Genealogical Research

Most family historians that I know are on a tight budget, so when something comes along that offers free records, we tend to not only jump on the opportunity to use it, but we also pass the word around to fellow researchers. Such is the case with FamilySearch.org’s newest free record search. I was able to get in on the ground floor last year when they were Beta testing the site, via a research buddy who had taken one of my classes. I just browsed through their web site a few minutes ago and found that they’d opened the search up to everyone as a pilot web site (meaning, the site might be up and down rather than constantly open).

The reason I’m so excited about this is because of the content. Family Search is always a good site to go to for free research help (classes, charts, and records), but the new record search is like icing on the cake. So far I’ve found printable images of original death certificates from Georgia, Ohio and Texas, and of the 1900 U.S. census. In Georgia, trying to get copies of death certificates is like pulling teeth on a cranky rhinoceros (I’m not exaggerating), and now that I no longer have friends in the local Probate Judge’s office, it’ll be even worse. This site will be a huge boon especially for beginning researchers who may not know exactly where to go when searching for the two main categories of records: vital records and federal censuses.

I haven’t fully explored Family Search Record Search yet (the official title of the web site), but expect to over the next few weeks. I will keep you posted as to the goodies I find there. Happy hunting!

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