The five most important icons to know at www.familysearch.org
FamilySearch is one of the largest genealogical organizations in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch to research their family history. It is a free service with over four billion names from all over the world.
Over the past several years, FamilySearch has been digitizing millions of records and publishing them online for people to search and view from their own home. Though access to FamilySearch is free, users must create an online profile to access the records.
Using FamilySearch’s Records
After logging in to your FamilySearch account, click on the Search tab at the top of the page to see some options. Records. The simplest search option is the Records option, which allows you to search records by using your ancestor’s name. It also allows you to search by choosing a location or a collection. Many people begin by just typing in an ancestor’s name. When you search solely by name, this type of search pulls from indexed records only. If you search using a location or a specific collection, you can still use your ancestor’s name to search within those records, but you can also browse unindexed records.
Catalog. Researching in the FamilySearch catalog is a must! The catalog gives you a different perspective on finding records. An effective use of the catalog is searching by location, such as a town or county, to see what records are available in that area. The results are listed by record type, such as vital records or church records. From there, you can select the collection that you are interested in. From there, you can find out where, and in what format, the record is available. The catalog is constantly expanding, so check back often to see what new records have been added.
Books. This option allows you to search for digital copies of books from the Family History Library and other institutions. Once you find a record with your ancestor’s name on it, the FamilySearch image viewer gives you lots of options. You can view a gallery of thumbnail images, scroll through the images, or manipulate the images using the zoom, rotate, adjust, and invert options. You can also choose to print or download images, unless a record restriction prevents this.
Record Availability at FamilySearch
Not all records are available in the same way on FamilySearch. Here are some things to remember when you are researching.
Not all digitized records have been indexed. When searching historical records using an ancestor’s name, the search includes only indexed records. Indexed records are records that have been transcribed. To find your ancestor in unindexed records, you must browse the records page by page, looking for your ancestor’s name. The FamilySearch icons don’t differentiate between collections that have been indexed and those that have not been, only whether the actual records are available at FamilySearch.
Limited Access Records at FamilySearch. Sometimes you may see an icon that indicates that you do not have access to a record set. Restricted records are currently available only at family history centers and FamilySearch affiliate libraries. In some rare instances, you will only be able to view a record at a family history center only, not at a FamilySearch affiliate library.
Understanding the Icons
There are five basic levels of records on FamilySearch when you search on www.familysearch.org
Records that users can see from home when searching on www.familysearch.org.
Records that users can see at an affiliate library or a Family History Center (FHC).
Records that anyone can see at an affiliate library or an FHC.
Records that can only be viewed at the FHC.
Records that can only be viewed at the Family History Library in Salt Lake. City, Utah. This last group is currently in transition, since the microfilm lending service ended. These microfilm records are being digitized.
The Icons You Need to Know
Located in Miami, Elizabeth Murray Vargas is a professional genealogist. She specializes U.S South-Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic states, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and the Spanish Caribbean. Her passion is immigrant research and tracing families back to their country of origin. Aside from taking private clients, Elizabeth is a ProGenealogist for Ancestry.com and does contract work for Trace.com. Visit her website at www.legacy-quest.com.
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