Saturday, August 8, 2026

Ask AI: "Describe 20 Free or Low-Cost Genealogy Education Opportunities"

I requested the free Google Gemini 3 AI tool to "Please describe twenty free or low-cost genealogy edeucation opportunities that genealogists and family historians could use to learn genealogy research and and story writing techniques."  

(AI Gemini Notebook Infographic - 20 Free or Low-Cost Genealogy Education Opportunites)

The Google Gemini 3 response was:


20 Free or Low-Cost Genealogy Education Opportunities (Gemini 3 Response)

1. RootsTech On-Demand Library (Free)
  • Focus: Genealogy research, DNA, AI tools, family history writing, software.
  • Overview: Hosted by FamilySearch, this archive contains thousands of free video sessions from world-class speakers. It includes beginner guides and cutting-edge topics like using AI to transcode documents or analyze DNA matches.
2. FamilySearch Learning Center & Research Wiki (Free)
  • Focus: Record research, family tree building, global geographic research.
  • Overview: A massive repository of free video lessons, step-by-step guides, and record-searching strategies tailored to specific countries, states, and ethnic lineages.
3. Legacy Family Tree Webinars (Free Live / Low-Cost ~$50/year)
  • Focus: AI prompt engineering, DNA triangulation, writing, brick-wall strategies.
  • Overview: Features over 2,000 live and archived webinars presented by leading experts. Live broadcasts and their re-plays are completely free for 7 days post-airing.
4. BYU Family History Library Webinars & YouTube (Free)
  • Focus: Research methodology, digital organization, DNA basics, tree building.
  • Overview: Brigham Young University offers free live webinars and hundreds of archived tutorials covering foundational to advanced research strategies.
5. National Genealogical Society (NGS) Learning (Free / Low-Cost $35–$45)
  • Focus: Core skills, AI prompting, narrative writing, record evaluation.
  • Overview: NGS offers a free "Family History Skills" course for foundational knowledge, along with affordable standalone workshops on using AI to outline and write ancestor stories.
6. The Family History Guide (Free)
  • Focus: Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, storytelling, research roadmaps.
  • Overview: A structured, step-by-step learning management system designed to walk beginners and intermediate researchers through family tree building, platform navigation, and writing projects.
7. FutureLearn: Tracing Your Ancestry (Univ. of Strathclyde) (Free Audit / Low-Cost Upgrade)
  • Focus: Research techniques, historical context, record interpretation.
  • Overview: A 6-week online course that covers the fundamentals of building a verified tree, analyzing primary sources, and synthesizing findings into readable reports.
8. Essential AI Genealogy Academy (Free Starter / Low-Cost $5–$45)
  • Focus: AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, NotebookLM), historical writing, narrative crafting.
  • Overview: Developed by "Coach Carole," this platform specializes in teaching researchers how to use AI models to summarize notes, transcribe handwriting, and organize family stories.
9. ConferenceKeeper (Free Directories)
  • Focus: Live webinars on AI, DNA, writing, record sets, software.
  • Overview: Centralized calendar portals indexing free daily virtual lectures, workshops, and user group meetings across the worldwide genealogy community.
10. U.S. National Archives (NARA) Genealogy Series (Free)
  • Focus: Census data, military service records, land records, immigration.
  • Overview: Free recorded lectures and guides on how to access, navigate, and transcribe federal records to build comprehensive ancestor biographies.
11. Genealogy Gems by Lisa Louise Cooke (Free Podcast/YouTube / Low-Cost Premium)
  • Focus: Search strategies, Google AI/Search tools, digital organization, media creation.
  • Overview: Focuses on leveraging tech, web search engines, and modern digital mapping tools to locate hard-to-find records and bring family stories to life.
12. JewishGen Learning Center & Webinars (Free / Low-Cost)
  • Focus: Jewish lineage, translation, Eastern European archives, tree building.
  • Overview: Specialized instructional materials, foreign language translation resources, and virtual talks for tracing Jewish ancestors across global records.
13. FamilyTreeDNA Learning Center & Webinars (Free)
  • Focus: Autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, mtDNA, chromosome mapping.
  • Overview: Free educational articles and webinars explaining how to analyze genetic matches, understand haplogroups, and attach DNA evidence to family trees.
14. The Genetic Genealogist (Blaine Bettinger) (Free Blog & Videos / Low-Cost Webinars)
  • Focus: Advanced DNA analysis, GEDmatch, DNA Painter, AI in genetics.
  • Overview: Insights from a pioneer in genetic genealogy, offering free guides and affordable webinars on analyzing complex DNA results and leveraging automated tools.
15. Ancestry Support & YouTube Channel (Free)
  • Focus: Ancestry.com tools, DNA ThruLines, tree building, record hints.
  • Overview: Free video series and step-by-step documentation designed to help users maximize platform tools, resolve record conflicts, and interpret genetic matches.
16. DearMYRTLE YouTube Channel  (Free)
  • Focus: Practical methodology, AI testing, source citations, panel study groups.
  • Overview: Interactive video discussions and live demonstrations covering research standards, document analysis, and applying new tech (like AI writing assistants) to family history.
17. ICAPGen Mentoring YouTube Channel (Free)
  • Focus: Professional standards, Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS), report writing.
  • Overview: Training videos focusing on evidence evaluation, research planning, and structuring clear, professional-grade written family histories.
18. Society of Genealogists (UK) Virtual Talks (Low-Cost ~$10–$25)
  • Focus: British/European archives, palaeography (old handwriting), historical writing.
  • Overview: Low-cost standalone webinars covering topic-specific subjects such as reading old scripts, contextualizing historical eras, and publishing family history narratives.
19. Cyndi’s List – Education Section (Free Directory)
  • Focus: Categorized index of courses, writing guides, DNA portals, and AI tools.
  • Overview: A organized web directory providing direct links to hundreds of free tutorials, self-study modules, and university resources across all genealogy domains.
20. Coursera & edX History & Genetics MOOCs (Free Audit Option)
  • Focus: Human genetics, historical context, narrative non-fiction writing.
  • Overview: Audit university-level courses for free from institutions like Harvard or Emory to strengthen background knowledge in genetic science, historical backdrop, and non-fiction story writing.

