Ben Baker

bakerb@familysearch.org

A Whirlwind Tour of

FamilySearch Resources

Thomas Tolman Family Organization

Semi-Annual Meeting

October 20, 1012

Learning Resources

• Research Wiki – Community-built research advice

• Learning Center – Genealogy courses by area, subject and skill level

• Discussion Forums – Post questions

• Tech Tips – How to apply technology to family history

• Getting Started – Videos and other items for beginners

FamilySearch Centers

• Find a family history center near you

• Links to other learning resources, library catalog, etc. that can be

accessed from other links as well

Ways to Give Back – Anyone can help

• Gift of time – Index records to produce searchable indexes

Can do in short time periods

Great for youth

Practice mission language or learn a new one

• Gift of knowledge – Contribute to research wiki

• Gift of money – Donate to help further the work

• Gift of insight – Volunteer to evaluate new FamilySearch products

FamilySearch Blog

• Updates on latest happenings at FamilySearch

• Announces new features, newly available records, etc.

Signing in with your LDS Account

• LDS church members receive access to additional resources

• Need membership number to sign up

• Additional search results when searching historical records

• Additional self help resources including regarding temple ordinances

• Access to temple ordinance data and reservations

• Must be signed in to see FamilyTree

• Non-LDS church members can get accounts too

Help

• Videos, manuals, FAQs, etc

• LDS-specific helps require log in as an LDS member

Records Tab

• Used to search indexed historical records

• Use logo to return to main familysearch.org

site to perform searches

• Don’t forget to sign in to get more results

(LDS church members have access to some

records the public does not)

Trees Tab

• Can search user submitted trees such as Ancestral File

(AF) and Pedigree Resource File (PRF)

• Can submit GEDCOMs still (more features in future)

• Not to be confused with Family Tree tab at top

Catalog

• Search entire Family History Library catalog by

various criteria

Catalog Search Results

• Learn to use facets to narrow results by Year,

Category, Availability and Language

• Shows items that have been digitized and/or

indexed (online availability)

Family History Books

• Digitization effort for all books in FH Library

• Also has books from other locations

• Many books have been OCRd and can be searched

• Access search from Books tab or

books.familysearch.org

Books Search Results

• Can refine results here as well

• Click on link to view book

• Some books are searchable (have been OCRd)

All Record Collections

• All Record Collections link from main page can

also be used to find specific collection and

search or browse records

Historical Record Collections

• Narrow search by collection name and/or

Place, Date, Collection Type facets

• Selecting a collection allows collection specific

searches

• Camera icons indicate which collections have

digital images - can browse collections that

are not yet indexed

• Click on Last Updated to see what collections

have been updated recently

Records Being Added Daily

•Over one million images processed every day

•As of 2012 23% of vault is digitized

•Expect to have all 2.4 million rolls of microfilm

at vault digitized in 3-4 more years

•Over 200 cameras at archives throughout world

•Ongoing effort to digitize FH Library books

Family Tree Tab

• Must be logged in to see tab

• How to get access (invite link not necessary soon)

http://www.familysearch.org/invite/familytree_tab (LDS)

http://www.familysearch.org/invite/public1 (non-LDS)

• Lots of training resources (videos, manuals, guides, lessons, etc.)

https://familysearch.org/tree-training

FamilySearch Family Tree

• Will replace new.familysearch.org soon

• Public access, not just LDS church members

• Ability to attach sources

• Can edit data/relationships others contributed

• Flag non-matching duplicate people

• Provide justifications for all changes

• Change history – can restore previous edits

Tree Tab

• Tree view of ancestors and children

• Click on names to bring up Person Card

• Use View Tree link to place ancestor at main position

• Use View Person link to open person page

Person Tab

• Place to view/edit all information about a person

• Vitals (name, birth, death, etc)

• Other information

• Family Members

• Sources

• Discussions

• Temple Ordinances

• Change History

• Merge or Mark Not-a-Match Possible Duplicates

• Future Additional Tools

Search Tab

• Look for people in the tree by name or ID number

Watches

• Add watches to people you’re interested in

• More critical in open-edit Family Tree system

• Will receive weekly e-mail of changes others

make to these people

• Use Watch List tab to manage your watches

Temple Ordinances

• Reserve temple ordinances at

bottom of person page

• Click on drop down arrows to

view ordinances for additional

parents/spouses

• Use Temple tab to manage

reserved ordinances

History Drop Down

• Use History drop down to return to

previously viewed persons

Sources

• Links historical documents to people in the tree

Historical Records Search Results

• Camera icons indicate records with digitized images of originals

• Add life events/relationships to narrow searches

• Filter results by particular collections, places, dates etc. (facets)

• Webinar on obtaining better results from searches

https://familysearch.org/blog/familysearch-webinar

Source Box

• Add records to source box to be able to

attach to people in tree

• Found easiest to work with two windows

or tabs open. One for records and other

with the tree.

• Each person in a record has a different link

and should be attached separately

Adding Sources to a Person in Family Tree

• Go to Source Box to attach from list of sources you’ve

added from FamilySearch record searches

• Can create a new source to anything

• FamilySearch records will have a tree icon and will

auto-generate a lot of citation information and may

improve over time

• Anything with a URL can be attached (Ex. Record on

Ancestry, picture on Flickr, personal web site, etc.)

• Don’t need a URL, can just enter a normal citation

• Clicking on icons will jump directly to source

• Can tag sources as having information specific to birth,

death, etc.

Edit Bad Data

• Edit or delete conclusions and relationships with change history

• Justifications for changes

Possible Duplicates

Merge Duplicates or

Mark Not a Match

For more information, see manual, handouts and webinars at

https://familysearch.org/tree-training

Q & A