Three difficult issues with the FamilySearch.org Full-text Search

 

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text/

Full-text search is having an ever increasing impact on the entire FamilySearch.org website. The discoveries made are extraordinary. See "Making Amazing Genealogy Discoveries With FamilySearch Full-Text Search" for a quick introduction. However, in the course of making this short video, I discovered two inconsistent issues. 

The first two issues are fairly straight forward. If I make a search for a paticular person, such as this one:

I will get a list of possible matching records. I must say that the list of matching records is extremely valuable and helpful. However, I am stuck if I want to modify the search. Here are the results.

There are two deeds I am interested in but if I want to modify the search, the search field has disappeared and I find that I have to start over completely if I click back to the search field. The fields will be blank. If I use the back arrow I will lose the first list of sources. There needs to be a way to preserve the first list without opening a new window and starting all over again for each variation in the search. 

The second issue is that assuming I click on the first deed source and want to attach it to my person in the Family Tree, I will see this menu bar. 

With the "paper clip icon" to go to the process for attachment. But if I click on the second deed in blue on the list, and close the side bar, I get a different menu bar entirely for attaching the record to the Family Tree person. 

The third issue is that I also have no way to return to the transcription except to go back through the whole process from the beginning. 

These three issues make me go through the process over and over again. If I slightly change the search terms during the process, I would have to repeat all the searches to get the different results from previous searches. 

It took me a while to figure out that I would be constantly repeating searches unless I kept opening new windows for the results of each variation in the search. 

Another new Rule of Genealogy for 2025: Rule #17

Rule #17 of the Rules of Genealogy 

Where life happened, records remain

 While I was working on a video for the BYU Library Family History Center, I ran across this generated image which was summarizing my text prompt and one of the slides I was working onl I liked the images and realized that the caption was an interesting short statement of my much longer slide information. So, I decided to adopt it as a way to express a general Rule of Genealogy. The longer statement is as follows:

Genealogical research depend on valuable genealogical records that were recorded by someone who witnessed the event or had a duty to report it and at or near the places where events occurred in your ancestors' lives. Generally, all genealogical records are tied to the location where the events occurred and the records were created. So to use the shorter statement: "Where life happens, records remain."

There may be an apparent small conflict with Rule Six: Records Move, but the two rules actually address two different issues about the same records. Once a record is created, it may physically be stored at a place that is remote from the place of origin but the record is almost certain to be indexed, stored, and organized with reference to the location where the records were created. This new rule, "Where life happens, records remain" addressed the connection between where the events occurred and the creation of the record. Therefore, all records of a person's life are existentially related to the life of the person who is subjectively related. 

It is fairly common for genealogists to forget the surrounding circustances of the record's creation when researching various types of genealogically valuable records. What was happening at the time the record was created may have determined whether the record was made in the first instance or determined where and when the record was preserved. 

A good example of this rule concerns a variety of records in Latin America held by FamilySearch.org but not available to search or restricted for a variety of reasons. I have written about this before. See The FamilySearch Double Bind. The more I think about this new Rule of Genealogy, the more impact I can see on the way people do genealogical research and they way they record the records they find and use the records they find. Genealogists break the new rule when they keep looking over and over for records for the same person without finding any records or very few records. These repetitious searches violate both the new rule #17, and the older rule #6. Over time, as I contemplate the ramifications of this new rule, I believe that the new rule will move up in importance. The connection between life events and the records that become part of the fundamental issues of genealogical research. 

Here is a list of the previous rules for your convenience.

Rule One: When the baby was born, the mother was there.

Rule Two: Absence of an obituary or death record does not mean the person is still alive.

Rule Three: Every person who ever lived has a unique birth order and a unique set of biological parents.

Rule Four: There are always more records.

Rule Five: You cannot get blood out of a turnip.

Rule Six: Records move.

Rule Seven: Water and genealogical information flow downhill.

Rule Eight: Everything in genealogy is connected (butterfly).

Rule Nine: There are patterns everywhere.

Rule Ten: Read the fine print.

Rule Eleven: Even a perfect fit can be wrong.

Rule Twelve: The end is always there.

Rule Thirteen: Genealogists abhor a blank field.

Rule Fourteen: You are not responsible for what you find.

Rule Fifteen: A fact is not a fact unless you have a record to prove it. 

Rule Sixteen: Gravity always wins 

Finding Records Lost Online in the AI Universe

 

FamilySearch.org's Full-text Search capability is an overwhelming change to way genealogical searches are conducted and may well modify or replace any current way of searching historical documents. At the heart of using a previously unavailable tool for genealogical research is an artificial intelligence supported handwriting recognition. 

Currently, the Full-text Search fields appear to be deceptively simple. 