=================================

A Google Gemini Notebook Video Overview of this post is below and on my YouTube channel:

In addition, there are several general resources that can provide free or low-cost genealogy education, including:

  • Local, regional and national genealogy and family history societies -- in-person or virtual education programs and website archives.
  • Hundreds of YouTube channels created by individuals, societies, groups and companies.
  • Hundreds of genealogy-oriented websites created by individuals, societies, groups and companies. 
  • /Facebook pages and groups created and maintained by individuals, societies, a groups, and companies

What other significant free or low-cost genealogy education opportunities can you think of?  Maybe I should ask Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity too?

I will likely offer a similar list for higher-cost genealogy education options in the future. 

==============================================

Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page.  Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is:  
Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

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Ask AI: "Describe the Life of Henry Austin Carringer At Age 14 in Iowa in 1868"

 I wondered if the FREE AI tools could provide me with information about a teenage boy's life in  Washington County, Iowa in 1868. My great-grandfather, Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) was age 14 in 1868.  The ABC Biography for him is in ABC Biography of #12 Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) of Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado and California.

My Prompt for Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 Medium was:  "Please describe the life of 14-year-old Henry Austin Carringer in Washington County, Iowa in 1868, based on the attached biography. Consider family, work, education, community activities, entertainment, fun?"

(AI NotebookLM infographic -- Henry Austin Carringer's Life at Age 14 in 1868)

Here is the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 response:


Life of Henry Austin Carringer at Age 14 in 1868

 in Washington County,  Iowa



The Family In 1868

The farm household in Jackson Township, Washington County, Iowa at this point centered on five people. David Jackson “D.J.,” Carringer, about age 40, was the head of the family, having largely set aside his carpentry trade for farming, though — as we know from his later life, where he moved fluidly between carpentry, farming, and orchard work — he likely never fully set the tools aside, and probably kept a chest of them in the barn for repairs, furniture, and outbuildings. Rebecca, about age 35, ran the household: cooking, preserving, sewing and mending, tending a kitchen garden, and managing the countless daily tasks that kept a farm family fed and clothed.

Harvey Edgar, about 16, was Austin's older brother and closest working companion, the two of them old enough by now to handle most of the physical labor a hired man would otherwise have done. Henry Austin himself, turning 15 that November, was at the age where farm sons stopped being "helpers" and became core labor. And Effie, about 9, was still young enough to be mostly in Rebecca's orbit — helping with lighter household chores, tending chickens, fetching and carrying — though old enough to be noticing and absorbing the rhythms of farm life around her. It was a close, hardworking household of five, with no hired hands, which meant everyone's labor mattered and everyone's absence would have been felt.

The Shape of the Farming Year

At 14, Austin was past the age of being a helper and into the age of being genuinely necessary labor. With no hired hands in the household (confirmed by the 1870 census, which shows just D.J., Rebecca, and the two boys running the operation), a farm this size — modest but productive, the kind that would soon show 40 acres, several horses, dairy cows, and swine — needed every able body working nearly year-round.

