In March of 1896, a brave young man (well, he was 32, which I still consider young) named R. M. Anderson set sail from Hawaii for San Francisco, where he intended to get a train to Sacramento and make the world a better place by designing something. Not sure what, exactly, and especially not sure what designing would be better done in Sacramento than in Honolulu, but that was his dream. He was originally from England, and fortunately he learned to read and write English there. He liked to travel (a definite plus) and had no family to speak of. He was in possession of a whopping $60 (minimum to enter the country was $30), received a clean bill of health, and apparently had good manners as he had not previously been in prison or a polygamist. Welcome to the USA, Mr. Anderson, you fine specimen.
Now, granted I like to know about single guys in the Sacramento/ San Francisco area, but this one is a century too old to come to my Halloween party. So how did I manage to run into him this weekend? Well, it started with this picture: ship.
As part of a monumental effort to make worldwide records searchable and available online, the family history program sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is recruiting volunteers to transcribe digital images. It's called indexing. Through this program, searchers now have access to millions of records from all over the world to help them find more information about their ancestry. I recently indexed my 100th batch, and Mr. Anderson is part of the party.
I have long suspected that one day my life will be reduced to a pile of paperwork and a string of Facebook status updates. In the absence of Facebook details, here are tiny paperwork snapshots of other peoples' lives: parish records, tax statements (death and taxes- certain in any age), census sheets, draft cards, ship's manifests, marriage certificates, Civil war pay registers. The records are in dozens of languages from all over the world. If you would like to look for an ancestor, go for it here. If you would like to contribute to the history of the world, please please do! Indexing is easy (except for the crazy old fashioned writing) and requires a minimal time commitment (5 minutes will get a name or two done). It's like a mini-service project, except you have to provide your own Costco muffins.
As for Mr. Anderson, his trail disappears in San Francisco. Maybe you will index the record that tells the rest of the story! In the meantime, I'm still on the lookout for non-polygamous NorCal single guys with a little money and the ability to read and write English.... ;)
:) you are awesome
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