www.alanmann.com/articles prepared November 2001

FamilySearch Internet is at www.familysearch.org. The site is divided into four major sections of Home, Search, Share, and Library. This syllabus material focuses on the tips and tricks rather than explaining each section.. However, these tips and tricks are arranged by site sections.

Home

1. Look in the What’s New section to see announcements of products and changes to the web site. Each entry is dated, so you know how recent it is.
2. The FamilySearch Questions section (similar to FAQs) is where you should look for answers to questions or just to learn more about using this web site—the questions are divided into topics corresponding to the site layout. Note the new Product Support section for more info.
3. Product Support has a section for each of the CD-ROM or software products. These include Personal Ancestral File (PAF) versions 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0; PAF for Macs; PAF Companion; 1851 British Census; 1881 British Census; 1880 U.S. Census; Vital Records for Australia, British Isles, Middle America, North America, Scandinavia, and Western Europe; Family History Center Inventory Manager; Family History Library Catalog for Windows; Family History Resource File Viewer; Family History SourceGuide; FamilySearch-DOS; Freedman's Bank Records; Mormon Immigration Index; and Pedigree Resource File
4. The Order/Download Products section is where you download your free copy of PAF, but you must click on Order/Download, then select Download Software. DO NOT use the "FamilySearch" section of Order/Download since that section if for Family History Centers.

This section has five subsections, which appear in bold in the following paragraphs.

Search for Ancestors. This screen requires you to input the first and last name of a person you would like to find. There are additional boxes into which you can enter father's name (first and/or last), mother's name (first and/or last), spouse's name (first and/or last), event type (birth/marriage/death), and place.

1. This section allows you to search all databases at once or a single database at a time. The options available for searching may change as you switch from global to single database.
2. Fill out as little information as needed to make your search effective. If it is an unusual name, searching by surname without entering the first name may give you results you might have otherwise overlooked. Even if you know the birth year and parents’ full name, you may want to leave some or all of those fields blank so as not to miss an entry that varies only slightly from the information you think you know.
3. Look at the Sources Searched box, which tells you which databases (Ancestral File, IGI, etc.) had that name in it (and how many). You can click on any of the sources in that box to restrict your view of results to just that source.
4. The Sources Searched will tell you if there were more than 25 hits from that source. NOTE that only 25 are shown in the combined search results screen.
5. You may have additional search functions if you select an individual database rather than searching all at once. You also will see up to 200 hits from that database rather than be limited to just 25. Use the next button to see more hits.
6. Understand what you are doing before using the exact spelling box. If there are alternate spellings of the surname, you may want to do an exact spelling search anyway—just do more than one search. For example, SAUMAREZ is spelled about eight different ways, but the IGI mixes it with SUMMERS, making it nearly impossible to find all the SAUMAREZ names. In this case, search by each of the eight alternative spellings one at a time to get what you need.
7. Use the batch number search in the IGI. This allows you to do a parish printout or even a limited search by town or parish. It also allows you to see all the names submitted in particular batch or on a specific sheet.
8. Use the submission number search in Pedigree Resource File. This allows you to see every name submitted by that person in that single submission.
9. Note that Vital Records Indexes are now searchable online (not all yet).
10. There are tips for each search that may help you search more effectively.

Research Guidance asks you to select a place where the person you are trying to trace lived (state or country), then guides you step by step through the process of finding the desired information on that person. You tell the time period he or she lived, and RG tells you what records exist for that time period in that place and outlines how you can go about finding what you are looking for. Each section ties to the Family History Library Catalog (to tell you what records are available at the Family History Library System), a step by step guide, related web sites, and other research helps. Give it a try!

1. See "How Do I Begin," and "Determining the Country Where Your Ancestor Lived."
2. The key to using Research Guidance is to have a specific ancestor and goal in mind before trying to use it.
   

Research Helps has all of the publications of the Family History Library, including Research Outlines, Research Guides, Forms, Word Lists, and more.

1. Use the option to sort by different criteria.
2. Offers help on "Organizing My Files," the contents of FHL registers, and much more.
3. Check out the forms available.
4. Letter writing guides will give you prewritten paragraphs (shows English, then lets you copy that paragraph in the language of your choice).

