.  Click on Northampton to see all of the counties drop and click right to see the records.

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/9085/007643801_00028?pid=1040659&key=Uhttps://www.ancestry.com/interactive/9085/007643801_00028?pid=1040659&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9085&h=1040659&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=hoy1429&_=&lang=en-US&clickref=1100l8hHfB3K,1100l8hHfB3K&adref=&o_xid=01011l4xx5&o_lid=01011l4xx5&o_sch=Affiliate+External#?imageId=007676193_00821

If that link doesn't work....use my Floyd link below and scroll down under sources for his will.  Look for "View a digital copy."

Comments

These are not the same collections as I'm asking about.  Ancestry has many "searchable" collections where a search box pops up and you type what you're looking for.  This collection is a microfiche of the original documents for you to browse through one page at a time - although there was a handwritten index for some at the beginning sometimes.  It contained all the original wills, page by page, and was not an Ancestry "information box" abstract.

Actually, when I visited the the Eastern Shore Library in 2018 and also the main library in Richmond....I believe these are the same microfilmed records held there, which I viewed on that trip.  Sat and scrolled and scrolled.....would rather scroll through at home.

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I noticed the same thing. I was able to use a link to Probate and Wills and find a whole new search page. That has now disappeared and when you go to their catalogue and look under their Virginia collection, none of the counties that use to show up are there, or if there have very few records. That was not the case in the past.

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It's all very strange.  It was a HUGE colonial collection from the early years (its later VA record area did not apply to me) which contained the originals of all the crucial Order Books and Deed Books.

When others click on the link I provided above, I assume everyone with a subscription can "see" the still surviving framework for the collection.  Sometimes when material is missing, you get an error page and it goes no further.  When I click on the link now, I can still see the collection heading at the top, the drop down menus work and there are graphics displayed - they are fake news, however, as they say.  It is some sort of English census repetition that is meaningless.  A placeholder for the missing real documents.

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I get the same thing you are describing.

Have you clicked on tools, and reported the problem?

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Thank you to those who went online and confirmed "you see what I see" - missing documents.  I don't believe they have moved or been reorganized in some way.  I base that on the fact that the heading and drop-downs are still there.  It's in some kind of suspension - maybe temporary, maybe not.  When a single page shows up saying "this page is no longer available" doom and gloom will overcome me.  Until then, we can hope it might return.

In one post I mentioned that I chatted a couple of times, sent a couple of "contact us" emails which generated issue #s and also called once.  The answers i received ranged from "empty your cache - YOU have a cache problem" to "it's temporary and the techs are working on it" to "we'll let our ITs know about this!!"  Most of that was in January and I gave up.

I will go to the local Family History Library and test their computers. I will also see if that collection is divided up into manageable rolls of microfiche.  I haven't done it in a while, but you used to be able to order a roll for about $6.00 ea and have it loaned from Salt Lake for a couple of weeks - but better than that was to pay $10 or $15 and buy a copy for the local library. Then it was always close by. I am not a member of their church, but their libraries are open to the public and have incredible genealogical resources the public libraries can't handle.  They are in fact, genealogy-specific libraries.

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LDS Family History Centers are not currently open in most, if not all, states.  Also, you can no longer request microfilm, but you can request that films be added to the digitizing queue.  If microfilm copies are onsite at an FHC you can continue to use them.

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See my latest comments down below....Mar 2021

Answer 1

The Virginia Records I asked about in this earlier thread appear to be BACK ONLINE!!  They disappeared in January  2020.  If you saved older links, unfortunately they are slightly different - but there is a gouge for this, so ask if you want it!!!

If you start with the link below (need an Ancestry account) you will see this heading at the top of the page:

Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983
Accomack     Order, Wills, Deeds, 1632-1645

You can test it by clicking on Order/green to see everything Accomack has.  OR....You can click on the left heading (blue - Accomack) to see the drop-down window with all the VA counties.  Pick your county.....and then drop down the right heading (green) to see all the documents available for that county.

Many have indexes at the beginning indicating the page #, many don't so you have to know the date and browse....tedious.....but wouldn't you rather do it with a cup of coffee in your pj's than have to drive to Salt Lake or other nearby FHL and scroll through microfiche????.

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9085/images/007643791_00006

Comments

Robyn,

Thank you so much for staying on this.  I have been searching for what happened to these forever.  So HAPPY!

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Thanks for letting us know, Robyn. Fabulous to have these available!

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Robyn, we need to make sure this info gets transferred to the resources pages for Virginia and US Southern Colonies. Are William and Jillaine following this thread?

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Putting them on the resource page is a GREAT IDEA idea....I have never done that so I'll leave it up to the 'minders' of this sort of thing.

I did have several older links posted and saved on my computer that now longer work and the thought of having to "go find" each document again, page by page, is a bit disconcerting.  I thought I had a gouge or work-around for converting the old link to the new location but it doesn't work each time.  It just takes you to the beginning of the collection.

It involves taking some of the information from the old browser link (like an image #-string) and keeping the new target link but replacing the image string at the end with the old one......didn't quite work every time. I will work on this as there is usually a way to replace parts of an old (dead) link with new data.....by comparing the two links side by side.  Hopefully they kept a permanent # assigned to each  image itself and only changed the route getting there.  It would just be a replacement formula. 

Answer 2

go to Card Catalog

type in search bar under KEY WORDS

U.S. Wills and Probates

the wills and land records for all states have been reorganized 

4 pages long, with a date chart

 

Answer 3

Looks like they have changed it

To Virginia wills pre 1799

https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/10611/

Down the side is probate records link

Answer 4

Those records are still on Ancestry.com. It looks like a different format.  On the Search, scroll down to U.S. map; go down the list of states to select Virginia and you will see all the subjects available, as well as a list of all the Counties.

