Toronto cemetery indexing progress

Back on 19 October I blogged about the OGS Toronto Branch cooperative project with Family Search to index, and essentially transcribe, burial records from four major Toronto cemeteries. Here's an update from project leader Jane MacNamara.

"We have indexed just over 25,000 names as of this morning (Saturday), which covers Mount Pleasant to about the turn of the century. (Names are indexed twice, so about 12,500 burials.) We've moved on to the York (Toronto) General Burying Ground, the earliest cemetery in the project. The registers are quite different with fewer entries on a page, so it should go fairly quickly. We will get back to Mount Pleasant at some point to do the other 35 years of records! We have 38 volunteers signed up. I've had conversations with several who have told me how much they're enjoying seeing the original records and following up some of the names in census and other records. Some recent volunteers came from other FSI projects, really pleased to be able to work on Ontario records. I've started a blog as a home for reference tools for Toronto Trust indexers--things like the impressive array of image manipulation tools available. I'm hoping it might also intrigue a few more volunteers. Here's the url: <http://torontofamilyhistory.org/projects/>"

Take a look at the blog. It includes advice that could prove helpful if you're trying to read any faded image online.

Congratulations to Jane and the team. I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing from new project volunteers. You don't have to be a member of OGS or Toronto Branch, but do have to sign up through Toronto Branch. Just e-mail a request along with your full name and location to fsi@torontofamilyhistory.org.