Genealogy Blog Family History

What is a GSU or DGS number and should I care?Posted by Administrator on September 18th, 2007

I was writing a response to a question and thought you may be able to use this as well.

What is a GSU or DGS number and should I care?

I was recently asked about this and thought it would be good to share in case others had similar questions as they looked at sources and citations for their ancestors.

You asked what each of the following mean and I have provided some description as follows:

GSU number = The identification assigned to a roll of film that was captured by the Genealogical Society of Utah. This is the number that the Family History Library and the associated catalog refer to as an identifier for a portion of a collection and this allows the patrons to order and look at rolls of film in the local Family History Centers or at the main library in SLC. For instance if I were looking for records that have been filmed in Iowa I would search the Library Catalog online at FamilySearch.org and determine if there were records from the place and time my ancestors lived in this area. There are 157 titles that cover that location. I found there are many books included in the 157 results in the catalog. If I chose the 1850 Census, which is on film, and I looked at the Film Notes (Upper right Side) I would find that the Film # is 844885 and within the film it should be Item # 4. This is the GSU number for the Iowa 1850 Census. The item # 4 tells me where on the film I s
hould look.

Digital GS number = The same idea but I know the images are digitized and will be available electronically. The file format will be .jpg once it is online. I will be able then to look at this item with a computer and not with a Micro Film Reader as is required for the GSU numbered items. It is more and more common that you will find items that are on Film will also be digitized and thus have both a GSU and a DGS number.

Image number = The unique identifier assigned to an image within a collection. This should be a way to say with some confidence this is my image and if you want to see it go to image number xx. There is some work to do here to make the image number absolute throughout time. Each time a film has to be re-scanned (re-digitized) there is a chance that an image could be missed or a blank one thrown in to cause some or all of the image numbers to be moved by one or two. There are efforts to try to make the possibility of the image number changing go away but it could be with us for a little while.

Good luck on finding your Family in History.

Family History / Genealogy and Online Searches by Bill MangumPosted by Administrator on September 10th, 2007

I spend my days trying to think of ways to make searching for names dates and places easier for just about anybody who wants to do Family History Work. I have found that what is easy for a 14 year old and what is easy for a 65 year old are not always the same.

For my own family history my biggest problem is deciding where to start. If I start on my Great Grandpa Mangum I can actually find a lot of good information. I found him in more than one Census in a marriage record and I even found a picture of his grave stone online. That was very cool.

The good news is that there is a lot of information about our relatives online. We can take advantage of free sites and paid services to compliment our work. For example in the Census information for GG Mangum it told me he lived in Iowa and Wyoming and this came from a paid site. My GG Mangum died in New Mexico and the cemetery site where his grave stone picture was hosted was free. Online is not just faster, a lot of times it can be a lot less expensive. If you can search and find someone without having to travel to where the records are stored – wow – save on travel expense and a lot of time.

There are always draw backs to relying on only one solution though. Which means there may be times when online is not the only answer you have to use to find what you are looking for. It can save a lot of time and help you know what not to look for next but there are times when the online information can be incomplete.

I found enough about GG Mangum that I started asking intelligent questions of my parents and older relatives. I found great stories and the reasons he traveled from place to place. These were then clues to help me look in additional places.

I have not found the official Death Certificate yet. After going to FamilySearch.org and searching the online catalog I have found the death certificate may be available at an LDS Family History Center if I were to spend about $6 to order a film and look through it at the center. I could also write an e-mail to New Mexico state archivist and ask where the death Certificates for Grant County in 1919 are currently available. Of course I easily found the e-mail addresses and information for the New Mexico State Archives online http://www.nmcpr.state.nm.us/contacts/contacts.asp.

I wish you luck in your search for your ancestors.