Nature of Source
The site, created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), contains historical transcriptions of interest to the genealogist and family historians. The Historical Record Collections (HRC) includes records from all over the world but is best known for the transcripts of baptisms, marriages and deaths extracted from Anglican/Church of England parish registers and non-parochial/nonconformist registers, including those held at Dr. Williams Library, extracted from TNA series RG 4-8. These parish registers and nonconformist records formed the separate dataset known as the International Genealogical Index (IGI). Other nonconformists registers include records held by the Cheshire Record Office and Bristol Non-Conformist Registers. Data formerly sold on CD as the British Isles Vital Records Index (BIVRI) is also included in the HRC.
The FamilySearch Catalog allows users to search the catalog of genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) made available by FamilySearch online and in libraries and centers worldwide.
The HRC and the IGI is not comprehensive with some parishes only partially covered or not at all. Some of the original IGI microfilm collections were not digitised so only remain accessible at The LDS FamilySearch Centers. Please note that the HRC is a transcribed index and could contain errors, so the original source material should always be consulted which might also contain additional information. A separate section containing the original International Genealogical Index remains as a standalone database, so for the moment it remains possible to use the batch numbers to find all occurrences of a name in a particular parish. The indexed International Genealogical Index collection searches all historical record collections containing indexed records taken from the original International Genealogical Index (IGI).
FamilySearch contains records from many countries and includes transcripts some with original images from sources such as censuses, probate records, naturalization records, passenger lists and military records. For updates to the indexing projects visit Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and subscribe to his newsletter for periodic news of additions to FamilySearch. Additions and updates to FamilySearch can also be found at What’s New at FamilySearch.
FamilySearch Digital Library. The Family History Library contains a searchable collection of digitized published family histories, local histories, and other collections to make them searchable and available online to researchers worldwide together with other world-renowned genealogical research partner libraries. The collections includes heraldic visitations, Phillimore parish register indexes, school registers, Phillimore calendars of wills, family histories, county and local histories, genealogy magazines and how-to books, gazetteers, medieval histories and pedigrees.
The massive collection of historical genealogical records held by FamilySearch on 2.4 million rolls of microfilm has been digitised and available to search online or browse the images for free. The archive contains information on more than 11.5 billion individuals from over 200 countries. The types of genealogically significant records include censuses, births, marriages, deaths, probate, church, immigration and more. The collection can be searched by clicking on the Search Records option and then selecting Images which takes you to Explore Historical Images. To begin, enter a place your ancestor lived. Get a feel for how many search results are available, and then add filters if you need them. However, many records have not been indexed, so it is not possible to search for names in these records yet.
A number of individual resources are available to search as a single database under the heading of ‘Genealogies’ found on the FamilySearch home page. These resources include:
- Ancestral File. Collection of genealogies submitted by users.
- Partner Trees: MyTrees.com. Collection of lineage-linked ancestor trees submitted and curated prior to 2020 by users of MyTrees.com.
- Partner Trees: RootsFinder. Collection of lineage-linked ancestor trees was submitted, curated, and expanded by users of RootsFinder.
- Pedigree Resource File. Collection of genealogies submitted by users
- Community Trees. Collection of lineage-linked, sourced genealogies for specific communities and time periods.
- Guild of One-Name Studies. Collection of lineage-linked sourced genealogies from the Guild of One-Name Studies.
- International Genealogical Index (IGI). Parish register transcripts.
The name index of burial records posted on BillionGraves is accessible at FamilySearch. Each record has a link to the image as it is found on the BillionGraves website. BillionGraves is a family history database for records and images from the world’s cemeteries. Members of the public can collect photos of headstones in a local cemetery with a smart phone camera app and then upload the photo and headstone transcription.
Where Found
N/A
Period Covered
1500 – 1900
Genealogical Value
Names, addresses, dates and places of birth/baptism, marriage and death/burial. Occupations, family relationships and parentage.
