Tempe Arizona FamilySearch Center/Learning/FamilySearch

FamilySearch Overview

As an international nonprofit organization, FamilySearch is dedicated to helping people discover their family story. Discover your place in history with Family Tree as an easy way to preserve your genealogy. Search for your ancestors in millions of historical records. See what others have contributed about your family story. Preserve and share precious family memories.

FamilySearch Capabilities
 * One Unified Tree – FamilySearch created the world's largest shared online family tree — home to information about more than 1.2 billion ancestors. Instead of people concentrating on constructing individual trees, FamilySearch tree builders cooperate to build a shared tree that helps you and others discover more about ancestors and other family members. Learn more about the FamilySearch Family Tree.
 * Fan Chart – See your ancestors in unique ways including a 7-generation Fan Chart. You can also print Pedigree Charts, Portrait Pedigree Charts, and Family Group Sheets.
 * Search historical records to find additional ancestors or to find more information to add as sources to your ancestors. Learn more.
 * Add Sources (birth, death, marriage, census records, etc.) to document information.
 * Add Photos, Stories, Audio Recordings, and Documents of your ancestors and see what others have added.
 * Training – visit The Family History Guide

Getting Help
 * Excellent on-line resources on FamilySearch
 * Live Chat on FamilySearch
 * Send a message, or call 1-866-406-1830

FamilySearch Tips for Beginners
 * Record Hints – are a quick way to add to your family tree.
 * Format of Dates – Day Month Year (e.g., 4 January 1920)
 * Format of Places – City, County, State, Country (e.g., Tempe, Maricopa, Arizona, United States)
 * FIND vs. SEARCH
 * Find is for looking for people already in Family Tree.
 * Search is for looking up information in historical records.
 * Find Person Using Husband-Wife Combination – With the Find function, it is usually faster to enter both husband and wife.
 * Correcting Information – When correcting information about an ancestor, document your source. (A change log is kept.)
 * Duplicate Records – If a person has been created multiple times in Family Tree, the duplicate records must be merged. Get help.
 * Views of Family Tree – Your family tree may be displayed in Landscape, Portrait, Fan Chart, and Descendancy views.
 * Person View – shows all information that has been collected about a person, and their unique 7-digit ID.