Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Census Improvements at Ancestry.com

Recently, you have probably heard of improvements that Ancestry.com has made to its online census collection....and you have probably also wondered what those improvements are.

Here is a recent blurb from Ancestry about what they have done to the 1920 census that may give you an idea.

Ninety years ago, your ancestor had to answer 28 census questions for each member of the household. Lucky for you, you get the benefit of those details at Ancestry.com today through new improvements to the 1920 U.S. Federal Census, including an enhanced index with 20 million new alternate names, plus sharper images (netting another 250,000 names) and the ability to narrow your results by including parents in your search.

If you have not found all of your ancestors in census records yet, or if you have been discouraged in the past, you might give it another try. The census indexes and searches will never be perfect, but when improvements to the process are made, we should take advantage of them.

The library edition of Ancestry.com is available free of charge at the Largo Public Library Genealogy Center and most other public libraries.

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