Digitized Microfilm and How To Find it On Family Search

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We now have exactly one month to order any microfilms from FamilySearch in Salt Lake City. The last day is August 31, 2017. I thought James Tanner had a very interesting take on the uproar.  You can see what he has written about microfilm and why is is being discontinued  here: (In a nutshell it is cost and obsolescence.) 

 http://tinyurl.com/yaxvmvo9

He also goes into how you may be able to find the ones you are looking for online if they have been digitized yet.  

BYU Family History Library has four videos on using the catalog you can view on their channel.  Hopefully with the 50/50 odds (since half the films in the Granite Mountain Vaults are done) you'll be all set.  James takes you through the step by step approach to discovering what is available in thumb nail images of the entire film in all the collections. 
I may keep this link in my Source Box as not that many people ever ask me about microfilm.

Family Tree-New Feature-Search Multiple Data Bases-From Person Details Page

Coastal Redwoods near Mendocino, CA

There are more new things on Family Search-Family Tree as always.  What a viable site, there is never a static moment.  This will be the most useful to people that have subscriptions to all or some of the Partner sites.  If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you can access all of the websites listed below for free when you sign up through Family Search. Search Partners in the Get Help section of the Family Search home page for more information.  

A word of caution about this new feature:  The accuracy of what you get is only as good as the information you have added into Family Tree.  This new feature is like one stop shopping on the Person Details Page.  I think this will work best when you are familiar enough with your person being researched.  Starting from what you know and going to what you don't know yet is the key.  The other thing is you still need to learn to search by filtering your hits on all on these cites.  This is very important to researching.  Be accurate in your attaching records to your tree.

The following is the FS blog post on this new feature.  Enjoy.  And thank you to Matt Wright!

"New Feature: Search Genealogy Records on the Web’s Largest Sites"

September 28, 2015 By Matt Wright

We have taken a step closer to the elusive genealogy “easy button.”

On the Person Page of each of your ancestors in FamilySearch Family Tree there are now three additional genealogy sites you can access for a genealogy records search.

In addition to FamilySearch (naturally) you will find logos for three of the largest family history websites. A simple click on any of the logos takes you to that site and initiates a global search of that site’s records. When you arrive at the site, you are already looking at the results of your search. Search results are based on whatever information you have for that person in FamilySearch Family Tree, so names, birth date, spouse name, etc. It is a simple and efficient way to search vast databases of genealogically relevant information with a single click.

Go to FamilySearch Family Tree and try it out on our own person page. From there you can jump around to ancestors and try searching genealogy records on the other sites to see what you can find. This is bound to speed up your research, and you just might discover records you have never seen before.

Searching on FamilySearch Made Easier

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Carol Holladay is always so good to give us so much in her wonderful weekly newsletter.  This week I really liked the one she shared from blogger Amy Johnson Crow from 11 September 2015.  The title A Faster, Easier Way to Find Collections on Family Search.  You can find it here:

http://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/2015/09/11/find-collections-on-familysearch/

Amy included a video she made in her blog post found below.  She is a new blogger to me so I have subscribed to her future posts.

https://youtu.be/MWFqCe2FaEc