Search technique
When I search for a person, hoping to find them as a child, I get a lot of results with them as a parent.
How can I only get records where they appear as a child?
This happens even if I choose to only search for birth records and I have the birth year in the search.
Frustrates me so much.
Has anyone found a better way to search?
Best Answer
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Click on the "?" mark in the upper right of this web page, in the lower left of the pop up, click on "Help Center", in the search key in: "best practices and tips", you should get a result: What are best practices and tips for searching Historical Records?
You might check the Advances tips and tricks to about searching for children.
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Answers
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Hello JVance1.
Thank you for contacting FamilySearch. One way to find a child is to look at census records. For example, if the child was born 1892, check the 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 census records for that area. We wish you the best in your search.
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I know about looking for census records. What I am hoping is the have a search for birth records that does not bring up the individual as a parent. I am trying to find his birth record.
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The only way you can really get the results you require is by using the filter options on the left hand side of the Search page. I tried tried this with an ancestor born in 1868. I inputted his name, date of birth (+/- 2 years) and place (county) of birth. Using this criteria, I received six results, However, when I restricted my search by "Type: Birth, Baptism, and Christening" I got just two results: one relating to his christening, the other to his birth registration.
Naturally, you have to bear in mind he/she might have been christened / baptised some years after their birth, and the fact that you might wish to include "Census" in your "by Type" searches, even though this will not stop records of him both in childhood and adulthood being produced.
I can't see an easy way of solving your problem, but the use of filters - either by restricting by Type or filtering by Collection - should certainly help in cutting out many of the unwanted results.
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only by filtering the records like you have done before. go to ancestry. its easier to search there, but FamilySearch has better and easier to use family trees. I usually cross reference from ancestry and put it on FamilySearch.
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Just to pick-up on your point, "I usually cross reference from ancestry and put it on FamilySearch." I suppose it is still helpful to know Ancestry does have the record on its website, but for many Family Tree users the link merely leads to the Ancestry home page. Unless you have an Ancestry account, the URLs provided in the Sources section are of little direct help.
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Hi, your problem - finding records for an individual that show them as a child - is certainly a common problem. There is an excellent trick that will help you to find your ancestors as a Child.
@Puzzlefixer provided a link to "best practices and tips" - these are excellent. In fact the trick that I'll share is from this article, and one that I have used often with excellent results.
Here's a summary of the pertinent section of the that Help Center article that I wanted to share.
- To search for a child's birth records, enter the child's name, then click Parents. Enter the parents' full names (the father's and the mothers married name (i.e., don't use her maiden name)
So, having signed into FamilySearch, you want to click Search and select Records, to begin. You could enter the child's name, or skip it. The reason I mention this is that, sometimes, the name by which a person is known later in life may not be the name given to them at birth.
Now find Search with a life event, and enter the child's birthplace (generally, just the state (if U. S.) or Country is adequate). If you're not sure of the birthplace, just leave it blank.
Then find Search with a Relationship and click Father - add the father's name, and click Mother and add her name (start with only her married name, not her maiden name). That should be enough, so click Search and check your results.
If you are not seeing any results, or they are not what you expected to see, try changing the Mother's last name to her maiden name (if you did the search with her maiden name, then try changing to her married name).
If you are still not satisfied with the results, try removing the birthplace of the Child, if you had entered it.
If you still have problems with the results, it is likely a problem with one of the names of the parents. If a first or last name is unusual, you might consider using a wild card. Wild cards, for portions of a name, are discussed in the first two items under the heading, "Field-specific search tips" of the Help Center article that @Puzzlefixer shared with you. That article is also provided here for your convenience. Click on the title to view the article - What are best practices and tips for searching Historical Records?
We hope that you will find this approach to be success for your searches.
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The problem is not few results but that the results show the child in records where they are the parent.
If I want the birth record of an individual, I do not wan to see the births of his children with him as a father.
I did see another suggestion that I will try.
They suggested not putting anything in the child fields but just putting parent's names like the old parent search we used years ago.
I will try this.
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