FOLD3

Today I received this note:

I notice that the library has the Fold 3 site up and running. I had some trouble working with it the other day;

Is there a possibility that someone with skill would be willing to teach those of us with no skill how to use it efficiently?

HERE IS MY EXPERIENCE WITH FOLD3

I have used FOOTNOTE and now have subscribed to FOLD3 (just before learning that it would be on the library computer :-(

Although I had great expectations when I heard that they had most pension records and were putting War of 1812 records in their database    Unfortunately I have NEVER had much success using their site.

Last week I was working on a Civil War Veteran whose file card is shown on Ancestry.  Using his name, unit, dates of service, pension application file number and certificate number.

I could not find ANYTHING on FOLD3 and so sent them a message asking why their search system doesn't locate the files for this veteran.  I said that I had NEVER been successful in searching FOOTNOTE/FOLD3 and considered it a waste of time and money.

Here is the response I received:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thank you for trying our new search. We appreciate your feedback.
Please send us any further suggestions, concerns, or questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Fold3 Support
support@fold3.com

Fold3's Online Help Page: www.fold3.com/help.php"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HERE ARE SOME OTHER NOTES I HAVE RECEIVED FROM FOLD 3

Watch the "New Search" Tutorial

Report to the Fold3 Training Center to learn how to make the most of your membership. There you will find links to one-page explanations of the most common how-to topics. Look for Uncle Sam on the lower right of the home page, or start directly from http://www.fold3.com/tour. Keep checking back as we add more video tutorials and help topics.

Sincerely,
The Fold3 Team

Thank you for contacting Fold3. We have received your message and will make every effort to respond within 1 - 2 business days.

We are available from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Mountain Time, Monday through Friday; we are closed Saturdays and Sundays.

Please note that submitting another message on the same issue will not expedite service.
In the meantime, you may wish to visit our Help page at http://www.fold3.com/help/
If you have questions regarding your account please go to:  http://www.fold3.com/account.php

Thanks again,   Fold3 Support

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I agree that it would be great to have some knowledgeable person who is expert at using FOLD3 write a tutorial or offer to tutor people in the Gen Room.  Is there such a person out there?

Cemetery Project

Find A Grave is the best thing to come along in a long time.  The database is growing by leaps and bounds.  Are you a member?  I get requests for headstone photos about once a week.

Is anyone interested in a cemetery project?  We would photograph all the headstones in a local cemetery and submit all of them to FAG ?

A couple of years ago I spent one afternoon and photographed all the headstones in the Lincoln Cemetery (behind Hollywood) in Orange City.  I also have miscellaneous individual headstone photos including a few from East Volusia.

If you'd like to help in such a project it would be a great contribution to the "body of knowledge" that is available free of charge on the internet.

Any takers?

The Theory of Shakers and Movers

HOW ALL ORGANIZATIONS, REGARDLESS OF SIZE, CONSIST OF THREE GROUPS    (c) Jerry Hale 1995

All groups, clubs, crews, consist of 10% "Shakers and Movers" who do all of the work of the group. Every improvement to the community welfare is instigated and carried out by this group.

Then there are the "Hangers On" which consists of 80% of the membership of the group. The Hangers On benefit from and enjoy the efforts of the Shakers and Movers. They often carp and complain and at times succeed in discouraging some of the Shakers and Movers who quit their efforts and join the Hangers On.

Finally there are 10% at the bottom, the "Anarchists." This group is REALLY negative; they say unkind things about the Shakers and Movers and their motives. They actually do things to tear down the organization. They recruit people from the Hangers On to join them. They believe in conspiracy theories and listen to every rumor and lie. They believe everything they take in. God has created them without the ability to do logical reasoning, analyze facts and make their own decisions.

For the most part the Shakers and Movers ignore the other two groups and keep Shaking and Moving because it is their (type A) nature. Occassionally you will run into an organization where all of the Shakers and Movers have been discouraged and have joined the Hangers On. That organization is then dead. There is nothing of interest going on and unless some new Shakers and Movers arise or come in from the outside the organization will cease to exist.

If you are one of the Shakers and Movers don't give up, you are working to satisfy your own sense of what improves the life of all.  If you give up you will be unhappy, you're doing it for yourself, not for them.

Volunteering

The VFCGS Seminar 2012 is fast approaching. (Volusia Flagler Council of Genealogical Societies)

The Flagler Society is the host this year, Roots and Branches is obligated to assist them.  They have asked for two volunteers who would be present at their meetings and also provide assistance on the day of the Seminar.  Our president has asked for two members to volunteer for this duty but nobody has spoken up.  We will be the host for the seminar in 2014.  If we do not assist the Flagler group then we cannot expect the other societies to come and help us.

This lack of volunteering is a plague on all clubs these days, several large genealogical societies have stopped publishing their newsletters, have shut down their web sites and some have disbanded because of this lack of participation.  R&B can barely man the volunteer desk at the library.  A large part, as far as genealogy is concerned, is the internet.  Now that library systems are making various services such as Heritage Quest and Fold3 available for free access from home we get fewer and fewer "customers" in the Gen Room.  On many Thursday afternoons there will not be one visitor.

What to do?  We have nearly exhausted efforts to get people to step up.  It boils down to a question of  how important do you think a genealogical society is?  Is it important to you?  Is it important enough to make a special effort to volunteer?  Unless enough people think it is the club will stagnate and cease to exist.

Now to the specific problem we face with the Flagler seminar.  The trip is a long one, 54 miles from Deltona. At nearly $4/gallon for gasoline my little Saturn, at 20 MPG, would cost me nearly $20 for each round trip, not to mention the wear and tear.  Multiple trips would be required for the meetings leading up to the seminar and again on the day of the event.  This is not a very appealing thought.

Perhaps we should offer someone an amount, say $30 per trip?   Or perhaps we should admit that we cannot provide volunteers and withdraw from the VFCGS?   Are we getting any benefit from our association with VGCGS?  Can we hope to hold up our end of the association?

What do YOU think?  Let's talk about it.