Last time I talked about subscription-based genealogy sites, so now let’s turn our attention to the free resources that are available. And there are a lot of them. Today I’m going to focus on FamilySearch, which is offered for free by the Mormon church.
Think what you will of Mormons and their baptisms of the dead, but their investment in family history is also a win for the rest of us. This site is an incredible, absolutely free resource. You only need to sign up for an account. Did I mention it’s completely free?
I’m going to focus on my three favorite features of FamilySearch, and they can all be accessed under “Search” at the top of the page: Records, Books & Catalog, and Research Wiki.
Much like Ancestry, FamilySearch has tons of records such as birth, marriage, and deaths records, census records, military records, and migration and naturalization records. To search for records pertaining to your ancestor, simply click on “Search” at the top of the page, click “Records” from the drop-down menu, and then input your ancestor’s first and last name, birthplace, and birth year. When you locate a record, you can save it in your Source Box for future reference.
Below you can see the results I got when I searched for my great-grandfather, Griffin Burl. These are the same results I would get on Ancestry for $24.99/month. You won’t necessarily always get a ton of results for your ancestor, but I encourage you to give it a try, and see what you can find!
Next, unlike Ancestry, FamilySearch also offers many records that have not yet been indexed (made searchable) but have been published online. Since 1938, the Mormon church has been microfilming historical books and records all over the world. Until recent years, these films were only available through a microfilm distribution service, where they could be ordered and read only at a local Mormon church’s Family History Center. That service was discontinued in 2017 because the church has now digitized the bulk of its records. That means many* of those records are now available to view from the comfort of your own home!
To search their vast collection of books and records, once again click on “Search” at the top of the page and choose either “Catalog” or “Books,” depending on which you’re looking for. On the search page, be sure to click “Online” under “Availability,” so your search only returns results for those records available to view at home:
To show you an example of the types of records you may find, I clicked on “Catalog” and searched for “Tuscarawas County, Ohio”:
I then selected Birth Records, 1867-1908 from the list of available vital records. To view these records, scroll down the page and look for the specific record you want to open. Once you’ve located the record, click on the little camera icon associated with it:
As you can see below, once opened, there are a ton of tiny image thumbnails. To get started, click on the thumbnail of your choice; once you click on it, a light green border will appear around the image. Then locate the icons on the top-left side of the image viewer, and click on the third one down to zoom in on your selected image. And, yes, it is a lot of work scrolling through all of those images if there is no index included; however, it pays off when you find that information you’re looking for. Plus you’ll feel like a hardcore researcher!
The final feature I love is the Research Wiki, which boasts 101,618 articles. Once again, you can access the Research Wiki search through “Search” at the top of the page. Once there, simply type whatever subject you’re searching for into the search field, or click on “Guided Research.” I typed in “Michigan marriage records,” and this article popped up.
The feature I do not like whatsoever is the family tree. As I stated earlier, you cannot create your own tree. There is only one tree. While that’s a cool concept, in practice it stinks. Anyone can edit the information on the tree, which is also great in theory. In reality, it is full of inaccuracies because anyone can edit it. I have heard countless stories of folks who took the time add accurate, meticulously-researched facts with sources attached only to have someone else come along and overwrite all of their hard work with absolute drivel.
If you decide to use the FamilySearch tree, proceed with caution. As with any family tree you encounter, please only use the information that has been properly sourced.
So now that you know my favorite features of FamilySearch, I urge you to create an account, explore the site, and discover what you love about it. And next time I will share some more of my favorite free resources with you.
*There are other digitized collections that are still only available to view at your local Mormon church in their FamilySearch Centers. If you want to see what’s available there, when searching under “Books” or “Catalogs,” instead of choosing “Online” under “Availability,” choose “FamilySearch center” instead.