1. Web Sites searches the list of other web sites that FamilySearch volunteers have categorized. This categorization is designed to be similar to the Family History Library Catalog, but is not consistent since those categorizing are volunteers rather than professional cataloguers.

You can search by place or subject (category).

2. Note that the default is BROWSE. This allows you to select a subject such census or vital records, then a place such as Florida or Denmark, and then see web sites that have or tell about that subject for that place.
3. Use keyword search when appropriate. NOTE that it searches every word on every web page rather than just the header, description, or first paragraph of each web page.
4. Search web sites allows you to restrict your search to sites that have certain features, such as pictures, coats-of-arms, or lineage-linked data. You can still specify a surname, category, place, and/or language.
5. Once you see results of a web site search, there is a link called Refine search. Unlike Refine search elsewhere on this site, this refinement searches ONLY the results of the previous search. Thus, if you get 127 Pennsylvania probate record sites, you can then add something else. It can be any word or phrase (place, subject, name, or ??). FamilySearch will then search just the 127 Pennsylvania probate record sites for the search term you input.
6. If appropriate, leave the surname field blank. For example, if you are trying to find record repositories that have records from France and whose catalogs are online, search the place France, category Archives and Libraries, and check the feature online catalog.

Share – three separate areas, as follows:

• Note that there are four types of lists--same ancestor, surname, place, or topic (the same topics used in Browse Web Sites).
• On the left hand side, click on Search E-mail lists to search. Input a word you want to find (surname, place, or topic) in the keyword box.
• When searching, you will usually get better results if you click the second radio button (The e-mail list name starts with the keyword). Thus a search for Mann will not get Ackermann or Hermann.
• When using the keyword search, consider entering a space after the name. Thus, a search for Mann with a space after it will exclude the names Manning and Manners.
• If your search doesn’t find anything, create a group.
• Join those groups that apply to your ancestry, but remember that you won’t get anything until someone sends another message. Past messages are not stored or available.

1. Check your notes and sources before submitting. Take out any derogatory comments or anything else you don’t want shared.
2. Remove details on living people before submitting.
3. You can check the status of your submission at any time.
4. Be sure to use the box to add a descriptive paragraph. Make the paragraph useful (the major surnames, places, and time period in the database being submitted).

1. Use it! Let FamilySearch know about web sites that are helpful to genealogists (any you know about, not just your own). Check to see if it’s already there before submitting.
2. You can check the status of your submissions at any time (can’t remember if you told us about one, just check your submissions).

Library

Check classes being taught at the Family History Library and notes on major conferences and online courses. The Family History Library Catalog is available online. Note that this version of the catalog is more current than any other form of the catalog available outside of Salt Lake City, Utah (version in the Library itself may be more current). You can search this version of the catalog by place, surname, author, subject, call number (books), or fiche or film number. Consider the following as you use the FHLC online:

1. The usual way to find things in the FHLC is by place. Once a record is displayed, click on View Film Notes to get the microfilm number. If there is no View Film Notes button, then the source is not available on film or fiche.
2. Use View Related Places. This requires using the level above the one you want (e.g., you want a town, so find the county first—if you want a county, go to the state first). Can’t find Stanton le Vale in Lincoln, England? Just find Lincoln, then click on View Related Places to get a list of all the places in Lincoln mentioned in the FHLC. You will then find Stainton-le-Vale, Lincoln, England (note it has an i in it) in the list of places in Lincoln.
3. You may need to use an online gazetteer to know which county a place is in. For example, an FHLC search for Cour d’Alene, Idaho said no such place exists. The USGNS gazetteer told me that "Coer d’Alene" was in Kootenai county. Search Kootenai as the place (Idaho in the second box), then click on View Related Places. It shows that the FHLC spells it Coeur d’Alene (no, Coer d’Alene wouldn’t have worked, either).
4. A subject search returns subject headings, not records. Even though only a few subject headings may be returned, the number of records under those subject headings could be in the thousands.
5. The subject search itself is literal, not intelligent. Thus, a search for genealogy will yield only 448 hits even though virtual every subject heading in the FHLC has something to do with genealogy. There are only 448 different subject headings that actually contain the word genealogy.