Spring would have opened with fence and tool repair, manure spreading, and breaking or harrowing ground. Austin likely walked behind or beside a horse-drawn plow, or handled a team himself if he'd shown the aptitude — 14 was a common age for a farm boy to graduate from leading a team to actually driving one. Corn planting came in this stretch too, often by hand or with a simple horse-drawn planter, and it demanded exact spacing and careful walking of the rows.

Summer meant cultivation — hoeing corn to keep weeds down, a task that could eat entire days — plus haying season, which was one of the most labor-intensive stretches of the year: cutting, raking, and pitching hay by hand before it could be stored. This is also when the dairy cows would have needed daily milking, morning and evening, a chore that likely fell partly to Austin or Edgar as a fixed daily responsibility rather than a seasonal one.

Fall brought the corn harvest — husking by hand, a task farm families sometimes turned into communal "husking bees" with neighboring families, part labor and part social event. Wheat and oats, if already part of the rotation by 1868, would have been cut earlier in later summer and threshed in fall, sometimes with a traveling threshing crew the neighborhood shared.

Winter slowed the field work but not the chores — livestock still needed feeding and watering daily, wood needed cutting and hauling for the stove, and this was the season when Austin's schooling would have been most active, since farm labor demand dropped enough to spare him for the schoolhouse.

Daily Chores Beyond the Fields

Independent of season, a 14-year-old on a farm like this would have had standing daily responsibilities: feeding and watering horses and hogs, milking, mucking stalls, hauling water, splitting kindling, and helping his mother Rebecca with heavier household tasks — hauling water for washing, helping butcher hogs in the fall, or handling anything requiring more strength than she or 9-year-old Effie could manage alone.

Education

Austin's schooling by 1868 would have followed the common rural Iowa pattern of a winter term at a one-room schoolhouse, likely a mile or more from home, walked in all weather with Edgar and possibly Effie. A single teacher — often young, sometimes a woman boarding with a local family for the term — would have taught all ages together in one room, with older boys like Austin sometimes expected to help hear younger children's lessons. The curriculum centered on the McGuffey Reader series, slate-and-chalk arithmetic, penmanship drilled through copybooks, and geography and spelling taught largely by rote and recitation.

But 1868 was also likely the point where Austin's education began quietly shifting away from the schoolhouse and toward the farm and the workshop — this was the age when a farm boy's practical apprenticeship, often at his own father's side, started to compete with and eventually replace formal schooling.

Given that Austin later became a skilled carpenter and machinist in his own right, 1868 was plausibly among the years when D.J. began actively teaching him — how to select and true a piece of lumber, how to set a joint, how to use a plane, saw, and level correctly, the same trade D.J. himself had learned by about the same age. This kind of hands-on instruction was itself a form of education, arguably the one that shaped Austin's later working life more than the schoolhouse did.

Community

Beyond Sunday worship, which likely anchored the family's week and social calendar alike, community life in a farming township like this ran on mutual labor as much as on formal institutions. Threshing time brought neighboring farmers together with shared equipment and rotating crews, families feeding the whole crew a substantial midday meal that was itself a social event. Barn raisings, when a neighbor needed a new structure up, drew men and boys from surrounding farms for a day of communal building followed by food and conversation — occasions where a boy like Austin, already learning carpentry basics from his father, would have had a chance to watch skilled builders at work and pick up more of the trade by observation.

The schoolhouse doubled as a community hall outside of term time, hosting spelling bees, recitation exhibitions, occasional traveling lecturers or preachers, and local meetings. Election days, county fairs, and militia or veterans' gatherings (many of the township's older men would have served in the recently concluded Civil War) rounded out the calendar of shared public life.

Entertainment and Fun

For a boy on the cusp of 14, amusement was still largely bound up with the working calendar rather than separate from it, but there was real fun to be had within that structure. Summer offered fishing and swimming with Edgar in a nearby creek or pond after chores were done, along with hunting squirrels, rabbits, or birds with an older boy's freedom to roam the fields and streams once the day's work was finished. Corn huskings in the fall were genuinely festive — neighboring families gathering to husk a season's harvest together, often with the tradition that a boy who found a red ear of corn won a kiss or a small prize, turning tedious labor into a game.

Winter brought sledding and ice skating on frozen ponds, and long evenings by the fire that might include checkers, cards, storytelling, or Rebecca reading aloud. Marbles and rough early bat-and-ball games were common among farm boys in spare moments, and a barn dance — with a neighbor on fiddle — could be the highlight of an entire season for a household this hardworking.

For Austin specifically, there may have been an added satisfaction in this period: the quiet pride of being trusted with his father's tools, of turning out a straight joint or a well-fitted board, the first taste of a trade that would define his working life for decades to come.

