Help! Genealogy Records for My Ancestors Aren’t Online

Question: I have looked everywhere for records about my ancestors, but they just aren’t online at FamilySearch. How am I supposed to track them down? Help! -- Discouraged Genealogist in Henderson, Nevada

Thanks Discouraged,

When climbing our family tree, it’s tough when we aren’t finding genealogy records online for them, where we want them, and when we want them.

Rather than repeating the wise genealogist matra, “Not everything is online,” and shaking my head (which I promise I’m not doing, but some readers might be), let me cover a few reasons why you aren’t finding your ancestor’s information.

Change Your Search Methodology for Online Genealogy Records

If you aren’t using larger date ranges for the events in your ancestor’s life, you might be missing the records on FamilySearch. If you are not changing the spelling of your ancestors, you are overlooking potential records on FamilySearch.

You might also want to look for your ancestor’s extended family members, neighbors, or associates to find records of your relations. You can make additional methodical tweaks, but that’s enough to get you started.

Are You Browsing on FamilySearch?

There are numerous record collections on FamilySearch that you can’t access through the search forms. You can access them by keying in your ancestor’s location on the FamilySearch Card Catalog. You're probably overlooking online records if you haven’t used this before.

↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources?

Grab your copy of these FREE Genealogy Research Guides.

Do you know if records exist for that ancestor’s time and place?

If you’re researching Laos before 1940, you will likely not find anything because the communists destroyed records of genealogical significance for the country. Additionally, some documents do not exist for your ancestor who was born in America because:

They were never created in the first place.
The records were damaged or destroyed. Use the FamilySearch Wiki and find the relevant location pages to determine what might have been available for your ancestor’s neck of the planet.

Search other genealogy sites:

FamilySearch is excellent because it’s free, and folks like free things. However, there are more genealogy websites that you should check out:

Ancestry
FindMyPast
MyHeritage

These three family trees and record collection sites immediately come to mind. There are others, but that’s a good start.

Try genealogically related sites:

Some websites focus on particular aspects of genealogy, such as gravestones, newspapers, and military records. Consider the following:

Investigate the collections of Societies and Libraries

Online record collections are in societies, archives, and libraries. You want to investigate the digital collections of:

Not Every Genealogy Resource Is Online

Once you have altered your online research strategies and moved beyond FamilySearch, and you still don’t find your ancestor’s records online, you have two options:

Go to an offline repository of documents
Wait and Pray.

I applied the “wait and pray” strategy and within the last few years, the Kentucky Marriages and Ohio Wills & Probate have not only become accessible online but are also searchable!

Discover the methods to work around the fact that your ancestors' records are not online. #genealogy #research #ancestors

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