Full-text searching of local records at FamilySearch Labs is great, but there’s no guarantee it will catch everything and one still needs to engage with the records located and be aware that there could be more.

Recent full-text searches at FamilySearch labs located two deeds for an ancestor in Ontario–one where he purchased land and one where he sold it. One parcel (the purchased one) is for twenty-one acres and the other (the one where he sells it) is for twenty-seven acres. I need to compare the legal descriptions of the properties as well, but a six acre difference on a piece of property this size is significant and it begs the question: is there something else?

Because of the difference a manual search of grantor and grantee indexes is warranted to see if another transaction can be located. It’s possible the automated indexing missed an additional reference. Don’t assume AI finds everything.

The full-text searching at FamilySearch is a great way to make some discoveries. As of this point, it won’t find everything. You should use it. You should also use other traditional search approaches as well. It’s one more tool in the toolbox. It’s not the only tool.


Order my webinar on using the full-text search at FamilySearch labs.

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2 Responses

    • That’s a very good reminder. Not even seeing the locked results with padlocks makes it very easy to not realize that there could be more.

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