What you are Missing if you Aren’t Using Family Search for your Genealogy

This is written for my Genealogy class and most of it is a repetition of resources found on FamilySearch.org however it is a curated list and aimed at beginners that do not know where to start at Family Search or those more advanced who have not mined all the great resources that are available there. Unlike Ancestry or MyHeritage, Family Search is FREE to all, with a simple registration. And although it is sponsored by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, registering is not going to send anyone to your door.

Unlike Ancestry or My Heritage where you pay a subscription fee and you can maintain your own tree(s), at Family Search everyone is attached to a Master Tree. This means that others can make changes, attach relevant documents etc. Which can be helpful or can lead to frustration when someone gets it wrong. I do not maintain an active tree on Family Search (because there’s not enough hours in the day) but that doesn’t mean I don’t use their resources.

The LDS church has its main research facility in Salt Lake City Utah called the FamilySearch Center. It has satellite branches and affiliates around the country and the globe. to find one closest to you click here. Some records are only available to peruse at one of these libraries or affiliates. This is usually due to copyright or privacy concerns or due to agreements with the original record holders. But most are available on demand anywhere you have internet access.

Although the Family Search records are incredible I want to focus on the easily overlooked bits that should be at the top of most genealogist’s lists, but often aren’t. These are resources that are educational for beginners and advanced genealogists alike. These include educational materials and resources as well as what records are available for any place on the globe. The best place to start:

FAMILY SEARCH WIKI

In their words The Family Search Wiki is:

“A Genealogy Resource Guide to 150,400 articles: find the birth, death, marriage, census records, and other genealogy resources for your ancestor by selecting the region and country below.”

These are easily searchable by location by clicking on the map. I have highlighted in Red the main search bar but the ones in orange also deserve your attention. Just click on the map and start exploring.

I clicked on Norway and then Telemark County. This is what it brings up. I have highlighted some of the rich resources on this page. Including two of the parishes where some of my ancestors hark from. These are incredibly valuable and for many places they are one of the best places to start your research. They are intuitive and easy to use. But if you still find them overwhelming there is more HELP available at Family Search.

FAMILY SEARCH HOW TO CLASSES & VIDEOS

You can access Access thousands of videos on a wide range of genealogy topics. Options include live classes and recorded sessions that you can watch on demand. Search the on Demand Video Library from Roots Tech including 1,500 sessions on 185 topics in over 30 languages. Or attend a Class or Webinar. There are a myriad of topics. Here’s one called I Didn’t Know You Could Search Like That! Or this one on DNA Double Trouble: Using DNA to Solve Two Generations of Adoptions. Or if you had followed the link above on Telemark you could have been led to a whole page of videos Norway Online Learning.

You can also search more broadly on the Family Search You Tube Station.

FAMILY SEARCH LABS

Family Search labs are a gold mine of experimental TOOLS. My favorite is the FULL TEXT SEARCH LAB. It basically uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transcribe and index documents. This means that in a probate or deed record that your ancestor might be mentioned in but not appear as one of the parties of record but AI can find them and make those records available to you.

So for this blog post I decided to use the tool on my longest standing Brick Wall. I entered “John Merritt” New Jersey 1790-1830 as the search terms. This brought up 30 results. Scrolling through the first ones the third caught my eye. It is “John Merritt and Margaret his wife.” This is the first time I have found a John Merritt with a wife Margaret in New Jersey in the right time frame in 50 Years of looking. 🎉🎉🎉 WooHoo!

So this new record “may” just be the silver bullet I have been looking for. In previous searches at Family Search FULL TEXT SEARCH LAB, I have found other gems. If you are a long time genealogist this is the tool that I would spend the most time with. It may not be the best place for beginners, but if you have exhausted other resources this is where I would head.

Please use this link to find out more about the How do I find the new full text search that was announced at RootsTech? You can thank me later. In the meantime I will be down the gopher hole following this lead…

Kelly Wheaton ©2025 – All Rights Reserved.

Category: Uncategorized     Tags: , , , ,

2 Comments on “What you are Missing if you Aren’t Using Family Search for your Genealogy”

  1. Some clarifications re: FamilySearch.org . The church sponsoring this free site is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” That is its proper name.

    The main Family Tree is public to everyone; it is not a patron’s personal family tree. It is a continual growing Family Tree for all the people who ever lived on this world.

    There are two options that one can do for their personal family tree:

    1. go to “Search” tab, click it, then go to “Genealogies” then screen down to “How is FamilySearch Genealogies different from FamilySearch Family Tree?” One can put one’s family tree here, and no one else can change the data donated to “Genealogies.” It would be available for reading only, to other patrons.
    2. go to “Family Tree” tab, click it, then go to ”CETs” (Controlled Edit Trees). This was in the FamilySearch LABS until several weeks ago, and is now available. One can GEDCOM his/her family tree here and invite other patrons to work on your personal lines – please read the terms to follow for your protection regarding “living” persons’ names, etc. Here is where one can work on ancestral lines without someone else changing the data. It is also partially still in the FamilySearch LABS to add other details.

    And, finally, also still in FamilySearch LABS, is “Full Text” search. It is continually being added to – now over 1.2 billion images as of the last RootsTech; and supposedly to be 10 times larger by the end of the year. So. if one doesn’t locate some ancestral information, try again in a month or two. In matter of seconds, I located my grandmother’s name in my grandfather’s will of 1930 in British Columbia; located a 3rd great grand-uncle’s will in Pennsylvania in 1866; and my maternal grandfather’s statement as a policeman about a person drowning near a pier in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This source picks up every name in each document as well as other data.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences with FamilySearch.org

    Reply

Leave a comment

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 308 other subscribers