It is a great site.  Go look and dig?

Kathryn Miller-35831

Comments

I appreciate all the attempts to find the missing collection as I know this takes time and energy away from other pressing research.  The big search list you get by clicking Virginia on the map has always been there....but the collection I'm speaking of is missing.  If you look to the left where they list the counties - Northampton Co is now not even listed at all - it's totally missing also.

When this lockdown is over, I will have to go to the nearby Family History Library and see if it's now only accessible from their computers.

Accomack Co on the left (by region) only lists 6 records pertaining to births.  The missing collection had a hundred originals.  Use the link in my original post, change Northhampton to Accomac and look at the records you could access - not 6 but enormous numbers of documents. They just evaporated with no explanation.

Answer 5

I know exactly what you're talking about. On Feb 8, 2020, I abstracted a group of wills of the Moseley and Thompson families (Essex Co., VA, and Surry Co., VA) out of this collection on Ancestry. When I went back to Ancestry a day or two later to look at more wills, they were blocked.

What was so odd about the whole thing is that this collection was indexed, but the indexed names were never attached to main Ancestry index. I suspected that Ancestry was hosting these digital images for some other entity.

I tried to see if I could find these images on FamilySearch.org and was unsuccessful. There was, however, a message at the FamilySearch web site that collections which are available via computer at the LDS Family History Centers are not being made available through the FamilySearch web site during the lockdown. I tend to think (with absolutely no proof) that Ancestry is hosting the images for the Family History Centers. I've never been to a Family History Center, but once they reopen I may go to one nearby to see if this VA will collection is available there.

Comments

I used the images at the local FHC earlier this year and then tried to use them at home only to find out they cannot be accessed at home.  Apparently Virginia has not released their copyright to these records.  I find that incomprehensible.

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OH...now that's a perspective I hadn't thought of - copyright issues, since we know the collection exists.  i will write the Library of Virginia (which is closed physically, but probably online) and see what they say.  Good thought.

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*Someone* (business/organization) owns the copyright to the digital images & the only entities I can think of are LDS, Ancestry, or Library of Virginia. Please post whatever reply you receive from LVA - I'll be interested to see what they have to say.

Answer 6

aargh - you are so right - all of the citations to records I abstracted from that collection are now dead. It appears they replaced it with:

Virginia, Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850

which contains the records from only 3 counties.

Answer 7

I just ran into the same thing. At least now I know it's not just me. Why they would do this is anyone's guess. It was an important source for information about my early family tree, pre-1800s. Now the link says, "Please search again". I did copy some documents but it's always best to have the link to the source, or a printed copy of the source.

Comments

I still can't figure out what Ancestry is doing with this collection.  It's the most erratic group of records I've dealt with - works some days, gives nothing on others.  If you use Ancestry/Title-keyword: Virginia and type in Wills....sometimes the whole collection comes up ....sometimes it doesn't.

The name of the collection is "Virginia Wills and Probate Records 1652-1983" (collection #9085) and that title "should appear" in the right side box and also in white text in the grey bar containing the green "SAVE" above the visible document.  However, if you try to click on either of those titles to find the source page, most of the time you get a "not available" notice - but not always.  As I said, erratic.

Here's the WORKAROUND that works for me.  I bookmarked one document....no particular reason, just one of my ancestor records:  [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9085/images/007645512_00202]  When I have to, I use it as my portal to the collection.

Once I bring up the record/link above, it should open a page in Northampton county showing Will Book 20 and image #202 on the slider bar.  FROM THERE.....you can go wherever you want....I hope! This broke down for a year and half and mysteriously started working again.

The Northampton bar is on the left under the title - click on it to drop-down all the counties in VA in the collection and choose the county you want.  When you click on your county, all of the available records for that county should then post in the drop-down just to the right, where it previously said Will Bk 20.

When the collection is working....you don't have to go through this ridiculous route....but sometimes it's just worth it to have bookmarked one document (of your choosing) you can jump from.  i just hope it keeps working!!

It's possible this collection is somewhere over on FamilySearch but I haven't looked.  Good Luck!

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It WORKS! I had saved a will to one of my ancestos and the link there didn't work anymore, so this is great - it opened right up. Now I have to see if I can find Louisa County again!

Thanks so much!

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2nd comment today.....one other little "gouge" on these Ancestry links.  They must sit around and think up the longest darn links humanly possible, because they take up way too much room and certainly aren't to be copied by hand or remembered by anybody....

A link that looks like this can be reduced to a normal link:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9085/images/007645512_00202?clickref%5B%5D=1011lf9dde7K&clickref%5B%5D=1011lf9dde7K&adref=&o_xid=01011l4xx5&o_lid=01011l4xx5&o_sch=Affiliate%2BExternal

I'm not sure what exactly they are tracking with that long link (sneaky people like Google...I am suspicious of the words affiliate and external)....but it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't tracking where it was posted or how you arrived at their page. 

The ACTUAL link to the document without all that extra junk is to STOP right before the ?clickref.....  There are several clickrefs, so make sure you drag/drop ONLY from the https: to right before the ?.  This works for a LOT of Ancestry's painfully long URLs you wish to post.  I boldened the short version.  If it doesn't work, let me know.

Answer 8

Many of these are in the card catalog by county on FamilySearch, but not searchable. They are indices just like at a Register’s office. Northampton is here https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/370362?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Answer 9

I suspect that the original file "Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1983 " is the same as Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900, but with the most recent materials not included.

No explanation as to what happened to the 1901-1983 portions, but for most the 1752-1900 selection will serve.

LINk: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62347/

Comments

Thanks Bill.....most of them finally showed back up after a rather long period of time when you're an antsy genealogist!!   The downside was going back into every profile you had ever left one of these links on, and updating.  Arrrrghhhh.....  Robyn