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Getting this message when trying to open up this West Virginia death record today.
Name:Henry Blivens
Event Date:01 Jul 1916
Event Place:UNION DISTRICT, KANAWHA, W.VA.
Gender:Male
Age (Expanded):70 years
Birth Date:1846
Marital Status:Single
Occupation:LaborerAffiliate
Repository Type:County Records
Answers
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The same error message appears for all West Virginia records using the link www.wvculture.org.
As a very large portion of my family are from West Virginia, I would appreciated if this error could be fixed to bring back access to the records. If this is not the place to request this type of correction, please let me know and I will forward the request to the respective team.
Thanks in advance
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Hi Debby.
Several issues are at play here, and one involves FamilySearch directly. I hope someone on staff might respond to your inquiry (not me, I'm just a consumer, like yourself.)
- The State was apparently forced by Loki, or some other unnatural entity, to revamp it's computer system. This included the State Dept. of Vital Records which falls under the aegis of the WV State Dept. of Art, Culture, and History. Whatever the motive, the website is undergoing significant changes. Much of it is down, has been down, and will be down for some time to come.
- More concerning is that the OLD LINKS are for now - and maybe forever - broken. This. Is. Serious.
- FamilySearch, Wikitree, and many other blogs and genealogical search engines currently rely on these old links. My question to FamilySearch is simple: HELP!
Debby, if you get the chance you might join the facebook page WV Ancestry if you're not already a member. We'll be keeping this issue burning there until it's resolved. Also, if you can, drop a line to the governor and to the head of the State Dept. of A, C, & H, as well as anyone else you can think of. This is bad. We need answers.
Greg Morris, Huntington, WV
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Thank you for the information. I have been having the same problem also and was starting to think it was my server.
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For a very long time, I have been having the problem of not being able to view the IMAGE on https://archive.wvculture.org. I can get the information page but not the actual image. Please advise me of what the problem is and how to fix it.
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Yes - Familysearch linkages to wvculture.org links broke a while back. I don't know the status - but one can certainly go directly to wvculture.org and use their system to browse images if they don't open correctly on familysearch.
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I went into Search Records, Browse All Collections, West Virginia, West Virginia Deaths 1804-1999. Clicking on the Record, it took me to the search menu. I entered the information on Henry Blivens. The search led to the correct Henry Blivens born 1846, died 1916. I then opened up the document and from there opened the image. I had not problem pulling up and viewing the image. I did this with both Edge and Safari.
I don't think it is a problem with the links, at least with this record. Perhaps a different browser would show you results. Or you could delete FamilySearch cookies. Any of those things might help.
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The wvculture site was re-arranged this fall. The links in Search - Records appear to have now been updated, but any links that were saved before the reorganization will likely no longer work.
For example, if I search for Henry Blivens who died in "UNION DISTRICT, KANAWHA, W.VA." in 1916, I find this index entry: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMJD-RZ5
It has a link to www.wvculture.org, and it works nicely: http://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=460367&ImageNumber=83
The update of the links on FS extends also to index entries that have been attached to Family Tree, but not to anything you saved offline or on another site.
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Thanks. I haven’t had trouble viewing sources for awhile now.
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