Dear Randy: How Do You Search on FamilySearch for Records for a Person?

One of my local society colleagues asked this question of me recently, and I thought I would share my answer with my blog readers.

My short answer was to "use the FamilySearch Search page (https://familysearch.org/search/) to find records, using known information, then look at the FamilySearch Family Tree also for clues."

Let me use an example:  I was looking in my RootsMagic family tree on my computer for persons that I need to update.  I chose Robert Auble (1830-1920), my second great-granduncle (we share third great-grandparents, John and Anna (Row) Auble).  I found that I had his birth date, his death date, his marriage date to his first wife, the first name of his second wife, and a 1920 U.S. Census record for him.   I'm sure that there are more records for him that I have not added to his profile, along with source citations, and I need to improve his profile in my RootsMagic database and also in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

1)  I went to the FamilySearch Search page (https://familysearch.org/search/) and entered information about him:

The information I entered into the search form fields included:

*  First Names:  robert (not exact)
*  Last Names   auble (not exact)
*  Birthplace:  new jersey (not exact)
*  Birth Year (Range):  1828-1835 
*  Death Place:  new jersey (not exact)
*  Death Year (Range):  1918-1922

I chose to use "not exact" names so that I found records that have variations of "robert" (such as "Robt" or "R") or "auble" (such as "able," "aubel," "obble" etc.)

I chose to use "not exact" for the birth and death places because not all records will have a birth or death place listed, or the place listed in a record may be wrong.  I chose to use year ranges for the birth and death years so that errors in these years are found, but are limited to the ranges.

2)  I clicked on the "Search" button below the search form, and saw these results (6 screens):

Note that I specified six search parameters in the search fields - first name, last name, birth place, birth year range, death place, and death year range, with none of them marked "exact."  Many search engines work on a principle that the highest ranked search result is the one with the most matches to the N search parameters that match exactly.  The "best" search results should be at the top of the list of search results.

3)  In this case, the search found 30 results.  They were (exact match information is bolded):

*  Find A Grave Index - for Robert Auble, born 1830, died 1920, buried in New Jersey (5 parameters matched).
*  1910 U.S. Census - for Robert Auble, age 78 (born 1832) in N.J. (4 parameters matched)
*  1920 U.S. Census - for Robert Auble, age 90 (born 1830), in N.J. (4parameters matched)
*  1870 U.S. Census - for Robert Auble, age 40 (born 1830) in N.J. (4 parameters matched)
*  1860 U.S. Census - for Robert Auble, age 30 (born 1830) in N.J. (4 parameters matched)
*  1850 U.S. Census - for Robert Auble, age 20 (born 1830) in N.J. (4 parameters matched)
*  1905 N.J. Census - for Robert Auble, age 70 (born 1835) (3 parameters matched)
*  1915 N.J. Census - for Robt. Auble, age 80 (born 1829) in N.J. (3 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for child Auble, father is Robert Auble (2 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for child Theodore F. Auble, father is Robert Auble (2 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for child Auble, father is Robert Auble (2 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for child Auble, father is Robert Auble (2 parameters matched)
*  1885 N.J. Census - for Robert Auble, age 20 to 60 (2 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Marriages - for Emma T. Auble , father is Robert Auble (2 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Marriages - for Geo. W. Auble, father is Robert T. Auble (1 parameters matched)
*  New Jersey Deaths - for Minnie Auble, father is Robt. Auble (1 parameter matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for infant Auble, father is Robt. Auble (1 parameter matched)
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings - for infant Auble, father is Robt. Auble (1 parameter matched)
*  New Jersey Marriages - for Robert Obble (1 parameter matched)
*  New Jersey Marriages - for Robert Obble (1 parameter matched)

The last 9 matches match only one parameter, but not the first name - these are all different persons than Robert Auble.

The search as constituted found variations for Robert, for Auble (but within pronunciation limits - i'm surprised it found Obble), within the birth and death ranges.

The search did not find an actual birth date or death date.  I have those from other sources that are, apparently,  not on FamilySearch (such as family papers, obituaries, etc.).

4)  In essence, it found the "low hanging fruit" of census, burial and child vital records where the father's name was mentioned.  The search added the burial information and eight more census records - the 1880 U.S. census is missing, so I need to hunt that down.  I found it - he said he was 40 years old that year (born 1840), so the birth year range may eliminate the record from consideration.

I could have done an exact search with the different given name and last name variants, with a different birth and/or death year range, but it would have taken a lot of time to find all 21 records found above.  I saved a lot of time and I don't think I missed any FamilySearch records in the process (except for the 1880 U.S. Census).

5)  The same type of search for Robert Auble on Ancestry, Findmypast and MyHeritage might find different records.

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