Sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming to learn the differences between the different genealogy websites that are currently available as it seems, no two are the same. However, there are a few tips and bits of advice that should make your visit to the Family Search website easier and more effective.

Here are just some:

1. Persona centric

FamilySearch is a persona centric record system. When you conduct a search for William you are presented Williams found in the records matching what you entered. We do not return documents, but rather the people found on documents, and each person found on a document has a unique ID. When we present to you in search results, a William that matched, we also tell you about all of William s relationships on the record and key document data.

When you attach “a historical record” to the Family Tree, what you are really doing is attaching William in the 1891 Census to William in the Family Tree (you are telling the system, and all other users, that you believe William in the record is the same real historical person as William in the tree).

2. Lowest to highest hanging fruit

Users should follow a flow that lets them access the most data with the least effort first. Hints -> Search Indexed Records -> Browse Unindexed Records -> Catalog -> etc

Hints will often find the easy stuff and also some of the real difficult stuff to search for, but it will not find everything. Hints are on avg about 98.5% accurate, although that varies by location, collection, and family. After resolving all the hints, conducting searches in the historical records data set is the next most productive action, followed by browsing unindexed image sets.

3. Using the main search form

This is the best place to conduct most searches. Some users go to collection specific search forms and miss actual records. Collections specific forms should be used only for very specific workflows looking for specific records.

4. Events versus location & type

When you enter a place and date in the event fields of the search form you are not specifying a record type nor record location. If I enter a birth place of Ohio, evidence for my person having been born in Ohio may be found on a census record from California. If you really want records ONLY of a specific type or from a specific location you should restrict the records returned by Location or Type using the fields near the bottom.

5. Exact searching

Exact will return record matching exactly the text you typed with 4 exceptions; 1) Capitalization is ignored (MacDonald==macdonald); 2) Punctuation is ignored (OBrien==O’Brien); 3) Diacritics are ignored (Pena==Peña); 4) Spaces are ignored (De la Vega==delavega). Use it cautiously because it can cause you to miss real matching record persons.

6. Wildcards

Search accepts the * and ? Wildcard characters. When entered into a search field, the * character will be replaced by zero to an infinite number of ambiguous characters (ex. Stan* will return Stan, Stanley, Stanislaw). The ? replaces one, and only one, ambiguous character (ex. Eli?abeth will return Elizabeth and Elisabeth). You can put multiple wildcards in a single text string in the field, but you must have at least one unambiguous character.

7. Exact, close and missing

When evaluating each record, fields are scored by how close they match what was typed in. Exact matches contribute the most to the overall score for the record. Close matches (Frank=Franklin, Frankie, Francis, etc) contribute less to the overall score. If we find a record that matches other parameters, but is missing data in a specified field, we may still return that record but the overall score is slightly reduced. All field scores are totaled and the person matches are presented in search results with the highest scoring ones at the top. The system will not return records where the data on the record conflicts with the data entered.

8. Location pages

If you are new to researching in a location, click on the map and access that country’s location page. On it you will find data and information that will get you up to speed faster (indexed & searchable record collections, browse only unindexed collections, learning center classes and training, the FamilySearch Wiki and the FamilySearch Catalog. Additional resources will be added to these pages over time.

9. Single collection searching

If you know the specific record you are looking for and know that it is found in a specific collection (like the 1940 US Census), you can locate and search just that collection by typing it’s name in the “Find a Collection” box in the bottom right of the main search page.

10. Evidentiary versus conclusionary

FamilySearch does NOT treat evidentiary source documents (a birth certificate) the same as conclusionary tree people (a person in Genealogies or in Family Tree). When you search the Historical Records dataset, you will be searching only source documents and will not be returned other users conclusion persons. If you want to see the conclusions made by other users, you can search Genealogies (a data set of 1 Billion+ lineage linked names submitted by users) or Family Tree (a wiki-like constantly growing and improving one word tree).

