Searching and Sourcing on FamilySearch
FamilyTree with Ease
1. Basics of Record Keeping (Evidence 101)
a. Types of Pedigrees
i. Biological – ancestry in every generation recorded and fully understood
1. Certain hybrid plants and animals can obtain a biological pedigree
ii. Legal – fully documented suitable for use in court proceedings
1. Based on preponderance of evidence
iii. Historical – based on printed sources rather than official records
iv. Traditional – documentation faulty, inadequate, or non-existent
1. Based on hope and imagination
v. Legendary – no records exist to support such a pedigree
1. Cannot be proved.
b. Introduction to Evidence
i. Direct – information that answers the question directly
ii. Circumstantial – information that requires deductive inference to answer the question
iii. Primary – a statement made by an eye-witness at the time
iv. Secondary – a statement made by an eye-witness after the fact or a statement by a
non eye-witness
v. Original – the first transcription of an event
vi. Transcription – any subsequent transcription of an event record
vii. Record Authentication – authentication means that the information came from an
authoritative source, has provenance (or a chain of evidence) demonstrating the link
to the authoritative source, and is trusted by the recipient (trust is in the eye of the
beholder). Indicators to authenticate records:
1. Age – An ancient document is any document over thirty years of age
2. Unsuspicious appearance – formatted as expected for the timeperiod
3. Logical contents (even if disorganized) - time periods, names, places, are
generally expected
4. Have been in proper custody – provides for provenance and can help insire
against integrity failures (changes/modifications)
c. Forms of Evidence
i. Witness Testimony – may be direct or circumstantial and may be primary or
secondary
ii. Written Documents – may be any form of evidence
iii. Personal Inspection – Documents that you have personally seen are more
trustworthy than documents you have not seen
iv. Hearsay Evidence – Evidence that you have only heard about is less valuable than
documents you have personally seen. Conditions for accepting hearsay evidence in
genealogical matters
1. special guarantee of trust associated with the evidence (perhaps a reputable
family member? Or a prolific one?)
2. “necessity principle” (because it is the only evidence available)
3. “ante litem motam” which means spoken and recorded before the need for
evidence
d. Genealogical Proof
i. Observation – own experience is best
ii. Oral Testimony – is most often hearsay
iii. Transcribed Testimony – Most available proof
iv. Hearsay proof types:
1. Official records
2. Dying declaration
3. General reputation
4. Declaration against interest
5. Business records
6. Spontaneous Exclamations
7. Declaration of Pedigree and Family History
8. County and Local Histories
9. Oral Genealogy
e. Making Sense of Evidence
i. Preponderance of evidence
1. Most often evidence is not absolute in genealogical matters but will require
synthesis across multiple data sources and preponderance of evidence to
make a decision. The weight of a million records about a concept is more
valuable than a single isolated unsubstantiated record.
ii. Conflicting Evidence
1. Conflicting evidence has to be handled through record authentication
procedures above.
2. If it can’t be resolved by identifying problems with data provenance, conflicts
need to be treated using preponderance.
3. If there is roughly the same weight on both sides of a debate, you may find
that you’re looking at two records for two possible ancestors
f. Jacob’s Favorite Evidences
i. Marriage Certificate
ii. Family Bible Records
iii. Birth Certificates
iv. Death Certificates
v. Obituary/Cemetery Records
vi. Personal Knowledge
vii. Historical Correspondence
viii. Census Records
ix. Church Records
x. Will and Testaments
xi. Military Records
2. The Sourcing in FamilyTree (Research Help)
a. FamilyTree
b. Ancestor Person (details) page
c. Search Records
d. Review each Record
e. If a match, Attach to Family Tree
i. Show Grafton S Myers, Jr
1. Just Name and Birth: Census 1910-1940
2. Just Name, Birth, and Marriage Estimate: Marriage Certificate
3. Just Name, Death Estimate: Social Security Death Index
ii. Show Grafton S Myers, Sr
1. Just Name, Birth Estimate: Census 1900, Marriage, WWI Draft
2. June Name, Birth Estimate, Residence Estimate: Death Record
iii. Show Francis H Foote
1. Just Name, Birth Estimate: Census 1850-1920 (Note: Missing 1900)
iv. Show Julian Leander Foote
1. Just Name, Birth Estimate, lock filters (male): Census 1850-1880, Marriage
f. If not a match, go back to Search Results
3. Narrowing Down Searches (Record Hints)
a. FamilyTree
b. Ancestor Person (details) page
c. Upper Right Hand Corner
d. Review Each Record
e. If a match, Attach to Family Tree
i. Grafton S Myers, Sr; Francis H Foote; Julian Leander Foote
f. If not a match, continue with your research
4. References
a. “A Guide to the Standard Proof Relating to Pedigrees, Ancestry, Heirship, and Family
History.” Aegean Park Press, 1979 cited in “Is that lineage right?” April 2005, Daughters of
the American Revolution.
