Issue 43.14
The Search portion of https://familysearch.org is where you will find the published collections. These are the digital copies of the actual records and the indexes that have been and are still being submitted by those helping with FamilySearch Indexing. To find these records FamilySearch has made the world map interactive. You can click on a region of the world and FamilySearch displays a list of countries in that region. Click on a country and FamilySearch displays summary information about its collection. A third click takes you to a page specific to that country or U.S. State.
To try it, go to https://familysearch.org/search and click on the world map under Research by Location. Click the United States on the map and then from the 52 locations, click Connecticut. You will see currently 72 collections, the years covered 1630-2014, and a table says there are 1,744,343,624 indexed records and 127,650,460 record images. Click Start researching in Connecticut to get to the Connecticut Research Page. It has all of the information handy in one place, including the Wiki for Connecticut.
You will also see listings that say Image Only Historical Records. These are the collections that have not yet been indexed. FamilySearch is digitizing records a lot faster than we are indexing them, so there are many collections online that you can browse if you don’t find your ancestors when you search.
When searching, use broad searches with few details in the beginning and then add filters to refine or narrow your results. Use life events that you believe might be on the record you are looking for. If you add a death date, you will only have death records returned in your search. So if you are looking for a marriage date, don’t enter a death date. If you want a specific type of record from a certain location, use the record restrictions by fields, or just leave the fields blank. Remember, less is more, when searching. The search engine is going to try to match everything you type in.
Try the country-specific pages for yourself. They bring functionality that hasn’t been previously available.
For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com (435) 628-4900.