The Yancey Family Genealogical
Database
[Search the YFGD]
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ's - and Answers
What is the Yancey Family Genealogical Database (YFGD)? The Yancey Family Genealogical Database is an online database of information concerning over 30,000 Yancey Family descendants, spouses of descendants, and other other closely related persons. It is made available through the Roots Web WorldConnect Project. The YFGD covers a period beginning from the time of the earliest known Yanceys - in the early 1700's in colonial America - down to the present time. It includes such information as birth/marriage/death dates and places as well as other events and information of genealogical value including census, probate, deeds and military records. The information in this single integrated Yancey genealogical database is accessible through multiple genealogical "views" including pedigree charts, descendant charts, alphabetical lists, and other common and useful reports. Along with the genealogical data are "lineage sensative" links to email addresses of over 700 Yancey Family descendants/researchers - based on their line of research. Also included are over 800 links to websites external to the YFGD - which have supplementary information - including such things as Bible records, photos, and biographical information. The database also includes citations to over 1000 sources, recording for each entry, the original source from which such information was extracted. The YFGD is, by far, the largest database and collection of Yancey family records, worldwide.
Who maintains the YFGD? The YFGD is maintained by Dennis J Yancey, of Miami Florida. He can be contacted at: dyancey@miami.edu. The information in the YFGD, however, represents thousands of hours of research by hundreds of different people over a period of many decades. It is the result of a large collective effort by many people over many years.
How comprehensive is the database? This is a difficult question to answer. It is the most comprehensive database known for the Yancey surname. It includes information on ALL known branches of the Yancey Family - not just one particular line - (including branches of the Yancey family non related to each other and even branches of the family of African American origin). To give an idea of how comprehensive it is - every Yancey found on the federal censuses from 1790 to 1850 is found in the database - as well as a very high percentage of Yanceys from the 1860 to the 1880 censuses for almost every state. The database also includes thousands of names from Social Security records as well as newspaper obituaries and military records.
How do I use the database? Well, this depends on exactly what your goal/intent is? But here are some examples of what a sample use of the database might be like:
a) Initial access to the database. One should, under normal circumstances, access the main page of the YFGD when intending to search or browse the data. The YFGD main page is available at -
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=dyanceyb) Looking up a specific person in the database. After accessing the main page, enter into the search field the (partial or complete) name of the person you want to find. You can enter either - a surname only (if you want to find all persons by that surname) - or you can enter the surname, a comma, and the first initial or first complete (or partial) name of the person you are searching for - such as "Yancey, Benjamin" or "Yancey, Be" to include both "Benjamin" and "Benjamen". Surnames should always be entered first. For women - maiden name is ALWAYS used (if known). If you want to do a search by something other than name, click on "Advanced Search" and input the desired search field. Once you hit enter or click on "List" you will see a list of persons in the database that meet your criteria - you can click on the entry of your choice - and view the genealogical info for that selected individual. If your goal is to find specific information in the YFGD - one should AVOID clicking on the "WorldConnect Global Search" . . ." as this will do a search on the entire WorldConnect Database conglomeration of thousands of databases and will result in search results that point to database OUTSIDE of the YFGD. Once you are viewing information on a specific individual to go back to the "search box" to enter a new search criteria click on the "Index" option at the bottom of the screen - DO NOT click on "global search".
c) Viewing related information concerning a selected person. Once you have selected an individual in the YFGD and are viewing that persons genealogical information. You will note various clickable options toward the bottom of the page - such as "pedigree", "register", "descendancy" etc. These are different reports and/or views of the data in the YFGD in commonly accepted formats.
To view a pedigree chart of the selected individual - click on "pedigree" - a pedigree chart will appear with the selected person at the start (or "trunk") of the family tree/pedigree. The pedigree chart will go back 4 or 5 generations (you may need to use your slider scroll arrows to see the right most part of the chart). You will note some "continuation arrows" at the right of the right most generations. You can click on these arrows to see a pedigree chart that continues the first at the point selected. You can continue to do this until you trace the line back as far as it goes. You can also click on any name in the pedigree chart to see the family genealogical data for that person. Make use of the forward and backward buttons on your browser to facilitate movement in the YFGD as needed. You can also trace the ancestry of a selected individual by successively clicking on the parent name of each generation as you work your way back. This method may be better than the pedigree view, which limits the amount of information you see on each generation. Another report format is the "Ahnentafel" report.
d) Viewing descendants of the selected person. Similar to the way that the pedigree chart can be viewed - descendants can also be viewed either through clicking the descendancy or register options. Again, as before one can select specific individuals in the report to see further details.
Is their information about living persons in the database? For various reasons - mainly privacy and security reasons, - such things as dates and places of genealogical events (births/deaths/marriages) concerning living individuals are not viewable through the YFGD - however names and relationships ARE recorded. Should you desire a report or chart of YOUR close branch of the family - WITH such information - contact Dennis Yancey directly. Persons in the YFGD with no death date and a birth date prior to 1910 - are assumed dead and genealogical data is posted.
How can I submit information to the YFGD? If you would like to add, correct, or erase information in the YFGD based on information that you have collected or researched - contact Dennis Yancey - at dyancey@miami.edu with your information. It could be submitted in GEDCOM format, PAF format, report format, or any other textual format via email attachments - or you can resort to "snail mail&quoot; for non electronic data - contact him and he will send you his postal address. Your sharing of information is very much appreciated. If you have any question about how to convert/pass on your information - feel free to contact Dennis.
Can I create my own database - similar to the YFGD ? Sure. See the following page for more details about the World Connect Service and their databases. And feel free to ask any question you might have.
Can I bookmark entries to the YFGD with my browser? Yes, but you are safer only bookmarking the main page of the YFGD. This is because the URL (web address) of a specific individual in the database will change over time. This is a result of how I upload my local database to the World Connect YFGD database - and how the process creates different Id numbers for successive uploads. In short, book marks to specific individuals in the database will only be good until the next update of the database.
Can I download information from the YFGD. To avoid mis-use of the data - all downloading options have been disabled on the YFGD. Copies of the entire database as a whole, and in and of itself, are NOT given out or distributed. Should you have a specific request for a very limited branch of the family, contact Dennis directly and he will see what he can do to meet your request. Some of his concerns about sharing the data in complete gedcom file format can be found at this site under the paragraph titled "Sharing and Exchanging your research with others".
Is the YFGD part of an even larger collection of Yancey material? Yes, the YFGD is only a part of the information available at the Yancey Family Surname resource Center.