FamilySearch Wiki:About Us



Welcome to FamilySearch Wiki!

The FamilySearch Wiki is not about finding the names of your ancestors. It is not, in fact, about finding people at all. The Wiki is about finding documents that might have been generated about your ancestors. It is a vast record depository of the paper trail that people leave behind. The Wiki has records from the United States as well as from 244 countries here. Here you will be able to find documents such as census records, marriage records, birth records and death records. Legal records of land transfers, wills, and other official documents were often quite extensive. Probate records are often very informative and may help you in your search click. There is an extensive list of military records on the wiki here. Your ancestors and the stories of their lives are to be found in those documents and records. Here on the Wiki you will find:


 *                Links to record collections


 *         Research advice


 *  Videos to help you get started

To use the Wiki in your search for ancestral records you will need to be prepared.


 * 1) Think about what you want to find about your ancestor. Be specific.
 * 2) Consider the location where that event might have happened.
 * 3) Think about which specific records might contain the information you are seeking.
 * 4) Work backward instead of forward. Look for a death or marriage record before looking for a birth record. We generate more and more records the older we become.
 * 5) Consider the record/document trails that all of us leave behind.

It is helpful to know the following two pieces of information before you begin your search:


 * A possible location where your ancestor may have lived.
 * A general time frame of the time between their births and their deaths.

Valuable Resources
Additional research advice can be found on:


 * Get started in the Wiki
 * Help:Keys to Success using the Wiki
 * Success Stories
 * Rookie Mistakes
 * Family History for Beginners
 * Identify What you Know
 * Obtain and Search the Records
 * Use the Information
 * Researching in the FamilySearch Wiki: A Case Study(video)

One of the following articles can help you decide where to look first for a puzzling:


 * Name Variation
 * Date
 * Place
 * Easiest to Research Person and Event
 * Record Type to Use

For information about contributing to the wiki:


 * The Vision: Why We Built FamilySearch Wiki
 * Purpose and Appropriate Topics
 * Accuracy and collaboration
 * Content Organization, Browsing, and Categories
 * Contributor Help