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text/

After spending a considerable amount of time trying to understand how to best approach this "simple" form, I found that it was actually the key to finding huge amounts of very specific and relevant documents on practically any subject. The key to understanding how to search is based on the concept that "less is more." The idea for starting your search is to use general terms and then modify the search terms to be more specific as you see the results of a series of searches. Here is an example. 

The first search term is obviously very general and generates a huge number of responses. Using the Keywords entry, I put in the word "cemetery."

The search results in already millions of records from all over the world. The next step is also simple. I merely add the location to the cemetery word using suggested Search Tip of a plus sign. I also put the location I am searching in quotes to limit the search to a specific place. 

The next step is to enter a surname in the Name search field. 

The results are interesting but still quite extensive. One more change will bring the number down significantly, adding the given name with the name in quotes.

The total number of results here is still significant, but reflects the fact that there really are that many records with Myron Tanner's name. He was one of the Mayors of Provo, Utah. But as you do this, note the variety of the records produced and the possiblity for finding previously unknown information. 

You can also try a number of other variations in the search pattern, the variations in names, and places. 

I am sure you will find some unexpected results. Remember, FamilySearch has only been adding records for a relatively short time so you may not find any records yet in those already processed but millions of records are being added every week so keep trying from time to time. 

Nutrioso, an extreme example of Full-text search

It may not yet occurred to you, but FamilySearch.org's Full-text Search can do a lot more than merely search for names. 

Nutrioso, Arizona, is a small, unincorporated community with a history deeply tied to early settlement in the American Southwest. Before permanent settlement, the area was a site for temporary encampments for indigenous groups, particularly during the summer and autumn. The town's name is derived from the Spanish words "nutria" (beaver) and "oso" (bear), as the first settlers reportedly found and hunted these animals in the valley. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrioso,_Arizona

If your ancestors lived in a small town, it is entirely possible that there were intermarriaged and shared history. The entry above shows the FamilySearch Full-text search response using "Nutrioso" as a key word and producing 3,959 records with that word. The responses include some of the following record types even though FamilySearch is just beginning to process the entire website. This is just a partial list.

• Birth, Death, and Marriage records
• Newspaper articles
• Family Group Records
• Genealogies
• Pedigree Referal Service
• Family Histories
• Homestead Final Certificates, Land Entry Case Files Arizon, Prescott
• Articles of Incorporation of the Amity Irrigation Company
• Our Tenney family heritage
• Apache County. Tax Assessment Records 1882
• Apache County, Arizona Voting Registers 1892

As you look at this list, consider the issue of knowing that these records even existed for Nutrioso. But the next step is to add a surname to the search. So, I searched for the key word "Nutrioso" and the "Jarvis" surname. My maternal great-grandmother was a Jarvis and the Jarvis family lived for a time in Nutrioso. I did not put in a place or any dates. 

Here is another list showing additional references to Nutrioso and some to my Great-great-grandfather Charles Godfrey DeFriez Jarvis. Here is one of the records that showed that my Great-great-grandfather Charles Godfrey DeFriez Jarvis was acting as the County Recorder for Apache County in 1892. I did not know this but it might be in my Great-grandmother, Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson's book. 

Stay tuned for a flood of additional information that can and will be discovered using the Full-text search on FamilySearch.org.

Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy: Education

 CRAIGEN.org

Education

The use of AI creates new opportunities and risks. Therefore, members of the genealogical community educate themselves about AI to maximize its benefits and minimize its risks to their work.

For all the years I was an active, practicing, attorney in Arizona, I had to take 15 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and at least three of those hours had to be professional responsibility/ethics. These were in person or online classes. However, I also had to do a considerable amount of self-education because every legal case I took had its own facts and supporting case law. If I wanted to continue practicing my profession, I had to maintain both the compulsory education and serious, necessary self-education. 

When I first began investigating my own genealogy, 43 years ago, I was totally unaware of any educational opportunities for learning about how to proceed with my own genealogical research. I was not aware of anyone around me who was involved in genealogy, certainly, not in my family or close associates. Of course, in 1982 when I began, the internet was still year away for its "birthdate" on January 1, 1983 when ARPANET adopted the TCP/IP protocol, allowing diverse networks to "talk" to each other and forming the foundation of the modern Internet. The development continued with the World Wide Web in 1991 and user-friendly browsers like Mosaic in 1993, which led to the Internet's mainstream public adoption. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet.

I quickly began to realize my lack of experience and education despite three college level degrees, a B.A., an M.A. and a J.D. Fortunately for my own realization of the need for education, there were books. However, I spent the first few years unaware of any genealogists, genealogical societies, or Family History Centers. The first step I took towards my formal genealogical education was with the following book. 

Greenwood, Val D. 1978. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. Baltimore: Genealogical Publ. Co.

Over the years, I also discovered the following books. 

Filby, P. William. 1984. The Source : A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Edited by Arlene H. Eakle and Johni Cerny. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry Publishing Company.

Herber, Mark D and Society of Genealogists (Great Britain). Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History. Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc, 1998.

