Dana McCullough - Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org: How to Find Your Family History on the Worlds Largest Free Genealogy Website

Get acquainted with FamilySearch.org and learn genealogy basics to set yourself up for success.

Learn how to find new ancestors in FamilySearch.orgs giant user family tree, as well as how to create and manage your own family tree on the website.

Discover tips and strategies to mine the billions of ancestors in FamilySearch.orgs Historical Records collections.

Move beyond the main search form to uncover genealogy clues in the Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, International Genealogical Index, FamilySearch Catalog, and a massive archive of digitized family history books.

Count on the tips in this chapter to find your ancestors in FamilySearch.orgs collections of federal, state, and special censuses.

Revitalize your search for vital statistics on FamilySearch.org. This chapter walks you through the sites birth, marriage, and death collections.

Sail to new discoveries about your immigrant ancestors journey to America and to citizenship. Youll learn how to locate passenger lists, naturalizations, and more.

Learn strategies to conquer record collections from the American Revolution through World War II (and beyond)plus get a debrief on records from draft cards to pension files.

Get pointers for probing into state and local collections with probate files, land records, naturalizations, tax records, voter lists, and more.

Trace your family tree across the pond in FamilySearch.orgs growing European record collections. This chapter walks you through available collections and strategies to use them.

Take your genealogy search into Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and all around the world with helpful hints and background information on FamilySearch.org collections, country by country.

Discover the genealogical gems you can unearth within the Miscellaneous and Other categories of Historical Records on FamilySearch.org.

Find out all that the Family History Library, local Family History Centers, and affiliate libraries have to offer! Also learn valubale tips for preparing for a research trip to these locations.

Since I was a young girl, Ive always believed that family is important. I was first exposed to genealogy research in the fifth grade during a school assignment to research my family history. I put together a video presentation I called Ancestral Journal that showcased the little I knew about my family history. I played the role of a news anchor, reading stories I learned from interviewing relatives about their childhood memories, sifting through family photographs, and gathering family heirlooms and old letters from relatives.

Today, I believe this early experience was a foreshadowing of what was to come in my life. I graduated from college with a degree in journalism and started working at Family Tree Magazine. While at the magazine, my interest in researching my family history blossomed. It was also where I was first introduced to FamilySearch.org < www.familysearch.org > .

Over the years, FamilySearch.org has become my go-to genealogy research website. Its the first place I turn for two reasons: its free, and has an extensive (and continually growing) digital records collection.

FamilySearch.org is where Ive found federal and state census records and transcriptions for my ancestors. Its where I found the naturalization record for my great-grandfather, who immigrated to America from Italy in the early 1900s. Its also where Ive found birth, death, and marriage records for several ancestors. In addition, because of FamilySearch.org, I learned that my grandmother worked as a maid before she got married, and the year that some relatives on my dads side of the family came to America. All of the records and information Ive found gave me a deeper sense of who my ancestors were. Theyve provided clues to my ancestors lives, not just when and where they lived.

Through my work with Family Tree Magazine as an assistant editor and later as a freelance writer and editor, I learned that many genealogists (especially beginners) dont know about FamilySearch.orgor their knowledge only scratches the surface. Although its got billions of records, FamilySearch.org is a hidden gem; an underutilized resource. Ive come to find it extremely valuable and, because of that, I want to share my knowledge and experience of this website with other genealogy enthusiasts. Its a valuable source I think every genealogist should know about and use.

As you research your own family, I hope the tips and insights in this book help you fine-tune your ancestor searches to locate a genealogy gold mine of records. Of course, any technology or website can change rapidly, and FamilySearch.org is no exception. Based on my research conducted for this book, I learned FamilySearch.org is continually working to enhance its website and the search features it offers. Although certain aspects, search options, and record collections may change after publication, the strategies included should be adaptable to new iterations of the site and search forms.

Further, the insights and success stories provided by genealogists throughout the book can serve as inspiration to start (or continue) your ancestor search on FamilySearch.org.