I have just purchased an individual membership on AmericanAncesters NEHGS how do I make the best use of it on Wikitree?

Question

Just got an individual membership at AmericanAncestors.org from the NEHGS and wondering how to source things out into Wikitree?

Comments

Thank you for asking, John!

Answer 1

Great question, John! To answer your question with regard to citing information you find at NEHGS: if you include information in a wikitree profile that you found in an online record at americanancestors, you should cite the source.

A good practice is to simply copy-and-paste the citation information from the NEHGS result into the wikitree profile. The citation information at NEHGS can be found on (most) result pages by clicking the "Citation Information" link in the area above the image/text.

In addition to the citation, I suggest you include other specific information such as the volume and page number from the navigation bar above the image, and, if applicable, the publication date, the title of the article or document. etc.

E.g.:

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013.)  Vol 17, p 12, Jan 1863. "Brief Memoir of Dr. Winslow Lewis."

Not only will that help you to comply with the use of copyrighted material, it provides invaluable information that will help you and others, in future, locate the exact information you used to draw your conclusion, review the data, etc. As you apparently know, and it can't be repeated too much, including source information in wikitree profiles is not only good wikitree practice, but it provides a means for the future extension of families (the ultimate wikitree goal), documenting research, resolving disputes regarding names, dates, relationships, etc.

If you care to, using the citation example above, go to the advanced search on americanancestors; select "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" in the Database dropdown; select "17" in the Volume dropdown; enter "12" for the page number; and click the Search button at the upper right or lower left. Select one of the results and you'll see the same information cited.

 

Comments

Thank you! I have a subscription too and did not know how I could use their information.

Missy 

Answer 2

John,

That's a great investment-- as well as support of a great charity that has done so much to preserve early colonial records.

My own use of it focuses on early New England settlers (but it has much more)! If you go to advanced search and look at the Drop down menu of categories, you'll see a number of options. My most frequently used categories are Journals and the Great Migration Study.

The Journals collection is amazing. most of them are peer reviewed and high quality. And this is the only place you can get digital searchable copies of all issues of The American Genealogist and NEHGR. (Some very early issues may be found on Google books.)

One thing I do avoid is overuse of their search criteria. I put in as little as possible as I've found that -- unless it's improved of late -- I rarely get good results if I fill out too many boxes.

Enjoy! I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have. I'm sure there are other NEHGS members also willing to help.

Comments

John, You have made a great investment.  And Jillaine is correct about the search parameters.  If you are too specific, you may get no results.  Leave it as broad as possible, and if you get too many results, narrow slowly.  If all of a sudden you get not results, don't just undo what you did.  Start over.  It seems that the filters sometimes get "stuck."

Answer 3

Most of the Connecticut Vital Records (Barbour Collection) and the Mass Vital Records to 1850 are on the site. So you can use it to verify the dates in those family genealogy books. To get the right one you may have to narrow the search parameters until you get a reasonable # of hits. They have SSDI and census information now too.

Answer 4

My membership has been an annual Christmas gift for over 20 years, but then I'm a New Englander, so it's invaluable to me.

Be sure to try the Browse function: http://www.americanancestors.org/Browse/ to see what the possibilities are for your own research.

And then take a look at their external collections (I love the old newspapers): http://www.americanancestors.org/Search/External-Databases/

Happy hunting!

Answer 5

American Ancestors' database has a clickable button at the top of each page "Source Citation." Click it, copy and paste the citation into your data.

The database is expanding and dipping further south in the colonies, so just because you might be searching Virginia, or Carolinas, don't forget AA.

Answer 6

I also purchased an individual membership on AmericanAncesters.org. They have a very good search engine for searching their database of information. Some of this information is available for free on the internet (books, vital records, NEHGR). Whenever possible, I prefer to cite the free sources instead of AmericanAncester.org.

Many of the AmericanAncestors.org links here on WikiTree are broken, because the New England Historic Genealogical Society decided to change their web links. This can be a problem with any external site.

Answer 7

This came in on The Weekly Genealogist, Vol. 19, No. 43, Whole #816, November 2, 2016:

Webinar: Get the Most Out of Your NEHGS Membership
Tuesday, November 15, 3 p.m. EST
Presented by: Sarah Liebenrood, Senior Manager of Member Services
Whether you are new to the NEHGS family, have been a member for years, or are considering joining, this webinar will discuss the many benefits and services available to members, and help you make the most of your membership. Register today!