Blog Archives

History Lesson: Details to Know Before Doing Online Genealogy Searches

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Knowing some background information on genealogy records and their historical context can help you search more efficiently for records on websites such as FamilySearch.org. What information should you know before starting your online genealogy record searches? Ancestor birth and death…

The Two Ways to Search FamilySearch.org’s International Genealogical Index

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Since early 2015, FamilySearch.org has offered two different ways to search its International Genealogical Index (IGI), a collection that contains more than 400 million entries of vital events such as births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths collected since the IGI was…

The Value of FamilySearch Family Tree Record Hints

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Earlier this year, FamilySearch.org added Record Hints to its FamilySearch Family Tree. If you’re familiar with Ancestry.com, then think of these new Record Hints in FamilySearch.org as sort of the equivalent to Ancestry.com’s shaky leaf icons. If hints are available…

Tagged with: family history, FamilySearch, genealogy, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History

How to Use Wildcards in FamilySearch.org Searches

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Decades or centuries ago, when many of the historical records on FamilySearch.org were originally created, the clerks and record keepers weren’t perfect. The volunteer indexers who transcribe records for FamilySearch.org aren’t infallible, either. That means spelling errors will almost certainly…

Uploading Content to FamilySearch.org: What Happens to It?

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Dana McCullough

When you upload a photo, document, story, audio file, or ancestor information to FamilySearch.org, you agree to FamilySearch’s Content Submission Agreement. You also agree that you have the appropriate copyright and/or permission to submit a photo, document, or audio recording.…

Tagged with: family history, FamilySearch, genealogy, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History

Top 10 Websites With Free Genealogy Records

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Although my new book, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org, covers the records and resources available on only one genealogy website, there are certainly other genealogy websites that have tons of free historical records, too. Here are the sites I consider the…

All About the FamilySearch.org Digital Books Collection

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Numerous books compiling town, county, and church vital records have been published over the years—and they are increasingly being digitized. You can search about 150,000 of these digitized books through the FamilySearch Books collection. Among the books you can search…

Tagged with: digitized books, family history, FamilySearch, genealogy, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History

How to Decipher Handwriting on Digital Genealogy Record Images

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Dana McCullough

When you find a genealogy record for your ancestor (especially one from across the pond), it’s exciting. But it also can be frustrating if you can’t read the language it’s written in or if you can’t read the fancy script…

Tagged with: family history, FamilySearch, genealogy, handwriting, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History

Demystifying Genealogies and Family Trees on FamilySearch.org

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Dana McCullough

To beginning FamilySearch.org users and even to the more experienced, it can be confusing to grasp the differences between the various types of user-submitted pedigree information on FamilySearch.org. So what’s the difference between the Genealogies and Family Tree sections of…

Tagged with: family history, family trees, FamilySearch, genealogies, genealogy, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History

The Different Camera Icons on FamilySearch.org

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Dana McCullough

Did you know that FamilySearch.org now uses two different camera icons to indicate if a digital record image is available for a particular record? You can see the two different images in the screenshot below, showing a list of some…

Tagged with: book, book author, family history, FamilySearch, genealogy, Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch
Posted in Genealogy/Family History