Understanding the Availability of Records



Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, for every person in our genealogy database, we had the following documents:
1.     birth certificate or christening record
2.     marriage certificate
3.     death certificate
4.     census records for their entire life span
An added bonus would be if we had the various accompanying documents:
·       passenger records for those who immigrated
·       naturalization certificates for those who became citizens
·       military records for veterans
·       probate records for everyone who owned land
·       and a will for everyone who died
In the land of genealogy-make-believe all of these documents would not only be available, but there would be a copy online, or at the very least, a copy available at the Family History Library.
            However, we live in the real world, where fires and floods have destroyed records and where not every event was written down.   When searching for specific records there are a few things to keep in mind:
  1. Did the original record ever exist?  Not all births or deaths were recorded. 
  2. Where was the original record kept?  Was the original event recorded at the state, county, city/town or religious level?
  3. Has the record survived or been preserved?  Fires, floods, time and man have destroyed many records.
  4. Is the record available for examination?  Some records are kept by governments or churches under lock and key and are not available to the public.  Some repositories will do look-ups for a fee.
  5. Has the record ever been indexed?  Is there an index that will aid in locating an original?  For some records only the indexes have survived.
  6. Has the record been transcribed?  Transcriptions allow copies of the record to be circulated to numerous locations thus ensuring if the original is destroyed there remains a recorded record of the original event.
  7. Is the record available online, at a certain repository, or on microfilm?  Some states, counties or other organizations have published their records online for easy access.  If the record has been microfilmed, what libraries or genealogical societies currently have copies?  Everyday more and more records are becoming available online.

Although the Family History  Library has an enormous collection of records, including 2.4 million rolls of microfilm; 727,000 microfiche; 356,000 books; over 4,500 periodicals; and 3,725 electronic resources[1] this is by no means a full and complete repository of all the records that ever existed for every person whoever lived!  (For searching through the numerous records located at the FHL , you can go to the FHL Catalog online at familysearch.org.)
            So, when asked by someone in the land of genealogy-make-believe, if I would help them find a specific document for a specific person, I transport them to the real world of family history research by asking, “Well let’s see if that document ever existed in the first place.”



[1] www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library


(“Understanding the Availability of Records” was written because frequently patrons will come in and want to find a specific document or certificate.  I began to realize that some beginning researchers do not fully understand how genealogical information is found.  There are so many resources and each resource depends upon a specific era and location.  Even in the same state, documents are not kept in the same location.  Because of laws or the lack of laws, documents may or may not have been kept.  In addition, what information is recorded on each document varies from one year to another and from one area to another.  This is such a complex and confusing web to explain, but knowing where to begin—did the record ever exist and who created the record can be a beginning point to unraveling the complex search.  And yes, sometimes searching for the collection of records can be more complicated than searching the collection itself!)
 

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