Beginning Searches with the FamilySearch Person Page and Partners

It is always exciting to be able to explore original records left behind by our ancestors. It validates their existence and also validates us and who we are as individuals as we connect to them.

When we have a tree on FamilySearch or it's partner websites we are given hints for records that the database thinks apply to our ancestors. We can look at these records, evaluate them, and when we are convinced that they are relevant to the individual or individuals in our tree we can attach them to those individuals. However, these hints are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more! But to find more we will have to embark on a search.

Searches can be done as a scattershot approach where we just take anything the search results give us or we can specifically focus our search to achieve a goal. The goal all family historians should undertake is to make sure their ancestors, within the first four generations, have as many vital records and censuses as it is possible to find within their lifespans. Vital records are Birth, Marriage, and Death records, also commonly known as BMD. These records, when collected in a methodical way, will show information that should agree with each other. This information will give you a solid base of who these people were, their family relationships, and where they were in time and place. It will help prevent you from linking up to individuals and records that may look like your individual but really are or belong to someone else.

FamilySearch has made the search process fairly easy by providing searches of its database and it's partner's databases right from a single Person Page. It searches using information gleaned from the Person Page. These searches are general and search many of the most popular record collections but results can be laborious to scroll through unless you employ some search techniques outlined in this PowerPoint. There are some tricks and tips that just might rock your world! Once you find unique records on partner sites, options will be shown for getting them linked back to the FamilySearch person page.

Beginning Searches-FamilySearch Person Page and Partners PDF PowerPoint