Missing Indexed New Jersey Birth Records

Joanne Drummond

I found a record of my great grandfather’s birth a few years ago, I believe in the collection New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980. He was John Kienzle, born Jan. 12, 1852 in Hackensack. I also had a a record of his sister Elizabeth, born in 1849. I had attached the records to their profiles, but I recently discovered the records missing and I could not find them with a search. Is it normal to remove only certain records from a collection? These were not copies of the actual documents. FamilySearch was the only place where I could find this information. There was nothing on Ancestry, MyHeritage or Find My Past, so I am anxious to locate them.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

In this case, I suspect it may be failure of the search mechanism. I have records that I have saved, with URLs also saved, that a search no longer finds. I can go directly to the record from the URL, but the search function is obviously having issues.

You may want to look at the thread regarding the new search interface outlining the issues others have reported.

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/378812#Comment_378812

Teresa Winterton

FamilySearch does not delete random records. Sometimes we have a contract that will expire and we no longer have the records available. Never do we remove sections of a collection.

I also could not find John or Elizabeth with a simple search. I then did a search for the last name of Kienzle, birthplace of Bergen, New Jersey, United States, Father as Jacob Kienzle and mother as Theresia. Once I got the results, I restricted the Type as Birth, Baptism, and Christening records. There are 109 results.

It is possible that the child was not named at the time the records was created. You may need to search through the records to find you people. I saw that there are some records that did not take me right to the exact page the person was on. I got the message "This record came from this set of images. You will need to look through several images to find this record. Browse the film"

If you find the records you are seeking, create a source from that exact page the same way you would create a source from another website. When I create sources from other websites, I copy or type the exact information I found in the box Describe the Record. I do this so if the link is broken in the future, I still have the information that was recorded on the document.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-add-an-outside-source-to-family-tree

Before you start

If the source is online, copy the URL. If you have paper copies, save them in a digital format to your computer.

• We accept .jpg, .png, .tif, .bmp, and .pdf files. (Use .pdf for multi page documents.)
• The maximum file size is 15 MB.

     You can add memories as sources if the person documented by the source is deceased. You cannot attach memories as sources for living individuals. You can, however, use the Family Tree app to attach a photograph from your phone as a source. 

Steps (website)

1. Sign in to FamilySearch and navigate to the Person page of the individual you want to attach the source to.  
2. Click the Sources tab. 
3. If the source is attached to this person, open the source:
   1. Click the source's title.
   2. Click Edit. If you created the source, you can click Web Page or Add a Memory. Skip step 5. Otherwise, you may have to add the link or image as a new source. Continue with step 4.
4. If the source is not attached to this person, click Add Source.
5. Change or enter information about the source. In the Web Page section, select where the digital copy is located.

• If it is on another website, leave Web Page URL selected, and copy the URL into the field.

1. Click Save.

Good luck with your search.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

I had an ancestor disappear (temporarily) from searches earlier this year. That was an index with images attached, and the problem was traced to the index corrections that I had made. The problem seems to have been fixed, but perhaps this is a new variant?

Áine Ní Donnghaile

This is one of several that absolutely will not show in a search, even if I drill down to the specific dataset.

Record set: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1307272 Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 for Edward Richard Williams, died 1950.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6B2-HQW

NidaFL

When searching for records, you may want to check out our Research Wiki.

Joanne Drummond

After a great deal of effort, I have finally solved this. I believe FamilySearch created a profile for John based on some record they discovered somewhere. I started researching Catholic Churches in Bergen County in 1852 and there were none, so I took a chance on New York City and found baptism records for him and his siblings who were born in Hackensack. I lucked out because they stated that his father was born in Obernau, Wurttemberg. There were several people with his father’s name, Jacob Kienzle, born in Obernau, and I didn’t have Jacob’s parents’ names, but I found them on the death certificate of his sister who followed him to New Jersey. From there I was sure I found his birth record on FamilySearch, but I couldn’t find his sister, so then I was uncertain. Several months later, I did a search for his sister, adding her mother, but no last name for her. The record popped up immediately, but with a different last name. I was able to view the original record at a family history library and as I suspected, the last name was transcribed incorrectly. Mystery solved, and I was able to trace back a few generations further!