Why I Use FamilySearch Family Tree and You Should Too

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There is some scorn directed at FamilySearch Family Tree because it is full of errors and some profiles have no sources, which makes it unreliable. The criticism is fair. I've found errors and unsourced profiles there. I've probably added some back when when I first began.

However I find that using FamilySearch Family Tree is critical to my research, and think that I can and should make it better. I hope I can convince you to help. I still have plenty to do, as my fan chart shows:

7 generation fan chart

Has it been years since you used FamilySearch? Please try it again soon.

These days, there are record hints, improved record search, and millions more indexed records available. Merging duplicate profiles can still be tedious and yet it is worth your time. Duplicates weaken the tree, so clean and improve it, at least in your direct lines. Correctly list family members, relationships, and their presence in various records; you'll thank yourself later.

It's important to learn how Source Linker works, so you can make it work for you. For instance, you can add facts about family members whom you have researched elsewhere in the Source Linker as they appear in records, which saves you time later. You will no longer need to add them "manually." For that reason, I often begin sourcing with census records so most of the family is added and properly linked from the start.

When you find records in the Catalog which are not indexed, FamilySearch ensures that you can correctly link the new source to your tree. For more about how to do that, see the top item here: https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/whats-familysearchaugust-2016/comment-page-1/

Dear researcher, do this work because:


  • Cousins will find your common relatives and add images, stories and even recordings
  • Your work will correct the record, and stay correct if you attach sources
  • Cousin researchers can contact you through messages on FamilySearch
  • Cousins using MyHeritage or Geni will find your work; both link to FamilySearch profiles
  • Cousins on 23andMe will find your work, since users can link to FamilySearch trees if opted into beta testing. Since this is working well, it may soon be available to all
  • You can link between WikiTree and FamilySearch profiles
  • You can search Ancestry, FindMyPast, MyHeritage, and Geneanet from within FamilySearch
  • FindAGrave, BillionGraves and GenealogyBank matches are suggested in hints
  • Excellent citations for all record images are ready to copy and paste
  • Excellent privacy of living people
  • Family tree display is instant, in landscape, portrait, fan chart, and descendancy 
  • Records and images not found on other sites such as state censuses, immigration documents, birth and death certificates

Example

As illustration of the last point above, here are images of records which show the emigration of Marie Giral from France to Canada and finally to North Dakota, where she met and married my cousin's uncle. Before I found these records in FamilySearch, the family did not know that Marie came with her aunt and uncle to Canada before entering the US.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99D3-YSC3-C?cc=2185163&wc=3KM4-Y4Q%3A1018494101%2C1018661801 : 9 October 2015

Marie is found in the US census from 1920 on, but this record:
  • gives her place of birth in France 
  • shows her working as a waitress in Estavan, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • explains why she came to Crosby, North Dakota: she had a job waiting with M. Sa Flame
  • gives the name and address of her uncle: M. Morard, her mother's brother
  • gives the date she landed in Montreal and the name of the ship

When these clues about her family were researched, it became clear that her uncle is Jules Morard, and thanks to the Canadian Passenger lists on FamilySearch, that he had come to New York before he and his sister Marie Morard accompanied Marie Giral to Canada. A snippet of the ship manifest of the Scotia, November 1913 showing the three of them landing in Montreal:

from https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-65Z5-DF?cc=1823240&wc=36TT-NQW%3A981985501%2C982168001%2C982054301 : 22 May 2014

Dear reader, I hope I've convinced you to give FamilySearch Family Tree another try. If you've used the Catalog, you already have an account. Log in, search for your nearest ancestor, remember that living people will not be found*, and check out your tree - or start it. Have fun!

* You can add yourself and other living people to the tree, but only you will be able to see them.

Valorie Cowan Zimmerman

Comments

  1. CharlesNovember 25, 2019 at 11:15 AM

    I have added a bunch of photos to my Family Search Family tree and my cousins have also added photos I have never seen before

    ReplyDelete

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