Mail-System-Version: <BBN/MacEMail_v1.5@BBN.COM>
Newsgroups: soc.roots
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 08:28:07 EDT
Reply-To:     Bob Oliphant <oliphant@BBN.COM>
From:         Bob Oliphant <oliphant@BBN.COM>
Subject:      Re: Genealogical Societies: Card Indexes?
Comments: To: botteron@BU-IT.BU.EDU
Comments: cc: ROOTS-L@VM1.NoDak.EDU

Carol Botteron queries:
>
>Bob Oliphant says:
>
>  I have found the Ohio Genealogical Society to be especially helpful....
>  They also provide a 3X5 card index of the ancestors of all members, and
>  when you send in your cards, they will match them with those of existing
>  OGS members who have the same ancestors so you can exchange information.
>  I got a great deal of information on a line I had been stumped on for
>  many years this way.
>
>Bob and anyone else -- how (and how well) do such systems work?
<stuff deleted>

I think the one at OGS works *very* well.  I submitted about 200 cards
and within a month got about 8 names back of members having common
ancestors.  One of them was on a line that I had been stuck on for
years.  I wrote to the woman in Michigan who had the common ancestor and
received a nice reply with extensive additional information on our
common line from the woman in San Diego where she had been living for
SIX years.  How she ever got my letter I'll never know.  The clues she
gave me have kept me going for some time now and I have really been able
to extend this branch of my family back a great deal.

I also had a chance to visit the OGS Library in Mansfield, OH, this
summer (I live in Massachusetts).  The 3X5 cards are filed
alphabetically by ancestor's name in several card catalogs and are very
easy to use.  They also appear to be well maintained.  The OGS also
encourages members to submit 5-generation ancestral charts when they
submit their cards and these are filed alphabetically by the name of the
submitter.  As the name of the submitter is on every 3X5 card, once you
find an ancestor it is easy to then go to the ancestral chart and get
the whole line.

The OGS does not limit the number of cards you can submit, if they meet
minimum requirements (see below).  They give new members a brochure
describing how to prepare 3X5 cards and ancestral charts.  Here's what
they say about the ancestor cards (capitilized as in the OGS brochure):

    We would like a card for every ancestor about whom you have at least the
    name, one date and one place of residence that can identify him.  The
    Ancestor Cards act as an index to your 5 generation chart.

    1. Use only 3X5 index CARDS.

    2. NAME and ADDRESS of person submitting the card MUST be included in
    the lower right hand corner of ALL cards, allowing for a punched hole.
    NO address or computer labels, PLEASE!

    3. Type or block print neatly in BLACK ink the entire card, capitalizing
    the SURNAME, always using the surname first.

    4. Only one generation to a card; husband and wife should be on the same
    card if the information is known.

    5. No card should be submitted unless it contains at least one name, one
    place, and one date.

    6. Make a cross index card for the wife, using her MAIDEN NAME.

    7. No limit to the number of cards which may be submitted.  No
    restriction as to place of residence.  It is not limited to Ohio.  Any
    ancestral line you have may be submitted.

    8. If at any time you wish to update your cards, SUBMIT REPLACEMENT
    CARDS with a note informing us that these are "replacement cards" so
    your old cards can be removed.

    When two cards are found to have a common ancestor, the most recent
    submitter will be notified of the other's interest.

Examples are shown of a sample ancestor card and the wife's cross index
card.  Perhaps one of the staff at the OGS could give you more insight
on their system than I can.  Their address and phone number are:

	Ohio Genealogical Society
	P. O. Box 2652
	34 Sturges Avenue
	Mansfield, Ohio 44906-0625
	(419) 522-9077

Hope this helps.

Bob Oliphant
oliphant@bbn.com

**Researching OLIPHANT, DAVIDSON, STRANAGHAN, HORTON, MAY, MILLER**
****GEIST, ROHRBACH, ALLEN, PORTER, BEARDSLEY, CANTLEY, CROSLEY****

Who all ended up in OHIO!  Or, as they pronounce it in Boston, IOWA! :-)