Two Cool New Genealogy Tools

.As time marches on, technology is changing and bringing us closer to discovering the stories of our ancestors. Here are two exciting tools which do just that.

FamilySearch has millions and millions of pages that are digitized from the microfilm they created years ago. One of the most difficult problems with using these records online is that they are unindexed. A new tool has just been introduced to try to help researchers such as me who spend many hours combing through these records. It is called the “United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Research” Project. The technology used is handwriting and optical character recognition to try to read the old handwritten documents and index them. As the name implies, it is an experiment and therefore NOT perfect. Yet in using it, I have already found it helpful though I’m not sure it is a substitute for a more complete search. Despite the title, I have found records other than wills and deeds to be included. One neat thing is you can narrow down your search by state, county, and time to help zero in on an ancestor. Try it out and see what you think. You will need to have a free FamilySearch account. Here is the link: https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text - Kimberly Powell has an excellent page on using this new recently updated (March 2024) tool - go to https://learngenealogy.com/familysearch-experimental-full-text-search/?fbclid=IwAR3kNiDGlIYa5qzgMqBbORMoosOhj0Mg38C8EIeBO2EbrWhWqH89jEjqDNQ

Another pretty cool website I recently became better acquainted with is www.historygeo.com. For several years, Arphax Publishing Company published specific county books of many counties’ original land purchases from the federal government as represented on the Bureau of Land Management website (https://glorecords.blm.gov/). Not all counties were represented and they were expensive! But…..now they have taken ALL the records from public land states (which includes Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Texas, Ohio,and 22 other states!) and created maps showing the locations of all the original land purchases. There are over 12.3 million landowners!. The site can be searched by surname and narrowed down to a state and county. Essentially what you get is a map showing where the individual’s land was located. The great value of locating your ancestor on a specific place on a map cannot be overstated – think neighbors, other relatives, churches, schools, landmarks, etc.)  You can then download and print out the maps (well, somewhat print them in sections). You can add notations and save the maps. There are many additional features as well. This is a subscription site. A 3-month subscription is $20; an annual subscription is $59. The site also features an Antique Maps collection. (The image pictured here is of my ancestor Christopher Columbus Cole’s land grants in Pope County, Illinois).

Backstory Bloodhound would be happy to help you use these and many other tools available to break through that brick wall. For more details, see the other tabs at the top of this website!