The record review tools on the FamilySearch website help you evaluate a historical record and determine if it is about your relatives. If it is, you may discover new things about your family that you didn't know!
How to Search Historical Records
On FamilySearch, billions of historical records have been indexed. This means that important details like names, dates, relationships, and locations have been pulled from those records to create an online record that is searchable by users like you!
- Go to FamilySearch's Search Historical Records page, enter in information that you know about one of your ancestors, and click the Search button.
- You'll be given a list of people that might match the ancestor you are searching for. Each person is linked to a historical record that provides information about that person, and you can view that information by clicking on the person's name. Depending on the record, you'll also be able to view an image of that record to verify where the information was pulled from.
- If that person is actually your ancestor, you can decide whether the information from that historical record needs to be added to your family tree.
For a more detailed tutorial about searching records, you can read this article.
How Will I Know If They Are My Ancestor?
You might receive hundreds of results when you search for an ancestor in historical records. If you think one of those results is your ancestor, make sure to review the record's information carefully. Look at the listed names, dates, locations, and relationships. Compare that information to the information already in your family tree for that ancestor.
Names: Are the names the same, similar, or a logical variation? For example, maybe James is the name listed on a historical record but Jim is the name of the ancestor you're looking for that is listed in your family tree.
Dates: Sometimes the year for a birth, marriage, death, etc. isn’t a perfect match between the historical record and information you already have in your family tree. Dates that are relatively close may be considered a match if the other information on the record seems accurate.
Locations: Between the historical record and information you already have, do the place names match? Are they in the general vicinity of known family locations?
Relationships: Between the historical record and information you already have, do the parent, spouse, child, or other relationships seem accurate?
If you believe that the historical record you have found is about your ancestor, go ahead and attach that record to your family tree!
Why Do Historical Records Matter?
Life events such as when a baby is born, when a soldier enlists in the military, or when a couple is married generates a historical record. Records provide proof that a certain thing happened to certain people on certain day in a certain place. This information can add important details to your family story.
Where Do Historical Records Come From?
FamilySearch has been working with organizations around the world for over 100 years to preserve historical records and make them available for people who are interested in learning more about their family.
Images of the actual records are captured by FamilySearch and preserved in our digital archives on FamilySearch.org. The image is then reviewed by one of an army of volunteer indexers who extracts the important information, making it searchable on the FamilySearch website.
Make Connections
When people learn about their ancestors, they discover more about themselves too. This discovery can create meaningful connections and relationship that span generations.
Related Articles
At FamilySearch, we care about connecting you with your family, and we provide fun discovery experiences and family history services for free. Why? Because we cherish families and believe that connecting generations can improve our lives now and forever. We are a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about our beliefs, click here.
