{"id":3356,"date":"2025-04-25T21:57:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3356"},"modified":"2025-04-25T21:57:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:57:04","slug":"the-disappearing-records-indiana-genealogists-betrayed-by-ancestry-and-familysearch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3356","title":{"rendered":"The Disappearing Records: Indiana Genealogists Betrayed by Ancestry and FamilySearch!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AI Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I warned you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I blogged that I would stay vigilant over record availability in Indiana \u2014 and last Saturday morning, my worst fears were confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I tried to access the Indiana, Birth Certificates, 1907\u20131940<\/a><\/em> database from home, it was gone from Ancestry\u2019s Card Catalog. Only the older birth records up to 1933 <\/a>remained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alarmed, I drove to one of my local libraries in DeKalb County, Indiana to check if this was just a glitch with the home edition. It wasn\u2019t.
No access. Nowhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I did what any professional genealogist would do: I asked colleagues around the country \u2014 and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Michigan? Full access.
In Wisconsin? Full access.<\/strong> In Texas? Full access.
In California? Full access.
Even in Germany? Full access.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone except Indiana<\/em> still had the record set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indiana Hoosiers \u2014 the very people whose ancestors\u2019 records these are \u2014 are now blocked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s the kicker:
Indiana\u2019s new 99-year birth record restriction law doesn’t even take effect until July 1st.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is absolutely no lawful reason for Ancestry to have prematurely restricted Hoosiers from their own historical records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did Ancestry jump the gun? Who knows. But it stinks to high heaven.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it gets worse. FamilySearch, too, has removed the Indiana, Births and Christenings, 1773\u20131933<\/a><\/em> database from its Indiana Wiki pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week? Still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today? Gone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what you now see if you go looking for it:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shame on you, too, FamilySearch!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What You Can (and Must) Do Right Now:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n