The England Jurisdictions Map of 1851 has been a long-time FamilySearch.org feature. It has disappeared for times in the past and recently has had its own location. The URL for the map is unique: https://www.familysearch.org/en/mapp/ Yes, the URL has two "ps" in map. This FamilySearch.org website is relatively obscure and I find very few people who are otherwise involved in English genealogy know about the map or its features. Now, the map is even more detailed and useful likely using some AI features. One of most useful features is the beginning date of parish registers and bishop's transcripts.
The best way to become familiar with the map and its features is through clicking around and seeing all the new features. Here is a brief description of the map from December 13, 2024 before the new AI additions.
The England Jurisdictions, 1851 map is a powerful, internet-based geographic information system (GIS). It shows parish maps of the 40 counties in England. This mapping system simplifies English research. It consolidates data from many finding aids into a single searchable repository. Access the information with the click of a mouse in a parish boundary. See https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/does-familysearch-support-the-england-jurisdictions-1851-map
I need to say something about the state of current England jurisdictions. They are complicated, daunting, difficult to understand, only vaguely described and confusing to say the least. Now, back to the 1851 map. Why 1851? The FamilySearch England Jurisdictions 1851 is based on the British Ordnance Survey map of 1851. See Ordnance Survey from the National Archives (UK). These maps show almost every building, farm, and everything else about England. The 1851 map is a good example.
What about jurisdictions? As confusing as English jurisdictions are, anyone wanting to know how to do English genealogical research needs to know about, at least, the basics. The FamilySearch.org England Jurisdictions 1851 map now goes well beyond the basics For example, here is a list of layer of the upgraded map:
You can turn of and on the various subdivisions of the overall jurisdictions of counties. Finding genealogical records depends on knowing this jurisdictional approach to England (also Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales and all the other countries and subdivisions of the British Islands plus Ireland.
The map has always been useful to see the parishes that existed in 1851, but now the list includes all the possible jurisdictions.
Take some time. Learn about the map and ask a lot of questions. Remember one thing, boundaries and jurisdictions change over time. The current maps of England will be considerably different than those in 1851.
You might or might not have noticed sone new icons in the FamilySearch.org Catalog. Here is a closer screenshot view.
Here is an even closer view.
The new document icon is a link to the FamilySearch.org/labs Full-text search for that particular collection. Here is a screenshot of the Full-text search file.
Now if I search for my own surname (a lot of my ancestors and relatives lived in Apache County) I get the following new record list.
This is my great great grandfather's probate file. All these probate files are new additions to the both his sources and memories. This record has probably not been looked at previously since it was created.
I am guessing that these extra icons are going to get a lot of attention in the next few weeks and months.
Just a reminder that the BYU Library Family History Center continues to post three or four or more new genealogy videos every week. As of the date of this post, the number of videos was 1064. If you see a topic that needs to be covered, you can contact the library through an email to family-history@byu.edu
I lost track of the number of videos I have done that are now on YouTube.com. But I am sure you can fine a few that might help you in your genealogical activities.
Reclaim The Records, a non-profit organization dedicated to government transparency and public access to historical records, proudly announces the court-ordered release of information from millions of New York State death records, spanning three centuries of New York’s vibrant history. Last week, after a four-year legal battle, New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled in favor of Reclaim the Records in the case Matter of Reclaim the Records v. New York State Department of Health, finding that the Department of Health must disclose comprehensive death index records that had been requested under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
For more information about this monumental court decision, please take time to read the following web page:
Are you aware that there are many other public record collections that are restricted or only available behind a pay wall? You may wish to read some of the other articles in the battles faced by the Reclaim the Records staff and supporters. Please note that Reclaim the Records releases all these records into the public domain.
If you want to keep it, back it up. Computers and the associated devices are consumables. They are not investments. That means that any electronic device will have a life span and ultimately fail. The common lifespan rule of thumb for all devices, including computers, hard disk drives, smartphones, tablets or pads, and all the rest, is five years with a possible maximum of eight years. Even if a computer is physically sound, it can become "obsolete" as software and operating systems become more demanding, and older hardware struggles to keep up.
What this means is that the older the devices get, the more likely they are to fail but there are many ways electronics can fail long before the life span. So, what does this mean in plain English? You need to be aware of the age of each of your devices that you depend on for memory storage. The good news is that the cost of both hard drives and SSDs (Solid State Devices) continues to come down. Although, external pressures that affect availabilty and manufacture may temporarily drive up prices. In addition, the storage capacity of hard drives continues to increase and therefore drive down prices on smaller capacity hand drives.
Currently, (at the date of this post), the newest, readily available, large capacity hard drives are up to 22 Terabytes in storage capacity. This is more than most people could fill during most of their lives. Depending on the resolution of the average one to two hour movie, a 20 TB hard drive could store about 13,333 movies. If the movies were higher quality 4K , that number may drop to 5,000. But for the average genealogist anything over a 10 TB hard drive would probably never entirely fill up.
But let's look at current prices. A Seagate Expansion 10TB External Hard Drive HDD - USB 3.0, with Rescue Data Recovery Services (STKP10000402) on Amazon is selling for $284 but there may be other prices for similar drives. If you want to see the statistics on hard drive failure rates, see Backblaze Drive Stats for Q1 2025. But, the price of a Seagate Expansion 22TB External Hard Drive HDD - USB 3.0, with Rescue Data Recovery Services (STKP22000400) is $299. For about $15 more, you can get double the capacity.
