Would you like to know my secret weapon on how to find
records for ancestors? Well, I'm going to tell you if you
stick around.
Howdy. I'm Devon Noel Lee with Family History Fanatics where
we help you understand DNA, climb your family tree, and
write your ancestors stories along the way. We do this
through videos like these on YouTubes through virtual
conferences we coordinate as well as books available on
Amazon. Check out the links in the description. So you're
ready for the secret weapon? Yeah. It is The FamilySearch
Wiki. Mhm. Yep. Let's check it out. I am asked at conferences
and in emails all of the time. Where do I find records for and
their question continues. And most people say I go on to
FamilySearch and I go to the records tab and I type in my
ancestors name and I find some hints and they're not from my
ancestor. How do I find the records that I need? Where they
lived where they lived. Well guys, you gotta go over to the
FamilySearch Wiki. So go up here to search come down to
research wiki and then type in the place that you're looking
for. So I had somebody who wanted to learn about records
available in Austin County, Texas. Austin County, Texas
Genealogy or I can look up the Austin Texas Family History
Center. And can you believe it? In Austin, Minnesota, Austin,
Nevada, Austin, Texas, Ost Family History Center, lots of
Austin but I'm really trying to find Austin County, Texas
genealogy. So now, I'm on the FamilySearch Wiki and there is
a lot of content that is on this page which is why there's
these links so I can jump straight to what I'm looking
for. So, if I'm looking for Lutheran Church Records in
Austin County, Texas, I can click on this link and jump
there and here we have History Lutheran Church Records, the
records of Trinity Lutheran Church, new Own In Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America database and you go over to
Archives. com. That's what's really great about this wiki is
it not just information that's on FamilySearch although you
will find links to databases on FamilySearch but it will also
show you where other hidden gems are. Archives. com, the
Catholic Parish is in text the Church Angel, Text Gen Web.
There's lots and lots of resources here for you to go
and find records. Now, it's everything in the FamilySearch
Wiki. No, and not all locations are created equal. So if we go
back up here and let's type in another location that I
research in, Bodden, Germany. So I have Bodin Rutenberg. I
have Bodden nine genealogy records bought in history. Lots
of information to check out. I'm going to try the Vertenberg
even though I'm not exactly sure that he was in that part.
That's a complicated story. So here I have historical
background getting started. Notice how this page is
different than that one in Austin. But there's lots of
links to different things that I can go and investigate. So
that's it. That's the secret weapon that most experienced
genealogists use. They have a resource guide, a reference
guide on FamilySearch to point them into the right direction
for record collections that they want to research. So now,