A Working Family

By 1868, the Auble family had weathered the disruption of relocation and was settling into the rhythms of their new Iowa farm. In 1873, this household would still be together but would move to eastern Colorado in 1873 after the farm failed. Eventually, Austin would marry in 1887 in Kansas and move to California, and DJ, Rebecca and Edgar followed in 1898. But in 1868, they were still very much a family under one roof: a carpenter/farmer father trying to be successful, a mother managing a bustling household of three children, and a township around them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: This vignette draws on documented facts about the Carringer family (ages, occupations, migration timeline, church affiliation) combined with well-established general history of Louisa and Washington Counties in this period. Specific day-to-day details of the family's activities in 1868 are not individually documented and are presented here as historically plausible context rather than recorded fact.

===================================

The Google NotebookLM Video Overview of this post is below and on my YouTube channel: 

As genealogists, we can occasionally find the 19th century town or church records for Iowa families, but we can find census, occupation, military, land and probate records. In addition, there are books and websites about the daily lives of people in those times.  The AI tools have been pre-trained on historical events, social history, geography, literature and other disciplines so they can provide information for questions like this one, and by 2025 they have the ability to search the Internet.  

After I read these types of social history summaries, I wish that I could be a time traveler for one day to visit the Carringer family in Iowa and witness their daily lives.  I'm glad that the general lifestyles and occupations are known from historical records and witness accounts.

I also wondered just how hard it was for a teenage boy or man to plow 40 acres. How long did it take?  How long were the days?  How many horses?  What equipment was required? Is there a YouTube video showing plowing behind horses?  I found this video -- Plowing the Garden With Draft Horses and a Walking Plow/Weighing Stub. Fascinating!

==============================================

Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page.  Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is:  

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

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Friday, August 7, 2026

Added and Updated FamilySearch Record Collections - Week of 1 to 7 2026

 Each week, I try to keep track of the number of Full-Text Search collections (indexed, searchable) and the Images collections (browsable but not searchable) -- see Sections 1) and 2) below. In addition, I list the genealogy historical record collections (often name-indexed) that are added, removed, and/or updated on FamilySearch and listed on the Historical Record Collection list  --  See Section 3.

1)  As of 7 August 2026, there are now 6,722 searchable and full-text transcribed image collections on FamilySearch Full-Text Search this week, an increase of 4 from last week. There are over 2 BILLION "results" in the collections.  It is not possible to see which collections are new, although a clue would be the Last Updated column.

 2)  As of 7 August 2026, there are now 25,847 browsable (some indexed, none transcribed) image collections on FamilySearch Images this week, an increase of 206 from last week. There are over 6.121 BILLION images in these collections.  There are 2,140 collections from the United States, 7,214 from Europe and 223 from Canada.  It is not possible to see which collections are new. Note that the listing now indicates the indexed percentage of some collections.

3)  As of 7 August 2026, there are 3,469 Historical Record Collections (many indexed, many browsable) on FamilySearch (an increase of 6 from last week):

The Deleted, Added and Updated Historical Record Collections this week include:

--- Collections Deleted ---

--- Collections Added ---

*  Africa, French Colonial Civil Registration Records, 1700–1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000626); 2,789,809 indexed records with 985,463 record images, ADDED 04-Aug-2026
*  Italy, Grosseto, Census, 1776-1921 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000450); 115,574 indexed records with 13,215 record images, ADDED 20-Jul-2026
*  Montana, Glacier County Records, 1919-1988 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2266459); 4,817 indexed records with 5,730 record images, ADDED 03-Aug-2026
*  Russia, Zhytomyr, Metrical Books, 1795-1916 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000561); 2,670,743 indexed records with 538,712 record images, ADDED 06-Aug-2026
*  Ukraine, Mykolaiv, Confession Lists, 1795-1925 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000397); 200,651 indexed records with 7,629 record images, ADDED 04-Aug-2026
*  United States, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America records, ca. 1800-1900 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2363041); 3,205,217 indexed records with 528,493 record images, ADDED 31-Jul-2026

--- Collections Updated ---

Argentina, Buenos Aires, Catholic Church Records, 1635-2017 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1972912); 2,900,520 indexed records with 978,396 record images (was 134,084 records with 978,396 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Capital Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1640-1978 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974184); 1,594,151 indexed records with 998,148 record images (was 175,308 records with 998,148 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Catamarca, Catholic Church Records, 1724-1971 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974178); 232,467 indexed records with 102,718 record images (was 231,281 records with 102,718 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Corrientes, Catholic Church Records, 1734-2013 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974183); 278,005 indexed records with 207,943 record images (was 277,437 records with 207,943 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026
Argentina, Córdoba, Catholic Church Records, 1557-1974 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974182); 1,037,448 indexed records with 419,985 record images (was 137,383 records with 419,985 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026