Tip 1—Use Life Event and Relationship filters
Searching with only the given and last name provides too many unrelated results. For example, a search
for James Lynch has more than 300,000 results, beginning with page after page of 1940 U.S. census
entries. This is frustrating if one is looking for his marriage record in Iowa. After entering his name, select
“Marriage” from “Search with a Life Event” and enter Iowa for the place of marriage and 1855 to 1870 for
year range. His 1860 marriage to Ellen Jaquiss is the fifth result. Further, going to “Search with a
Relationship” and entering Ellen as spouse will show his marriage as the first result.
Tip 2—Use Residence and Restrict Records by Type
Often search results will initially come from the 1940 census, then the 1930 census, then the 1920 census,
and so forth when you are really interested in results from the 1880 census. Or instead of census results,
you see unwanted entries from other record types you are not currently researching or have already
researched. One approach is to use “Residence” from “Search with a Life Event” and enter Appanosse,
Iowa for place and 1880 for year to narrow the search to the 1880 census. Then use “Restrict by Type,” in
this case selecting “Census.” For James Lynch, this approach renders a single desired result.
Tip 3—Use Wild-cards *
The asterisk (*) is a researcher’s best friend when query responses fall short of expectations. Most wildcards
allow use of the asterisk only after at least three letters have been used; however, FamilySearch
permits wild-card use with only one letter. An example is H* when looking for the surname Hamsing or
alternatively *sing.
Tip 4—Use Wild-cards ?
The question mark (?) is another powerful wildcard. The question mark takes the place on any letter. When
a search for George Money failed to produce a desired result, the surname was entered as M?ney and the
result was realized in George Maney. Another example is Jam?son so Jamison and Jameson will appear
together as results.
Tip 5—Search by First Name Only
On occasion surnames are so severely miswritten or misindexed that searching by surname will never
achieve the desired result. Use only the given names of members of the family, especially family members
with less popular names—Gertrude instead of Mary. Also enter a residence and year to narrow the desired
search. Review the index and image result to verify locating the intended family.
Tip 6—Use Parent Only Searching
When searches of the target person fail, you can search instead by using “Search with a relationship” if
the names of the parents are known. Forego any entry for first and last names. In “Search with a life event,”
select Death and enter the place of death. In “Search with a relationship,” select Parents and enter the first
and last name of the father and first name of the mother.
Tip 7—Finding Married Names
It is often difficult to trace a female child from one census to the next because she marries, and without
available marriage records, you don’t know her married name. Each of the married names of the four
daughters was learned from a single search since the death records of South Carolina are online. Similar to
the Tip 6 search, leave the given and last names blank. Search using first and last name of the father and
first name of the mother in the Parents fields. Entries appear for each daughter. Finding these daughters
with their families in the census was straight-forward with their married names. Also, when you find the
death records of children, you frequently learn the maiden name of the mother.
Tip 8—Use the Source Film N
alphabetical list of online collections only for that region. Or you can enter a desired location such as
Virginia in the upper left search box. At the upper right is a column for Records indicating the depth of
coverage. You can find a FamilySearch Wiki article that will provide some idea of coverage if you click on
the title of the collections and then click on “Learn More.” The Last Updated column indicates the more
recently updated collections. The camera icon to the left of the title indicates that images are available. If
Browse appears in the Records column, record images exist although without an index.
Tip 10—Browsing Can Be a Blast
An interesting German collection is titled: Germany, Prussia, Pomerania Church Records, 1544-1945.
Searching for Christian Selchert provides no matches. Below the Search area for the above collection, you
see “View images in this collection” followed below it by the link “Browse through 141,103 images.” Wow,
few people have the tenacity to search through so many images. But that is seldom what is required. For
example, when you click on “Browse through 141,003 images,” two choices are listed—MecklenburgSterlitz
or Pommern. Click Pommern. Then 26 districts are listed including Pyritz which is selected. Then
80 churches are listed from which Brietzig is selected. Then two choices based on year ranges are
presented: 1811-1833 and 1834-1873 from which the second is selected.
A page selection consisting of 394 pages is provided, which leaves you to decide whether to sequentially
click through the Brietzig church records or to search by specific page number. With either method,
browsing 394 pages is doable for a desired record. In this case, surprisingly, on the third page was the 23
January 1834 marriage of Christian Friedrich Sellchert to Maria Sauermann. The bride and groom were
both 28. His father was Gottfried and her father was Johann. In less than 10 clicks, precious information
