•Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The digitizing of all kinds of microfilmed records and books by
the Mormon Church has put a treasure trove of genealogical and historical
documents at our fingertips on the excellent web site FamilySearch.org. And of
course millions of these records are now available to us simply by typing
names, dates, etc., in the "Search Historical Records" query form and
clicking the search button. But literally millions of other documents are
accessible only by using the browsing feature on this web site. This is
because only a portion of the records have been indexed.
Try this: from the home page of FamilySearch.org, click the
‘Search’ tab and choose Records from the drop-down menu, then click on one of
the countries or continents on the map under “Research by Location”. The
“Choose a Location” box will appear, where you can choose a country or a
state. I’m searching in the United States, Massachusetts. So after
clicking those two options, I’ll click “Start Searching in Massachusetts” in
the drop-down box.
The next screen shows the Massachusetts Indexed Historical Records
and the query form at the top, and below that are the Massachusetts Image Only
Historical Records. I’m going to search Massachusetts, Land Records,
1620-1986 for my example.
When you see a screen like this next one, don’t be
discouraged by the words “Browse through 5,766,135 images”. Click on this phrase and you’ll see
that the collection is divided into counties. Within each county, there are further
divisions, such as by types of record, date range and often by initial letter
of the surnames. You’ll
essentially be searching through images on one microfilm. But with the navigational tools,
you’ll be able to ‘jump’ forward and backward though the images without having
to view them screen by screen, or page by page.
Tip 1: When indexes are available, always
search them first. Make note of the specific volumes and page numbers for
the records you wish to view; then return to the screen listing all of those
volumes, such as deed or will books and find the ones you noted.
I’m going to select Essex County, then when the next screen comes
up, I’ll search for the surname of Gould in the earliest deeds, in index of
grantors, those selling land in Essex County. I click on “Deed Index
(grantor) 1640-1799 Fos-Nix”.
Finding the Gould surname in the index is a little tricky – it’s
‘guestimating’ and adjusting if you go too far or not far enough into the
alphabet. But it gets easier with practice. To 'jump' ahead or backward through these images, type the
desired number in the Image navigation box (top of screen between the right and
left arrows), and press "enter".
I want to look at deeds for Zaccheus
Gould, and I find him listed at image 127.
My notes record what I need to know in order to find a specific deed for
Zaccheus:
1703 Mar 24 Zaccheus
Gould et al to Henry Lake, Volume 16, page 32 – land in Topsfield
This one looks interesting to me,
because the term “et al” tells me that there will be other names mentioned as
grantors, possibly relatives of Zaccheus.
Returning to the screen listing all of the deed indexes and deed books,
I choose “Deeds 1701-1706 vol 16-18”.
Now the fun begins!
Tip 2: The
page numbers don’t often correspond with the image numbers. When the books were microfilmed, they were
usually filmed two pages at a time.
Also, some record books number every single page in the book, while
others could have two pages to each number, such as page 3 (left side) and page
3 (right side). Also you’ll notice that
many films contain 2 or 3 deed books.
Turns out this is a VERY helpful deed for my family research on the Gould's. Not only is Zaccheus mentioned in the deed, but his relationship is stated as being the "son of the said John Goold, of Topsfield & Sarah His wife", so we have the names of three of the family members, including that of Sarah, the wife of John Goold/Gould.
I hope you'll give this browsing feature a try. Yes, it's more involved than using the search query forms, but my experience with it has been so very worthwhile. It has truly been a way for me to bridge more generations and answer questions without having to travel great distances to visit court houses or to order a multitude of microfilms. It's truly put the records of many of my ancestors at my fingertips.
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