Argentina, Entre Ríos, Catholic Church Records, 1764-2011 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974185); 548,673 indexed records with 235,772 record images (was 345,942 records with 235,772 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, La Rioja, Catholic Church Records, 1714-1970 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974188); 81,826 indexed records with 74,259 record images (was 79,234 records with 74,259 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Mendoza, Catholic Church Records, 1665-1975 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974189); 362,304 indexed records with 144,042 record images (was 198,739 records with 144,042 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Salta, Catholic Church Records, 1634-1972 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974193); 348,863 indexed records with 144,293 record images (was 347,971 records with 144,293 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, San Juan, Catholic Church Records, 1655-2013 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974194); 206,360 indexed records with 83,087 record images (was 200,938 records with 83,087 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026

Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634-2003 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974196); 783,111 indexed records with 424,329 record images (was 176,332 records with 424,329 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Santiago del Estero, Catholic Church Records, 1581-1961 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974197); 172,336 indexed records with 102,368 record images (was 172,116 records with 102,368 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Argentina, Tucumán, Catholic Church Records, 1727-1955 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1974199); 662,965 indexed records with 184,969 record images (was 662,446 records with 184,969 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Australia, South Australia, Immigrants Ship Papers, 1845-1941 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2613135); 578,820 indexed records with 23,082 record images (was 578,819 records with 23,081 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Austria, Evangelical-Lutheran Church Records, 1783-1991 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1393793); 260,233 indexed records with 42,522 record images (was 260,233 records with 42,522 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026

Belgium, East Flanders, Civil Registration, 1541-1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2138513); 1,015,325 indexed records with 2,944,655 record images (was 1,015,324 records with 2,944,655 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Bolivia, Catholic Church Records, 1566-2020 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1922463); 9,827,520 indexed records with 1,649,601 record images (was 9,825,511 records with 1,649,601 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
Brazil, Foreigner Files, 1653-2022 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000160); 139,252 indexed records with 3,067,261 record images (was 134,960 records with 3,065,047 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026
Chile, Catholic Church Records, 1633-2015 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3405096); 9,364,787 indexed records with 1,789,792 record images (was 8,804,944 records with 1,250,421 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Colombia, Catholic Church Records, 1576-2019 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1726975); 27,939,556 indexed records with 12,659,776 record images (was 1,027,753 records with 12,659,776 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026

Connecticut, Marriages, 1640-1939 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2448940); 1,683,068 indexed records with 6,906 record images (was 1 records with 6,906 images), UPDATED 31-Jul-2026
Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records, 1595-2022 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1460016); 2,659,312 indexed records with 962,203 record images (was 2,627,282 records with 962,203 images), UPDATED 02-Aug-2026
France, Ariège, Parish and Civil Registration, 1583-1923 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000206); 2,306,239 indexed records with 966,562 record images (was 1,660,594 records with 691,421 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026
France, Hautes-Alpes, Census, 1896 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2820765); 215,741 indexed records with 4,178 record images (was 215,117 records with 4,178 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
France, Landes, Parish and Civil Registration, 1580-1898 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000213); 3,896,260 indexed records with 1,189,085 record images (was 3,893,977 records with 1,187,890 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026

Guatemala, Catholic Church Records, 1581-2023 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1614809); 5,069,282 indexed records with 1,160,338 record images (was 4,875,195 records with 1,160,338 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026
India, Catholic Church Records, 1751-2014 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4491581); 88,041 indexed records with 617,174 record images (was 75,383 records with 581,117 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Mexico, Sonora, Catholic Church Records, 1657-1994 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1473203); 629,605 indexed records with 383,518 record images (was 629,605 records with 383,518 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
New Hampshire, Vital and Town Records Index, 1656-1938 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2366595); Index only (242,422 records), no images (was 242,417 records with 0 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
New York, Land Records, 1630-1975 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2078654); 65,562,377 indexed records with 8,129,310 record images (was 65,562,372 records with 8,129,310 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026

Peru, Arequipa, Catholic Church Records, 1660-2020 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4447275); Index only (80,938 records), no images (was 80,367 records with 0 images), UPDATED 02-Aug-2026
Peru, Catholic Church Records, 1556-2023 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1877097); Index only (3,479,671 records), no images (was 120,461 records with 0 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Philippines Civil Registration (National), 1945-1996 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1852584); 6,764,642 indexed records with 20,274,621 record images (was 6,757,579 records with 20,274,621 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026
Russia, Samara, Church Books 1748-1934 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1807365); 12,707,966 indexed records with 1,909,956 record images (was 11,854,952 records with 1,909,956 images), UPDATED 07-Aug-2026
Russia, Tula, Church Books, 1722-1936 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000050); 9,761,090 indexed records with 2,060,984 record images (was 6,204,115 records with 1,574,069 images), UPDATED 07-Aug-2026

