Look Again At the FamilySearch WIKI

 

As of few weeks ago, when I crafted this post, there were 150,162 articles under this Resource Guide on the FamilySearch.org website.  So what is the Wiki anyway?

The Research Wiki is a tree, online genealogical guide that lists websites and resources to help you find your ancestors from countries around the world. The Wiki is a community project where anyone can contribute.

What can you find on the Wiki?

• Genealogical databases and online resources 
• Genealogy research strategy and guidance
• Explanation of genealogy record types and their uses
• Locality pages for countries, states, counties and parishes with relevant resources.
• Topic pages about genealogy, such as Organize Your Genealogy, or Gazetteers.

Pro tips for navigating the Wiki:

• Don't search by name; individuals are NOT listed in the Wiki but you will find links to databases or other resources that may contain the information you seek.
• Do search by location; search by location, smallest to largest (parish/town, county, state, country). 
• Do check for pertinent records in each jurisdiction. 

Recommendations:

• For the country, or state, and/or county of your interest, consider printing out those pages for better study; keep them in your research notebook. 
• Do check for specific topics: Land records, Military Records, Church Records, Emigration, Immigration, etc. Such sites give you an overview while a locality search gives you specifics to that locale. 
• When you learn the European (or other) country of your ancestors' origins, go to that country and print out/really study that material....... your own personal self-help guide.

The bestest advice I can give you today is to grab a hot or cold drink, set a timer for a full hour, and go explore the FamilySearch Wiki! That's the "bestest" way to learn how to really utilize this fantastic FREE resource. 

FamilySearch WIKI

 

Have you accessed the wonderful, fantastic, FREE resource that is the FamilySearch WIKI? When you click to www.familysearch.org/WIKI this is the page that opens up to you. From this menu, you can "order" among over 106,000 articles......... articles about places all over the world, records of all types, and what records can be found where. When my Puerto Rican friend, Leticia, wanted help with her family tree, the first thing I did was to go to the WIKI and print out all the pages of tips, helps and websites. 

Danielle Batson at the 2023 RootsTech, gave these tips in her talk:

• "The WIKI is your online genealogy guide linking you to all known records of the entire world!"  How can you top that??
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• WIKI is constantly adding newly found links/sites.
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• WIKI offer strategy papers.
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• Search by locality, she said. "That's where things happen!"
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• Search top-down.... ie, start with Denmark or Virginia and then work your way down through the menu.
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• Realize that some countries ("Bulgaria for instance") hasn't as many records.
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• Don't over look the sidebar with links to other related records.
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• You can also join a community group for your target area and ask locality-specific questions.
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• Wiki offers Guided Research..... Wiki offers guides to where you might look next.
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• You can book your free Virtual Genealogy consultation, a 20-minute time one-on-one with a FamilySearch specialist for that area or type of record. 
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• And this, the best words she said were these:

"The FamilySearch WII is your researchers' Golden Ticket!"

More FamilySearch Library & Wiki Tips

 While attending RootsTech the end of February, I sat in on two classes to learn more for myself and to share with all of you. The two presentations were on the FamilySearch Library Catalog and the FamilySearch WIKI. 

You most likely cannot read that small print, but there are currently 106,000 articles on the WIKI. . "The WIKI is your online genealogy guide which links you to all known records of the entire world." Did you catch that? "To all KNOWN records of the entire world." And new free links and websites are constantly being added. The presenter, Danielle Baston, advised us "to search by locality because that's were things happen." Some countries, she said, have pages of links and info (like Denmark) but some (like Bulgaria) don't have as much. "The FamilySearch WIKI is your Researchers' Golden Ticket," Danielle quipped. 

Becky Loveridge, another FamilySearch library employee, gave the news that as of Feb 2022 there was a whole new catalog:  libcat.familysearch.org/library . There is a new home page making it much easier to narrow down your search to specifics. Most surname books are now digitized but some are restricted to in-library use. The new catalog integrates with the WIKI. And when you click on a specific book, other books are suggested. I think we all need to take an hour or so away from TV and check out the updated FamilySearch catalog. Treasures await!

I did get to spend two days in the library and did explore something "fun." On the top bar, just to the right of SEARCH, was MEMORIES. This was fun! I went through my pedigree chart's brick wall problems to see if anybody, anywhere, had posted something new. And I did find some new leads. But let me make clear: these were items from online trees, Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, American Ancestors, and other similar databases. Which meant, and I recognized this, that they might or might not be correct. If you want to have some careful fun, search for your chart names under Memories....but do remember the old adage of "buyer beware." 

Let's Spend Our COVID Time Learning

 

This voluntary/mandatory house-bound quarantine has seemed forever, surely yes. So let's finish it off with learning something new..... or reviewing something old. I'm talking about the FamilySearch WIKI. Use the WIKI to learn more about the PLACE you are researching and the RECORDS available there. Or just boning up on your genealogy research skills in general. Besides studying (take a good half hour, please!) there are six free video tutorials to help you learn all the tips and tricks for using the WIKI. These are available in the FamilySearch Learning Center,  www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/1035