FAMILYSEARCH RESEARCH WIKI

©2020 Donald R. Snow -- snowd@math.byu.edu
Return to the  Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page  or  Don Snow's Class Listings Page . Page last updated 2020-10-26
ABSTRACT:   The FamilySearch webpage has many helps for genealogy and a major one is the FamiySearch Research Wiki.  This is a searchable collection of more than 94,000 articles about family history.  These are "how-to" and informatin articles about procedures, locations, programs, databases, websites, and more.  The term "wiki" means that anyone, with permission, can edit to correct or add to it. This class will show how to use it on FamilySearch and how to search it for the information you need  The notes for this class and related articles, all with active links, are posted on  https://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .

    WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

  1. Instructor is Donald R. Snow (snowd@math.byu.edu) of Provo and St. George, Utah.
  2. The notes, and related information in other articles, are posted at  https://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html , all with active internet links.
  3. Tips:  (1)  To put an icon on your desktop for these notes, or any webpage, just drag the icon from in front of the address in your browser onto your desktop.  (2)  To open a link, but keep your place in these notes, hold down the Control key while clicking the link.
  4. The problem for today:  What is the FamilySearch Research Wiki and how do you use it?

    5. FAMILYSEARCH WEBSITE

  5. Website is https://familysearch.org -- includes Family Tree, Memories, Search, Indexing, Get Help, and many other things -- To see topics included in all items, click on the Site Map (bottom of page)
  6. To get back to the FS home page from anywhere in FS, click on the FamilySearch logo (upper left corner)  
  7. Search button (at top near the middle) has the menu to get to Records, Genealogies, Catalog, Books, and Research Wiki -- the last one is our topic for today.

    8. FAMILYSEARCH RESEARCH WIKI

  8. To get to the FamilySearch Research Wiki go to FamilySearch.org > Search > Research Wiki or else go to it directly at  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page  
  9. The Research Wiki contains more than 94,000 articles about genealogy, including how-to's, world-wide places, finding information, databases, computer programs, videos, lessons, classes, handouts, and much more 
  10. "Wiki" means the articles can be edited by anyone who is signed in with permission, and all past changes are there so you can see who made the change and you can change it back to a previous version, if needed; it's like crowd sourcing 
  11. Links on left side about what the wiki is, guided research, how to use it, how to edit it, and more 
  12. The home page has a world map, if you want information about a location and you already know where it is 
  13. For information about a location, database, program, etc., type keywords into the search box on the home page 
  14. Examples
    1. Some of my ancestors are from early Massachusetts in the U.S. so keywords "massachusetts vital records" (no quotes) gives an excellent article about what records are available and how to find them
    2. Keywords "california birth index" (no quotes)
    3. Keywords "state censuses" (no quotes)
    4. When someone asks you about a location, try it in the Wiki, e.g. try Bulgaria, Myanmar, or Sri Lanka 
  15. Location articles contain
    1. Usually include maps of subdivisions, states, counties, cities, etc., and surrounding areas, all with links, so it's easy to get around
    2. Icon box to find online records
    3. Icon box for Community -- groups of people interested in that location and willing to help with information, lookups, translations, etc.
    4. FamilySearch Resources for that location, including lessons, databases, libraries, and more
  16. To get back to the Wiki home page from anywhere in the Wiki click on the Wiki Home link (near top left)
  17. For FH Consultants, when someone asks a queston, a first response could be, "Let's see what the Research Wiki says about that."

    18. CONCLUSIONS
  18. The secret of being a good genealogist is not knowing all the answers, but knowing where to find all the answers, and the Research Wiki is a major source of helps.
  19. A good FH learning experience is to just browse in the Wiki and look at articles, lessons, classes, handouts, etc.
  20. Your heart turns more to your ancestors as you learn more about their lives, locations, and circumstances.
Return to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .