The most important job that the State Census Coordinator (SCC) does is maintain a database on his/her assigned states. For simplicity and interchangeability it has been determined that this will be done in Excel. If you do not have Excel 97 or later, please contact the Training coordinator Earnie Breeding. A limited number of Office 2000 Cd’s have been provided, for SCC’s use only.

You should receive the database for your state(s) within a day or two of becoming a SCC. Sometimes there is no database available for numerous reasons, or more likely, the database is seriously out of date. Thus the first task is verifying the Database.

These conventions will be used throughout these series of lessons.

Census Project Home site http://www.usgwcensus.org/

State pages http://www.usgwcensus.org/ /states/alabama/ Note Make the necessary change to replace My State, Alabama, with your state. I strongly recommend that you add this site to your Favorites.

State Census year page http://www.usgwcensus.org/ /states/alabama/al1850.htm Again remember to make the necessary changes to carry you to your state and the census year that you are working on.

Verify the database against your State Pages for each census year. There are several possible problems.

1. Items shown assigned on State Pages, and not on your database.

2. Items assigned on the State pages to a different person than shown on your database.

3. Items shown assigned on your database and not showing assigned on the state pages.

In every Case send an e-mail to the assigned transcriber, explaining the problem and ask if they are working the assignment. Remember we have no time line for Transcribers, However an assignment that is 18 months old on which noting has been done is a pretty strong indication that nothing will ever be done. If the Transcriber has problems, and don’t we all have problems, then the SCC should do all in their power to assist the transcriber to resolve the problem. Normal problems are, No source for images, crashed hard drive, sick spouse, or similar problems. The transcriber agreed when they signed up that they would provide their own images. However rather than loose a good potential transcriber, I personally have purchased a CD for them to use. I have also made copies of images from NARA or other sources. I live 50 miles from NARA East Point, Ga and can make copies from there. I do ask the transcribers to pay the cost of duplicating, which is presently $.35 per page. LDS Family History Centers will get copies of the microfilms for a charge of approximately $3 for a 60 day rental. They also have printers than can make readable copies of the images.

Having gone through a very sick wife, I can verify that doing a transcription is a good way to relax and forget your problems. Even 30 minutes a day helps out. Most of the problems can be solved, except the silent transcriber. That is why we ask for address and phone numbers.

If you get no response to your email, then use the postal address. If there is no answer to al this then send another email, if the address is good and advise that due to apparent lack of interest, the assignment will be terminated. However leave the room open that they can continue if they will cooperate with us. When there is no option remove the transcriber from your database. Send a email to Christine Ayers US1880census@hotmail.com asking that the state pages be corrected to show the assignment as available. Send copies of this email to Maggie census@maggie-sz.org and to me Earnie Breeding I normally do a census year for the state each day. That way it is easier to track the messages.

Database format I find that the Database does not include enough info to help me. I have added a column to most of my databases to include assets available. In that column I indicate the availability of images online, Whether a copy of a semi transcription exists, Whether there is an index online.

Why do we need a transcription when someone has up a transcription? Easy Most people who independently do a transcription do selective transcriptions. They leave out one of the Dwelling numbers or family numbers. They do not include such things as the second page on 1830 & 1840 Censuses, That sheet contains no only slaves and free colored, but also such info as occupation, School attendance, etc. A typical independent transcription will have Name, age, sex and possibly birthplace. These are what most people think are Genealogically important data. Our project provides everything. If there are a large number of “idiots” in the family that might point out to a researcher that there were health problems, that continue for generations. Also what is insignificant today, may be most significant tomorrow. However These semi transcriptions, or indexes can be most useful to a transcriber doing a complete transcription. I recommend that every SCC check such sites as census online http://www.census-online.com/links/ to find such assets. If you find a transcription that way, feel free to contact the transcriber to get permission to post their transcription on our site. We do not link to other transcriptions, rather that post. If we post the transcription then we can control changes, proofreading and updates.

Earnie Breeding