b. “Genealogical Evidence”. Noel C Stephensen
c. “Family History Research Keeps Getting Easier!”, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familyhistory-research-easier/
d. “Duplicates in FamilySearch’s Family Tree: Why They’re There, How to Find Them, and How
to Resolve Them”, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/duplicates-familysearchs-family-treetheyre-find-resolve/
e. “Searching Historical Records from Family Tree and attaching the Source to a Record”,
https://familysearch.org/ask/salesforce/viewArticle?urlname=How-to-Search-HistoricalRecords-from-Family-Tree-and-Attach-the-Source-to-a-Record-1381815586773&lang=en
f. “Record Hints”, https://familysearch.org/ask/salesforce/viewArticle?urlname=RecordHints&lang=en
Using Ancestry.com Alongside
FamilySearch FamilyTree
1.
Quality versus Quantity
a.
When building a house or a temple, scraps are left over that don’t fit into
the edifice but were required for successful completion. There is no reason to believe that
“reconstructing the pedigree of the human family” will result in less than a full utilization of the
pieces that are obviously part of the superstructure along with eventual reclamation of any
genetic dead-ends, tragically shortened lives, or marginalized members of society.
b.
Duplicate records should be carefully analyzed and, where appropriate,
merged but should be expected to be encountered in our goals towards accuracy. A fully
documented and understood genealogical history should be what every member of the Church
and everyone in the room is looking for. – Duplication, repetition, is a part of training and
learning.
c.
Record Everything: Thoughts, Impressions, Identified Facts, Identified
Falsehoods, Timelines
i.
This organizes our research effort
ii.
This makes good reading for our peers, children, and new researchers
d.
Ancestry.com provides many benefits that can be used to augment use
of FamilySearch FamilyTree:
i.
Additional Historical Records
ii.
Different Search Algorithms
iii.
Researcher Connections and Collaboration
iv.
Public Trees
2. Ancestry.com: Goal: “To help every person discover, preserve and share their family history”.
a. Suggested Records
b. Customizing Profile – create breadcrumbs
c. Member Connect
d. Customizing Home Page – simplify the site
e. Shared or Private Family Trees
f. Indexed Historical Records
g. DNA
h. Learning Center
i. Collaboration
3.
Familysearch.org: Goal: “One complete, accurate record for each
person who has lived on the earth, linked to other records by correct relationships (parents, spouses,
children)” to become “the most accurate lineage-linked system” organized by man.
a.
FamilyTree Genealogical Records (IGI or other records created over a
period of 100+ years by many people and organizations)
b.
Indexed Historical Records
c.
Record Hints
d.
Photos and Document Images
e.
Descendancy Feature
f.
Temple System Interface
g.
Training and Education
4.
Given the goals of each tool, how can we use both together?
a.
Preponderance of evidence – finding additional records about an
ancestor or finding additional public family trees relating to an ancestor  This can be
dangerous
b.
Ancestry offers collaboration – contacting family members or other
researchers to swap family records and sources of evidence  This is very valuable
c.
The value of collaboration: Information asymmetry
i.
Information asymmetry – the study of transaction decisions in which one
party to the transaction has better or more information than another party
ii.
If family members and researchers are willing to share their evidence or
at least sense of trust in a particular interpretation – information asymmetry is reduced
and greater decision parity can be obtained
d.
The risk of public family trees: Copying
e.
The value of additional records: Preponderance of evidence
rd
5. Demonstration: 3 Great Grandfather on my Mother’s Father’s Side: John Wesley Clifton, Born 1840,
Dickson County, Tennessee
a. Find-a-grave
b. Public member picture tombstone
c. Public member family photo
d. 1920 Census: In son-in-laws house (Mahala’s)
e. Death Records
f. 1870 Census – and Mahala’s first name (Susan)
g. Parents on same 1870 census
h. Brother (Burrell) on same 1870 census as is his first daughter Lydia
6. References
1. “Are you Enjoying Everything FamilySearch Has to Offer?”,
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/enjoying-familysearch-offer/
2. “Duplicates in FamilySearch’s Family Tree: Why They’re There, How to Find Them, and How to
Resolve Them”, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/duplicates-familysearchs-family-tree-theyre-findresolve/
3. “A Global Perspective: The Role of FamilySearch in a Worldwide Community”,
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/global-perspective-role-familysearch-worldwide-community/
4. “What we are Reading: September 5 Edition”, http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/
5. “Four Ways to Make Ancestry.com Work for Your”,
http://www.ancestry.com/cs/Satellite?childpagename=USLearningCenter%2FLearning_C%2FPage
Default&pagename=LearningWrapper&cid=1265125527936
6. “Mission & Culture”, http://corporate.ancestry.com/about-ancestry/company-info/mission-andculture/