Record Hints
Record Hints can be found on the right side of the
Person Page or from Descendancy View.
From the Engineers
Our work will not be finished until fall when we have
updated the system completely. From now until fall it
will be working on snapshot data that will be updated
roughly once a month. This means if you add a person
to the Family Tree there may be no hints displayed for
as much as a month. Also, if you change a person’s data
in the tree, the hints may reflect the old data for as much
as a month.
We will be rolling out hints incrementally. We won't be
exposing all possible matches on day one. Keep coming
back to the site regularly, as you will see more. You
Record Hints found on right side of the Person Page
also may find a good match in searching that hasn't yet
been exposed in hinting. Will this ever end? No, not
really. New records will always be published and
algorithms will always be refined. It will be a good
habit to form to just keep coming back to check for new
hints.
Hinting is a way of skimming good matches off the top
and presenting them to users. It is a golden opportunity
for our many advanced researchers to invite their
friends and family members who have never previously This screen is displayed when no Record Hints are
found.
been engaged in Family History to sit down and teach
them how to attach records, add names and ordinance
Using Record Hints
related work. There are still going to be many records
in the databases that require refined skills to find them,
correlate them and make proper conclusions about
them. Rather than swooping in and resolving all the
easy stuff, the more challenging work would be a
valuable use of our advanced researcher's skills and
time.
The more records that get linked the more the tree is
extended and more records can then be linked.
Record Hints From Person Page
Record Hints is found on the right side of the Person
page in Family Tree. Hints is an easy way to see if
there is source material in FamilySearch that has not yet
been sourced on an individual in your tree. When new
record collections become available, then a hint will
show up about the collection. Because of this I don’t
have to keep doing Search Records on all of my
ancestors over and over again to see if there is
something new.
1. Find an ancestor with Record Hint that are displayed
and click Show Details.
Many different types of records are displayed inside
Record Hints. Records about the main individual are
displayed such as birth, christening or marriage.
Records that display the name of the main individual
that have other names listed such as birth, marriage, and
death records of the children. Obituaries where the
1 main individual is listed, but he or she may not be
related to the person who died. Record Hints also have
individuals listed that are not a match. It is extremely
important to examine the record before attaching it.
2. Find a record on the summary that you want and
click Review and Attach.
A. Tag event
B. Make a reason statement
C. Attach or Not a Mach
3. Click Attach.
The details screen for record hints is showing above.
There is a duplicate records for George’s marriage
showing and one christening record. Four of George’s
children are showing and there are two duplicate
records for the children. Some individuals are
attaching every record hint they see without even
looking at what they are. You need to make a decision
about which sources you will attach.
I have requested some kind of distinction be made
inside the sources for an individual so that records about
the main person would be easily distinguishable from
other records.
The above source was for a marriage record so the wife
also needs to have the source attached to her. If there
were other individuals mentioned in the source you
would need to make a decision as to whether they
needed to be sourced.
You will know the record is attached as a source when
the word Detach shows in front of the name.
2 Record Hints from Descendancy Tab
From traditional view, go back about 7 generations,
place the 7th generation in the main position.
4. To return to the person page click on the name of
your ancestor in the top left corner or click on Return
to Family Tree on the bottom left corner.
In the upper left corner of the Family Tree screen can be
found the pull down menu for View Descendancy.
There are other materials discussing how to use the
Descendancy view feature so all that will be discussed
here is finding sources using the Record Hints feature.
The individual used in the above example has no more
Record Hints. If more Hints are showing, then repeat
the above procedure.
This brown icon tells you that there are Record Hints on
an individual in the Descendancy view.
Error when linking source
3 By clicking on the Descendancy icon a summary of the
sources will be displayed. By clicking on Show Details
an expanded view is displayed.
By clicking on one of the available sources the Attach
Historical Records screen comes up and the source can
be attached to a descendant.
In level two there is a whole section dedicated to
descendancy research and more information can be
obtained there.
4