When a record image appears on your computer screen, your email, etc. do you try and determine who originally created the record and where it is housed?

The real concern is not that the image isn’t real, but that if one has no idea from whence it came it makes it difficult to analyze, interpret, and know where to search next.

If land records in the United States have always confused you or if you have always wanted to learn more, read more about our upcoming 5-week class on these wonderful records.

FamilySearch has announced that the Pennsylvania Historical Society card catalog has been updated on their site. There are several categories into which the card catalog has been separated. The “Manuscript Catalog” and the “Manuscripts” appear to be a splitting of the same thing. Pennsylvania, Historical Society of Pennsylvania Card Catalog, 1553-2015 can be searched on the FamilySearch website.

FamilySearch has updated the following database since our last post:

Florida Probate Records, 1784-1990

Census entries can easily have initials instead of complete names. Keep this in mind when querying census databases and remember that the census is not the only record where a complete name may not be used.

If you are subscribing to one of the fee-based sites for one particular database, find out if it is available elsewhere online. Another site may have the same database online at no charge or have images posted without an index. It can vary from one dataset to another.

I’ve subscribed to fee-based sites because they had one set of records that interested me, usually on a short term basis. Just make certain that there aren’t other ways to get at the same information.

Sometimes those free sites will have the same set of records but won’t have a complete index. Find out beforehand.