So let's say you look at the size of your current computer's internal memory and it is much smaller than 22 TBs. You think well, all I need is a 1 or 2 TB hard drive to back up everything on my computer, (See one of my old posts: Struggling to Stay Online -- Back it up or lose it), Right now, a Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox, 1-Year Rescue Service (STGX1000400) , Black is $59 and a Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive HDD — USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox -1-Year Rescue Service (STGX2000400) is $69.
By the way, you can purchase a Seagate Expansion 28TB External Hard Drive HDD - USB 3.0, with Rescue Data Recovery Services (STKP28000400) for $389.
The question is how much is all the time and effort you have put into the contents of your computer's hard drive are you willing to all over again?
Thomas Hicks MDCG-YHY is a revolving door ancestor. He was called to my attention by a guest of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah who I was helping with a consultation. See https://www.familysearch.org/en/library/genealogy-help It just so happens that I am also related to this person assuming that the lines shown in View Relationship are correct. Thomas Hicks is a revolving door ancestor because the basic information about him is changing constantly with nine changes to the identity of his wife and other data in the last two weeks and there are hundreds perhaps into the thousands of changes logged by the Show All changes option.
I am not about to spend the time necessary to clear up the confusion about Thomas Hicks because it is a waste of time. This revolving door of constant changes should be made an award and I suggested that the people who qualify be marked with this possible icon.
Perhaps, there should be a competition for finding the individual on the FamilySearch Family Tree with the most changes. I already have in mind several individuals who are probably candidates for that honor. Perhaps something like this:
The tragedy from my recent consultation was that the person requesting help refuses to put his information on the Family Tree due to the changes. How many people are not using the FamilySearch.org Family Tree for exactly that reason and that reason alone? The irony of this particular person being a revolving door ancestor is that he appears in New England between 1557 and seems to appear on the FamilySearch.org Family Tree sometime before 2012. The further irony of this revolving door award winning person is that he had an extensive number of descendants who obviously have their ancestral heritage change with each change to Thomas Hicks.
In addition, any of the find my relative apps will constantly show a different set of proposed relatives.
I refuse to do any research in New England because of this constant threat of constant change. Yes, I know all about the CET trees project and when it is released, I will likely be able to look at my New England heritage once more.
As a genealogist, there is a division between activities that help and support genealogical/historical research and those that are mere play-time diversions. AI is not my "companion." AI is not going to help me with my daily schedule. AI is not going to improve the quality of my life (at least not directly). I am not looking to AI for advice about my life. AI is not a game or pass-time. So, what good is AI to a genealogical researcher?
I have been working on that aspect of AI now for more than three years. I have compared several of the Chatbot AI programs and tried to see how AI fits into my daily routine of finding genealogical records, drafting blog posts, developing webinar and class presentations, and answering questions from patrons at the Family History Center at the BYU Library and consultations with guests from the FamilySearch Library's webpage. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/library/genealogy-help). Here is what I have found so far.
First of all, I find it necessary to plough through the fluff and triviality of most of the online suggested AI activities. One of the main activities of genealogical research is the process of asking questions and finding answers from valid historical documents usually referred to as the "Research Process." But because of the complex nature of the overall genealogical activities that support research, I often need help with the mechanics of using online programs and resources. I also need to keep my computer system operational. So where does AI fit into this process and how do we avoid being side tracked by triviality?
At it core, AI as it is now being promoted is nothing more or less that an enhanced search engine with a robotic interface. If this assessment is the case, and I think it am right, AI should help with research as a step-up from a Google Search. What I do find, after trying different approaches, is that AI gives answers and not just a list of possibly useful websites. Initially, there was a lot of hand wringing over the accuracy of the AI Chatbots. The answer to the issue of the reliability of the information from the Chatbots was simply providing the source of their responses. The good news is that both Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot now provided accurate source citations to their responses. This allows the information to be evaluated and incorporated into the Research Process. You will have to try this out for yourself, but I find routine questions about history are adequately addressed. The AI Chatbots can also give me suggested online record sources and other related questions.
What this means for the average genealogical researcher is that AI can become your preferred search engine as long as it provides adequate source citations.
Here is a short example. I asked Microsoft CoPilot the following question:
Tell me the Catholic parish and diocese of Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, Colombia
I got the following response:
The Catholic parish in Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, Colombia is Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, located at Carrera 4 N° 3 - 26, Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, 90230. This parish falls under the jurisdiction of the Arquidiócesis de Tunja. If you need more details, you can check out their official page .
The answer also linked to the following website for support.
Iglesias y Parroquias Católicas en Nuevo Colon Boyacá , Colombia
This is definitely an enhanced help from trying to find this website with a Google Search when I have no idea that it exists. A check by searching from the town, Nuevo Colon Boyacá , Colombia, on Google Maps shows the churches in that town correspond to the response from CoPilot.
Now, why would I use CoPilot? I got both answers with links Even with the mapy of the town, I still do not know the dioceses.
If you are doing hundreds of searches every day, the convenience of the Chatbots saves valuable time.
Now what else. We (my extended family) are finding the organizing a lot of information on a spreadsheet in enhanced. We also find that asking for instructions about fixing online computer issues is enhanced. We like these features but see no use for the fluff. I don't need a Chatbot to tell me what I need to buy at the store for example. Although I might use a Chatbot to research purchases. So we come back to using AI for finding resources and answering questions.
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