And many others. As time passed and as I began to obtain an idea about the complexities of genealogical research, I decided to take distance learning family history classes from Brigham Young University. I took classes for about five years and these were the hardest classes I had experienced even with all my past formal education (including law school). 

Eventually, my practical education began when I volunteered to work at the Mesa Multi-Stake Family History Center in Mesa, Arizona. I am still spending most of my time learning and helping others to learn. 

So, now you might begin to understand why I think Education is one of the guiding principles for responsible AI in genealogy. The key words in the Education Guiding Principal are "members of the genealogical community educate themselves." Enough said. Now, you can learn all you can stand by asking one of the chatbots how to do genealogical research and keep asking. 

How do we know what is real in Genealogy?

 

Genealogy is history and history is genealogy. Another way of putting that statement is following statement by Thomas Carlyle:

Before Philosophy can teach by Experience, the Philosophy has to be in readiness, the Experience must be gathered and intelligibly recorded. Now, overlooking the former consideration, and with regard only to the latter, let anyone who has examined the current of human affairs, and how intricate, perplexed, unfathomable, even when seen into with our own eyes, are their thousand-fold blending movements, say whether the true representing of it is easy or impossible. Social Life is the aggregate of all the individual men's Lives who constitute society; History is the essence of innumerable Biographies. But if one Biography, nay, our own Biography, study and recapitulate it as we may, remains in so many points unintelligible to us, how much more must these million, the very facts of which, to say nothing of the purport of them, we know not, and cannot know! 

Carlyle, Thomas, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Critical and Miscellaneous Essays. With Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. Philadelphia : A. Hart, 1852. http://archive.org/details/criticalmiscella00incarl. 

Our perception of history can never be entirely true because it is an interpretation of incomplete past evidence, influenced by our biases, perspectives, and the agendas of the people who recorded it, often leading to the proverb "history is written by the victors". In addition, we struggle with historical accuracy as we work backward in time. 

One example of our varying view of history that I have written about several times in the past, is readily apparent from the entries in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree about the approximately 53 passengers of the Mayflower who survived the first winter. See The Mayflower Passengers. 

You can see from this screenshot and if you go to view Francis Cooke LZ2F-MM7, that his "history" changes almost daily despite the existence of extensive documentation from The General Society of Mayflowere Descendants. See also Mayflower Lineage Match. 

We are now living in an age where a "New Reality" can be generated in moment of time. I only have a few photographs of my great-grand father Henry Martin Tanner born in 1852 and died in 1935. Here is one of the photos of him on his 80th birthday in 1932 shortly before he died. 

Today, I can now see that same image in color! 

Of course, we might want to know that Color photography was invented in 1861 by James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Sutton, but it didn't become widely available to the public until the late 1930s with the introduction of films like Kodachrome and Agfacolor. It is almost certain that this photo was not originally in color but using a readily available photo editing software you can add color. 

In addition, I can ask Google Gemini to generate an image of Henry when he was 80 years old. 

If I did not have the original photo, how could I tell if the newly generated photo was real or not? I could also keep generating additional photos of Henry until I got one I liked. 

This photo shows him standing in his "Tanner Homestad" in Gilbert, AZ, with cactus and all. Which of these images is real? Just in case you are wondering here is the same Gilbert, AZ photo in color. 

If you look in the lower right hand corner of the photos, you will see the Google Gemini mark that signals that these extra photos were AI generated. 

Think about this issue of reality. Aren't the hundreds or thousands of changes to Francis Cooke and the other Mayflower passengers just as unreal as the generated photos of Henry Tanner? Do we really need to get into deep philosophical discussions about reality or can we live with citing historical sources and being content with actual history?

By the way, here is photo of Gilbert, Arizona in the early 1930s from the Gilbert Historical Museum. 

https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/gilbert/2014/07/25/historic-gilbert-photos/10169323/

Let's start thinking more about what is real and supported by contemporary historical documents and records and less about trying to get our perceptions of the past to be established as "reality." 

RootsTech 2026 Registration now open!

https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

Registration for RootsTech 2026 is now open! The world's largest family history conference returns March 5-7, 2026, with options for both in-person and online attendance. Whether you want to join the excitement live at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, or participate for free from the comfort of your home, RootsTech offers hundreds of classes, inspiring keynote speakers, and a massive Expo Hall to help you discover and celebrate your family story. Secure your spot today to take advantage of early-bird pricing for the in-person event and get ready for a global celebration of family connection.

If you are coming to the live event, you may wish to investigate hotel offerings early. The old Plaza Hotel, just north across the street from the Salt Palace will start to be demolished on November 1, 2025. 

DISCLOSURE: I am a RootsTech 2026 Media Rep and in return for my promotion of the RootsTech 2026 conference I receive a free entry pass and some additional non-monetary perks. My transportation and accommodations are not compensated.