In family history, everyone wants to gain something, whether it’s a new piece of information, a new ancestor, or a new skill. What about giving something back in return? There are many ways that you can do this, whether you have lots of time to spare or hardly any. And it won't cost you anything but time.
Pushed For Time?
Consider signing a petition or, if you’re on social media,
sharing a plea for help in tracing a relative. For example, the
Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations recently launched a petition
encouraging the Irish government to release the 1926 Irish Census for public
use earlier than the statutory 100-year waiting period. All it takes is the click of a button.
By signing up to an online genealogy community, you’ll not only
receive lots of tips, ideas and answers, but you can in return help other forum
users by sharing your know-how and replying to their queries. You may be a member of such a community already
without realising it; many of the major family history websites host free online
forums where members can get help and discuss topics such as military history or surname
interests – Genes Reunited is one of them. RootsChat is an independent and free UK family history forum, with lots of reference resources to draw on. And most popular genealogy magazines have a reader discussion board or Facebook group that fills the same role.
Can You Spare Just A
Few Minutes?
Indexing is a very flexible and practical way to “pay it
forward” in the genealogy community. Participation is completely free and only requires you to give as much of
your time as you choose. What’s involved? You view a page of a document, such as a census or parish register, and copy key pieces of information into the indexing program. Lots of help is available at all times, and
projects are usually graded on their level of difficulty – a bit like hill
climbing, but a lot less strenuous. Your
version of the document goes to make up an index to these particular records.
It's more than likely that you've already used indexed resources in researching your ancestors. They make finding
family so much easier for everyone!
Two of the main operators in this area are
- Ancestry’s World Archives Project (your work is made available as part of Ancestry’s free collections, so they’re not making any cash directly from your input)
- FamilySearch Indexing, all of whose records are free to view, mostly at home, but others through a FamilySearch Family History Centre
More suggestions for indexing projects can be found at Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine’s Transcription Tuesday website.
Perhaps a local family history society or heritage
group is looking for contributions to its website, like this one for Petrolia, Ontario. Your photographs, newspaper clippings, and
family memorabilia can not only help others, they may also help you connect
with long-lost relatives! In most cases you
can share your contributions by post or electronically.
Free To Do What You
Want Any Old Time?*
If you’re interested in a specific parish, you can offer to
maintain its online presence on sites like GENUKI or the English
Online Parish Clerks.
Click on the county you’re interested in
to see information about the parishes that need someone to look after
their pages.
If graveyards are your thing, you can add to the growing collections
of online headstone inscriptions by submitting photos and/or transcriptions to
BillionGraves, FindaGrave,
or your local family history group’s project. You don’t need to transcribe or photograph whole
cemeteries – one gravestone at a time will do! This is something you can fit in to
your own research trips.
Volunteering with a family history society can also be very rewarding. Through organisations like these, you
can pick up lots of tips and learn as much as (if not more than) the people you
help. Or contact your local archive and
find out if they have a “Friends of” society that you can join and support.
Finally, if you're familiar with the idea of "random acts of kindness", you may be interested to know that there's a version of that just for you. RAOGK or Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness was set up so that family historians around the world could help others by photographing gravestones, getting copies of documents, and doing anything else for people who lived far from their ancestors' homelands. This site allows you to offer a service to family historians by doing something for them that they can't do for themselves. Read RAOGK's Guide for becoming a volunteer to learn how it works.
And there you are – lots of ideas for you to help other people feel the excitement of finding a relative ... in no time at all.
Finally, if you're familiar with the idea of "random acts of kindness", you may be interested to know that there's a version of that just for you. RAOGK or Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness was set up so that family historians around the world could help others by photographing gravestones, getting copies of documents, and doing anything else for people who lived far from their ancestors' homelands. This site allows you to offer a service to family historians by doing something for them that they can't do for themselves. Read RAOGK's Guide for becoming a volunteer to learn how it works.
And there you are – lots of ideas for you to help other people feel the excitement of finding a relative ... in no time at all.
*with apologies to The Soup Dragons
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