How to Do a LDS Genealogy Search
Back in the day, doing an LDS (Mormon) genealogy search meant going to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, or to a local Family History Center. Thanks to the invaluable digitization efforts of the LDS church, you can do a quick family search by visiting the LDS genealogy site. It's free, it's easy and it has over 1 billion names in its database.
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Instructions
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Instructions
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Gather your family Information. Genealogy research always begins with the self (you!) and then moves backward through time. The first step in researching your family history online is to gather as much family information as possible. This includes dates of birth, marriage and death; maiden names; and names of places, i.e. where a person was born, got married, died and was buried. The more you know before beginning your search, the more successful your LDS search will be.
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Surf over to the LDS website at http://www.familysearch.org. Start your search on the home page by filling in at least a surname (last name). If you know more than the surname (like first name or year of birth), add that information, too; otherwise, it's possible to get hundreds of results -- many of which won't even represent people in your family!
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Click on the Advanced Search link to add a spouse name to your search. For example, if you know that your great-grandfather's name was Samuel Evans and his wife's name was Sarah, add Sarah's name to the search box, even if you don't know her surname. This way, the system will filter out any "Samuel Evans" results that aren't associated with a spouse named Sarah.
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Do not check the "Exact Spelling" box. Here's why: Our ancestors were typically poor spellers, and in fact often did their spelling phonetically. If you force the LDS search engine to search only for an exact spelling, it's possible you won't find your ancestor because of a spelilng difference. For example, the surname Hendrickson might appear in records as Hendricksen, Hendriksen, Hendrixson or Hendrixsen.
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While searching for ancestors, don't miss out on the website tabs of Research Help and Research Guidance. Explore these tabs to learn more about genealogy research in a specific locality or a specific place in time. For example if you have ancestors who lived in England in the 1700s, the England Research Guidance will tell you how to find things like military, church, or land records. Research Help will lead you to detailed outlines on records available for any place, i.e. how to search for French ancestors or how to search for Ohio ancestors. These files can be viewed online or downloaded and printed as a PDF file.
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Tips & Warnings
Click on the Family History Library Catalog tab to view holdings of the LDS church. If the data you want is on a microfilm, your local Family History Center can order the microfilm for you.
Information on the LDS site is not verified, so be sure to confirm the information with your own research.
