Hidden Treasure on FamilySearch

While I was at the family history library in Salt Lake City, I saw a tour in progress. They were in the midst of telling those on the tour, that a goal of FamilySearch is to make it possible for everyone in the world that has access to a computer, will have access to records for their family. At the time that I heard this, I thought it was really cool, but was somewhat skeptic on how this was going to be possible. However, through the years, since this encounter, I have seen many miracles with the accomplishment of this worthy goal.

Many records have been made available on familysearch.org. However, you might not know how to access all of them. If you go through the records under the search tab, you will notice a lot of records available for our use. According to the numbers on familysearch, there are 2,099 databases for countries around the world. This is amazing! However, if you are only using this you are missing out on a lot of records that have been made available for our use.

Here are the steps to get to these valuable resources...

1. Click on FamilySearch Catalog

2. Type in the area you want to research in. When searching in the catalog, you want to write your search area like this ... Country, State, County.

 3. Pick the category that fits your research. For example you might want to find a birth, marriage or death record, so your category would be vital records.

4. Pick the database that includes the years you are looking for.

5. Scroll down to the Film notes, and look for a camera icon. This means that the film has been put online, but does not have an index. You will have to look through this film as  if you are on a microfilm reader.

This has become one of my favorite parts of the FamilySearch website. It has been so much fun to have these records at the tip of my fingers. FamilySearch is doing great things. Make sure you don't miss out on all of the resources on this great website.

Happy Searching!