IIGS™ Newsletter - March/April 2000
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IIGS™ Newsletter - March/April 2000
I am seriously considering withdrawing my standing offer on a GenWeb site to do free lookups in a microfilm of church records I have on permanent loan at a Family History Center.
It's not that I don't get requests for the service. Quite the opposite is true. Several times per week I receive emails from people requesting lookups. Out of the hundred or so requests I've had, only a few have had merit.
What do I mean by "had merit"?
Let's start with the church which once was located on the southside of a very large Midwestern city. The church no longer exists. The name of the church clearly indicates that it most likely was Catholic.
The information posted on the GenWeb site includes the years the records cover---1885-1915. The former address of the church also is posted.
The records are not indexed. There are two films---one contains baptismal and marriage records and the other contains death records.
I have had requests to look for "everything" I could find on a certain surname. That's a tall order even if records are indexed. To ask a volunteer to make such a search (in either indexed or non-indexed records) is unreasonable.
When I receive such a request, I rationalize that perhaps the requestor has not had experience searching through microfilmed records. It takes hours to thoroughly search just one film.
I respond to every request because it's the courteous thing to do. So, I spend a great deal of my time explaining why I need more information than just a name.
Many people write back and say they understand and thank me for my time. Some respond rudely. One woman, after I wrote several times patiently explaining each time why I could not look for her ancestor, told me that just because I was a volunteer, I did not have the right to be rude!
I had a request from someone who wanted to know if I would look for the Catholic baptism of a child adopted out of a Jewish orphanage. There was no rhyme nor reason for this request---it was simply a shot in the dark. And I was expected to spend hours of my volunteer time looking for a baptism that probably never occurred.
Most often people making requests for baptismal records don't even know the religion of their ancestor. I've had requests from people to look for ancestors who have or may not have even lived in this city---let alone within this particular church parish.
Many people claim to have looked "everywhere" for their ancestor. If that were true, then this church would indeed be the last place on earth where this ancestor would appear. The truth is that often the requestor's search has been limited to dozens of shots in the dark requests like this one. They have yet to learn that research is methodical.
One person wanted me to look for a family which, by the address, clearly lived on the northside of this large city----miles upon miles away from this particular church and certainly closer in distance to any one of a dozen or more northside churches.
Other people have not had an address, but they at least knew their ancestor was Catholic and they had a date. The date makes it possible for me to scan the record during that time period for the name in a relatively short time.
However, I have found only a few names this way. Why? Because there are hundreds of Catholic churches in this city. There are better ways to find your ancestors than by eliminating one church at a time. Locating them on a soundexed census to find their address is one of the most reasonable ways to narrow the search.
When a person requests a lookup from me, I assume they have full Internet access or they would not have had access to the GenWeb site where my offer is posted. So, they not only have email, but they have a web browser. It's reasonable, I think, to expect the prospective requestor to use the Internet to do a little background checking, such as using online maps to locate an address, before making the request.
Here are suggested guidelines for making lookup requests:
- Don't expect a volunteer lookup to search for all occurrences of a surname. Give them instead a first and last name.
- Provide a narrow time frame. If you don't have a specific date, at least narrow it down to one or two years. If the record is indexed, this is not as important.
- Ask for a lookup of a specific event---birth, marriage, death. Again, don't ask for all occurrences of the name.
- Know ahead of time if your ancestor lived in that city or that neighborhood or even that county. Don't expect a volunteer lookup to look for your needle in your haystack---they have ancestors of their own to research, too.
- Be reasonably certain of your ancestor's religion and that the ancestor's religion is the same as the church record in which you're requesting lookups. Knowing your ancestor's religion is almost a prerequisite for any kind of ancestral research anyway because often church records exist where no civil records do.
- If you have an address for your ancestor, take the time to look it up on Mapquest or Expediamaps. If you are hoping your ancestor will appear in a specific church record, make sure they lived a reasonable distance from that church.
Finally, if you ask a volunteer to do a lookup for you and they comply, have the courtesy to say, "Thanks!"
Here's a note I received from one frustrated volunteer:
The last three "Books We Own" lookups I have done, I sent off nice messages. In one case, I looked (and found) in several other resources I have in addition to the requested one, more information. In one case, I found and typed out several paragraphs of info and, in another case, I found nothing (not surprising because we were looking for the wrong state!), but made several suggestions as to where to look, gave specific references, mentioned InterLibrary Loan, found some URLs for the person, etc.
Guess how many responses I got? Three? Nope. Two? Nope. One? Nope. None? Of course.
Obviously, it was EXPECTED. Otherwise why would I have "volunteered" to do look ups?
How much effort does it take to hit the Reply button, and type a hurried "received"?
Volunteer lookups truly enjoy finding information for people. It's gratifying to know that you've helped someone because we, too, have benefited from the services of volunteer lookups. So, if you're thinking of asking for a lookup, remember to do your homework first. It increases the chances that you will get good news from us. And, lastly, say thanks whether or not anything is found.