Spain, Gerona, Municipal Records, 1566-1960 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2015355); 1,329,160 indexed records with 390,067 record images (was 0 records with 390,067 images), UPDATED 05-Aug-2026
Texas, Webb, Laredo, Arrival Manifests, 1903-1955 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2038112); 637,124 indexed records with 1,322,540 record images (was 637,082 records with 1,322,540 images), UPDATED 02-Aug-2026
Ukraine, Western Ukraine, Catholic Church Book Duplicates, 1600-1937 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1910265); 465,533 indexed records with 942,391 record images (was 465,531 records with 942,391 images), UPDATED 04-Aug-2026
Uruguay, Catholic Church Records, 1726-2000 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4134697); 1,065,883 indexed records with 308,677 record images (was 1,065,845 records with 308,677 images), UPDATED 02-Aug-2026
Venezuela, Archdiocese of Caracas, Catholic Church Records, 1638-2020 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4465438); 386,801 indexed records with 168,085 record images (was 383,085 records with 164,371 images), UPDATED 01-Aug-2026

--- Collections with new images ---

Argentina, Buenos Aires City, Civil Registration, 1811-1980 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000077); 1 indexed records with 10,194 record images (was 1 records with 10,193 images), last updated 26-Nov-2024
Argentina, Military Records, 1911-1936 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000280); 2,929,239 indexed records with 2,929,297 record images (was 2,929,239 records with 2,929,295 images), last updated 03-Apr-2026
Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1770729); 411,266 indexed records with 531,824 record images (was 411,266 records with 531,822 images), last updated 17-Jun-2026
Brazil, Alagoas, Civil Registration, 1876-2023 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4469403); 1 indexed records with 454,241 record images (was 1 records with 454,240 images), last updated 07-Jun-2024
Brazil, Maranhão, Civil Registration, 1827-2022 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4469402); 1 indexed records with 906,244 record images (was 1 records with 906,243 images), last updated 07-Jun-2024

Find a Grave Index (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2221801); 272,435,265 indexed records with 283,045,436 record images (was 272,435,265 records with 322,576 images), last updated 26-Jun-2026
Italy, Firenze, Census, 1808-1871 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000441); 532,851 indexed records with 40,273 record images (was 532,851 records with 40,045 images), last updated 28-Jul-2026
United States, Census, 1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4464515); 157,892,854 indexed records with 52,754,650 record images (was 157,892,854 records with 52,752,814 images), last updated 16-Jun-2024
United States, Obituary Records, 2014-2023 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000145); 1 indexed records with 28,206,731 record images (was 1 records with 28,206,724 images), last updated 22-Jul-2024
West Virginia, Births, 1853-1930 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1417341); 987,420 indexed records with 1,289,659 record images (was 987,420 records with 1,289,651 images), last updated 07-Apr-2026

--- Collections with images removed ---

--- Collections with new records ---

--- Collections with records removed ---

California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1949339); Index only (4,879,198 records), no images (was 4,879,199 records with 0 images), last updated 06-Dec-2011
United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages, 1980-2015 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2333694); 28,662,128 indexed records with 46,919,022 record images (was 28,662,129 records with 46,919,022 images), last updated 21-Jul-2026
United States, Public Records, 1970-2009 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2199956); Index only (875,600,543 records), no images (was 875,600,548 records with 0 images), last updated 29-Jul-2026
United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000290); Index only (413,857,893 records), no images (was 413,857,915 records with 0 images), last updated 22-Jun-2024
Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-2008 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2075288); 1,974,168 indexed records with 1,162,117 record images (was 1,974,169 records with 1,162,117 images), last updated 14-Jun-2024

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My friend and SDGS colleague, Marshall, has come up with a way to determine which collections are ADDED, DELETED or UPDATED, and to alphabetize the entries in each category. Thanks to Marshall for helping me out here!

Marshall notes that there are:

  • 3,469 Historical Record Collection entries
  • 0 removed entries
  • 6 added entries 
  • 40 updated entries
  • 10 entries with more or fewer images 
  • 5 entries with more or fewer records
Marshall's list shows 3,469 Historical Record Collections this week, an increase of 6 collections. The image website image above shows 3,469 collections, so the website number is in sync with Marshall's list number.

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See previous FamilySearch-related blog posts in        https://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/FamilySearch

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not be posted immediately.

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Added and Updated Ancestry.com Record Collections - Week of 1 to 7 August 2026

   The following genealogy record collections were added to the Ancestry.com Card Catalog page by "Date Updated" during the period from 1 to 7 August 2026: 

The ADDED and Updated collections include:

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The complete Ancestry.com Card Catalog is at https://search.ancestry.com/search/CardCatalog.aspx.

By my count, there are 7 NEW record collections ADDED this past week, per the list above. There are now 33,972 collections available as of 7 August, an INCREASE of 6 from last week. 

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Disclosure: I pay for an All-Access subscription from Ancestry.com. In past years, Ancestry.com provided a complimentary All Access subscription, an autosomal DNA test, material considerations for travel expenses to meetings, and hosted events and meals that I attended in Salt Lake City.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/08/added-and-updated-ancestrycom-record.html

 Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Facebook, X, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all Comments are moderated so they may not appear immediately.

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Ask AI: "Describe the Life of the Henry Austin Carringer Family in 1898 in San Diego"

  I asked my AI Assistant Anthropic Claude to provide information about my ancestral family's life in 1898 in Saqn Diego, California.  My great-grandparents Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer had married in 1887, and had one living child in 1898, my grandfather Lyle Carringer. I posted ABC Biographies for Austin and Della in ABC Biography of #12 Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) of Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado and California and ABC Biography of #13 Abbey Ardelle "Della" (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944) of Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and California.

I asked Anthropic Claude to create a description of the Henry Austin Carringer family life and work in San Diego, California in 1898 based on the biographies and social history.

(AI NotebookLM infographic -- Life of the Henry Austin Carringer Family in 1898)

Here is the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 response: 

A Year on Watkins Avenue: The Carringer Family in 1898

A historical narrative based on documented family facts, with author's note below distinguishing fact from creative interpretation.

The Household

The new year of 1898 found Austin Carringer, 44 years old, standing in the yard of the house he had just finished building on the corner where Ella Street met Watkins Avenue (now 30th and Hawthorn Streets), in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of San Diego. The permit had been issued the previous June — $600 for the residence, taken out in his wife Della's name, as was fitting since the nine lots themselves had been purchased in her name back in 1894. Now the two-story frame house stood finished, smelling of fresh-cut lumber and paint, facing Watkins Street just as they'd planned, with the porch and entry angled to the southwest corner of the block.

Inside lived a household of four. Austin and Della, married now nearly eleven years, anchored the family. Their son Lyle, six years old, was the light of the household — a bright, curious boy born in a house at 16th and H Streets back in 1891. And there was Della's mother, Abbie (Vaux) Smith, aged 54, a widow who had come to live with her daughter's family, as widowed mothers of that era so often did. Abbie had been born back East, in New York, the daughter of an Englishman, and she brought with her decades of stories and a steadying presence in the household.

The shadow of an earlier loss still lingered quietly in the family's memory. Devier David, their firstborn, had died as a nine-month old infant back in 1890, not long after the joyful newspaper announcement of his birth. Eight years later, the grief had settled into something the family carried rather than spoke of daily, but it shaped how fiercely they watched over young Lyle. Because of that loss, Austin and Della had lost their faith in God and preferred to do good deeds.

During 1898, Austin’s elderly parents (David Jackson born in 1828 and Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer born in 1832), and their son Harvey Edgar Carringer, age 45, had moved to San Diego, bought a lot, and built a house at what is now 30th and Ivy Streets, just one block north of the Austin Carringer home.

Austin's Work

Each morning, Austin either drove his horse-drawn surrey or walked to 16th Street and Broadway, and then rode the trolley toward his work as a carpenter, employed at the Russ Lumber and Mill Company at First and I Streets in downtown San Diego — a business that would remain his employer for years to come, well past the turn of the century. San Diego in 1898 was a city rebuilding itself after the real estate bust of the late 1880s, and skilled carpenters were needed for the steady, if modest, construction that was reshaping neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, University Heights, and the areas around downtown.

The work was physical and exacting. Lumber arrived by ship and rail, and mills like Russ's cut, planed, and prepared it for the builders who were slowly filling in San Diego's grid of streets with modest wood-frame homes very much like the one Austin had just built for his own family. Having just finished his own house — doing the finish work himself, as he always would throughout his life — Austin brought home-grown expertise to his daily labor, and no doubt his colleagues at the mill knew him as a craftsman who took real pride in doing things right.

Building the House

The house itself was the great project of the preceding year. The nine lots at Block 61 of Seaman and Choate's Addition had been sitting, waiting, since Della bought them for $450 back in 1894 — a purchase made when Lyle was still a toddler and the family was renting at 28th and Logan in the city. For three years, the family had saved and planned, Austin working at the mill and no doubt setting aside lumber and hardware as opportunity allowed.

When the building permit finally came through in June of 1897, construction began on the southwestern corner of the block, positioned to face Watkins Avenue. Austin built the two-story structure with his own hands — a skill he'd practice again decades later when the house would be moved and remodeled in the late 1920s. By 1898, the family was settled into their new home, and it would remain the Carringer family homestead for the rest of Austin and Della's lives, nearly half a century.