was learned. And image 41 is the birth record of their son Christian Friedrich Sellchert. In fact, records for
the entire family of six children were located from this browse collection.
This set of choices is called way-pointing. This collection was fairly easy to navigate because the records
were organized by geography and then chronologically. Other records may be organized alphabetically,
such as many U.S. county probate records. So don’t shy away from Browse collections.
Tip 11—Using Partner Sites
Instead of “View Image,” on the index, the message reads: “This image is viewable at fold3.com. By
clicking here, you will be leaving FamilySearch.org. (fees and other terms may apply) Visit Partner Site.”
Yikes! First, be assured that clicking on the Visit Partner Site, in and of itself, will not cause any fees to
occur. The experience at each Partner Site is different. In some cases, such as fold3.com, you can gain
some sense of what is available by seeing how many pages exist. As a patron, first you know something
exists. What you do next is your decision. FamilySearch learned from its focus groups that overwhelmingly
patrons wanted to know that records were available, if the decision whether to access the records was left
to them.
Tip 12—Sign In, No Tricks
Online access to records is controlled by unique agreements between providers, such as FamilySearch,
and record holders. In some agreements, the record holder stipulated that images of its records can be
accessed only by patrons that are “signed in.” Fortunately, creating an account at FamilySearch is simple,
and patron supplied information is never used for any purpose other than family history research. Click
“Sign in to see free images.” If you already have a FamilySearch user account, merely enter the
applicable user name and password; otherwise, click “Create an Account” above the sign-in area to easily
create an account. Once the patron accepts a verification email from FamilySearch, the account is active,
and the desired image can be accessed. There are over 7 million registered FamilySearch users.
Tip 13—Find, Search, Source, and Preserve from the Family Tree
With a FamilySearch user account, you have free access to “Family Tree” containing research information
on over one billion persons. The intent of the Family Tree is to have one instance of an ancestor so if 20
descendants share the same 5th great grandfather, each descendant will have access to the same
information for that common 5th great grandfather with the ability to review and add source material,
research proof summaries, photos, documents, and stories that all 20 descendants can use. A user-to-user
messaging feature simplifies collaboration.
Activating a “Watch” feature results in a weekly message from FamilySearch with notification of changes
or additions to any ancestor. Over time, the reliability of Family Tree will increase as more sources and
conclusions are added.
Use the Find feature to locate any deceased person in the Family Tree (access to living persons is not
provided). For example, the name Lorilla Spencer is entered using “Find” with a father Charles and spouse
Frank. She is the first result. By clicking on her name, a summary card appears indicating the number of
sources, memories (photos, stories, and documents), and discussions that have been associated or
attached to Lorilla. The Family Tree contains over 15 million user supplied photos, documents, and stories
of ancestors.
From the Summary card you can click on “Tree” and then in the upper left, select from four different type of
tree views: Landscape, Portrait, Fan, and Descendancy. Or from the summary card, click on “Person” to
see spouse, child, parent, and sibling relationships followed by sources. In the “Person” view, on the right
panel is “Record Hints” with suggested specific records about your ancestor that FamilySearch has already
identified as likely matches.
Also from the right panel, one can click on “Search Records” to conduct a consolidated record search.
Eureka! With a single click, search results for Lorilla Spencer include her Iowa birth and three census
entries. You can quickly attach each applicable record to the person’s list of sources. One can attach key
documents, transcriptions, proof statements, and notes.
Researchers spend hundreds, even thousands of hours, discovering records and establishing conclusions.
The FamilySearch Tree is a place for sharing and preserving this investment and labor of love.
Tip 14—Give Back, Be an Indexer
Being able to obtain desired search results in only seconds is the result of over 300,000 voluntary indexers.
FamilySearch sponsors hundreds of current indexing projects from across the world. Projects range from
easy to difficult, so beginners to advanced researchers are welcome to contribute according to their
schedules. Be sure to select one of the International projects if you have a foreign language skill. Click on
“Volunteer” or “Indexing” from the home page to find several ways to give back. Click on “Start Indexing”
and then “Find a Project” to get started. Volunteers receive a small batch of records so indexing is easy to
fit into one’s busy schedule. Give it a try. You will feel good. Warning: indexing can become addictive!
Tip 15—Give Feedback
Send your ideas to FamilySearch by using “Feedback” located at the very bottom of the home page or use
“Get Help” at the top of the home page to report specific problems. By email use
support@familysearch.org and by phone use 866 406-1830.