Education

Six-year-old Lyle was not yet enrolled in one of San Diego's public schools in 1898 — he was a very slight boy and protected by his parents. He would eventually attend Sherman School at 22nd and K Streets serving the growing residential areas east of downtown. San Diego's school system at the turn of the century was still relatively young but expanding rapidly as families moved into new subdivisions like Brooklyn Heights. Children walked to school, often in groups from the neighborhood, and the school day emphasized basic literacy, arithmetic, and civic training suited to the era.

For Lyle's parents, education had been valued as well — Austin's own school years in Iowa were noted in census records, and Della, who had worked as an art teacher, clearly placed value on learning and creative development. It's easy to imagine that evenings in the Carringer household included Lyle's schoolwork alongside his grandmother Abbie's stories of her own girlhood back East.

Community Affairs

San Diego in 1898 was a city of roughly 17,000 people, small enough that neighbors knew each other and community institutions mattered. Austin had already shown his community spirit years earlier as a member of the National City Fire Department's Active Hose No. 1, and the same civic-minded instinct likely carried into his life in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

The nation itself was consumed that year with the Spanish-American War, which broke out in April 1898. San Diego, with its natural harbor, watched the war with particular interest, as the Pacific fleet and coastal defense took on new urgency. Newspapers like the San Diego Union — the same paper that would later chronicle the Carringers' own family milestones — filled their pages with war news throughout the year, and it's likely the war was a frequent topic of conversation among Austin and his fellow workers at the lumber mill.

Locally, the Brooklyn Heights and Golden Hill areas where the family lived were among San Diego's developing residential neighborhoods, with new streetcar lines slowly extending city services — including, eventually, the line from 16th and Broadway that the family would later extensively use.

Entertainment

Austin and Della's love of performance, first kindled back in Wano, Kansas, where they had starred together in local plays before their marriage, likely didn't fade entirely once they settled in San Diego. Though no specific record survives of their theatrical activities in 1898, the couple's demonstrated love of creative pursuits — Della's artistic talents that had flowered into painting, furniture design, and teaching — suggests a household that valued culture and creativity alongside hard work.

San Diego at the turn of the century offered various forms of entertainment for a family like the Carringers: traveling theatrical troupes that performed at local halls, band concerts in the city's parks, and the simple pleasures of visiting family and neighbors. Horseback and buggy outings to the countryside, still largely undeveloped beyond the city's core, were common weekend activities. Given Austin's ownership of a bicycle (documented in an 1895 family photograph), it's reasonable to imagine cycling was already a family pastime by 1898, an activity enjoying a nationwide craze during that decade.

Closing the Year

By the close of 1898, the Carringer family had much to be grateful for: a new home built by Austin's own hands, a healthy young son growing and learning, and a household made richer by Abbie Smith's presence. The nation's brief war had ended in victory that August, and San Diego continued its slow, steady growth toward the city it would become in the new century. For Austin and Della, the year represented a milestone — the fulfillment of a plan set in motion years earlier, and the beginning of four decades in the home on Watkins Avenue that would anchor their family for the rest of their lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note

This narrative is a creative reconstruction built around documented facts: the Carringer household composition in this period (Austin, Della, young Lyle, and Della's widowed mother Abbie Smith, as confirmed by the 1900 census taken just two years later); the 1894 land purchase and 1897 building permit for the Watkins Avenue house; Austin's employment at Russ Lumber and Mill Company; the earlier loss of infant son Devier David in 1890; and the couple's documented history as theatrical performers in Kansas before their marriage.

The family's participation in specific community or entertainment activities in 1898, and conversational or emotional content are creative interpretations meant to bring historical texture to the documented facts, not documented events themselves. The reference to the Spanish-American War and general San Diego civic conditions in 1898 are drawn from general historical record of the period rather than family-specific documentation.

As always, I don't have access to search or a verified historical database for this piece, so any general historical claims about San Diego or national events in 1898 should be independently verified if used for research purposes.

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The AI Google NotebookLM Video Overview of this story is below and on my YouTube channel:

This is historical fiction based on known events in the lives of my ancestors -- it might have been this way. Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer are my great-grandparents, and I have significant information about this family from the available records, but I know little about their day-to-day lives.

As always, I am amazed at what life was like in any place over 120 years ago. This description of their family life in 1898 San Diego is interesting and so different from our current daily activities.

After I read these types of social history summaries, I wish that I could be a time traveler for one day to visit this Carringer family in 1898 San Diego and witness their daily lives.  I'm glad that the general lifestyles and occupations are known from historical records and witness accounts.

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page.  Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.


Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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