Is there a way to add a searchable name to a record?

Z. Johnson

Question: Is there way to add names to a record that will allow those names to be searched by other users of FamilySearch?

I am currently working on some records, such as probate records, that name a number of people in addition to the primary person listed on the record. I believe a few of the names are indexed - mainly family members - but other names may not be indexed, such as the names of neighbors, friends, officials, etc. I'd like to add the names to the record in some way, both because they may be relevant for research on my family, but also because it may help others who are researching those individuals.

Right now, I'm just adding the record to the Memories section, either as a Document or as a Story, and then adding names through the tagging feature. But I'm not sure they're searchable. If the names are searchable and that's the best way to do it, I'll continue doing it that way, but if there's a better way, it would be helpful to know.

Note that this is not necessarily an indexing question, since this is in the Family Tree section , not the Indexing section.

NidaFL

@Z. Johnson regarding being able to add "searchable" names. When you find find documents, ( wills, census, probate records, etc) that contain names of family members, you may connect that family names to that family. If they are just names with no identifiable relationship, you may added unconnected people to family Search. It is preferable that you can add more information than just name, ( example, date and place). Once that name is in Family Search tree, it may be search for and the any documentation attatched to that record may also be viewed.

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

CDBurk

HI @Z. Johnson. I believe, like @Brett ., that your question is related to individuals who are included in the text of an Indexed Historical Record but who are not listed in the Indexed portion.

If this is a correct assumption, it is important to understand that when records become indexing projects, the record owners determine what information they wish to include on the index. Our volunteer indexers enter only that information into the indexed version of the record, however, you are correct with your comments about being able to attach Historical Records to other individuals who may be mentioned in the record but not included on the index. Any Historical Record can be linked to the PID numbers of your ancestors in who are part of Family Tree, and the tagging/linking process is what allows these items to be linked to your ancestors as Memories.

There is a knowledge article in our Help Center that explains how to use the URL of a record, or use an Uploaded Memory to create a Source that will link tagged memories as sources. This allows records to be visible from Sources or from Memories. You can review the article below.

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

I hope this discussion has been helpful. If you are curious about working with Indexing projects, please click Indexing and find a project that is of interest. You will note that there are project instructions for each project which determine what needs to be indexed per the request of the record owners.

Thank you for using the records you find to verify vital information and life events for your ancestors who are in Family Tree.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

The most readily user-editable and searchable part of FS's website is of course Family Tree. Users can also add searchable content to Genealogies, but few people know about that or use it, and I don't know how well-developed its search algorithm is.

The problem is, adding people with unknown relationships is not what either Family Tree or Genealogies is good at, so it's hard to figure out what -- if anything -- one can usefully do with the organist and grieving co-workers from a funeral notice, short of doing other people's genealogy. Unfortunately, the Sources, Collaborate, and Memories tabs of Family Tree profiles are not searchable, so adding a full transcription of the funeral notice, while useful, will not help the organist's or co-workers' relatives find the record.

Indexes (i.e. the data behind Search - Records) are not designed to be complete. There's a tradeoff between indexing every name and getting the index published in this decade, and those involved in setting up indexing projects generally aim for somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. (And they get flack regardless: people complain about indexed officiants and wedding witnesses.) Indexing projects are also not user-expandable: whatever parts the setup decided on is all that gets added. For probate records, that may just be the deceased and the executor.

No matter which way I turn the question, the best I can come up with is to do a bit of other people's genealogy: search Family Tree for the other people on the probate record, and if there are profiles that look correct, attach the record to them. If there aren't any likely matches, but you feel there's enough information in the record to create a profile for the person, you can use "add unconnected person" (on the bottom of the Recents menu) to do so, and attach the record to that; hopefully, relatives of the person will eventually turn up the profile and merge it with their version.

Brett .

@Z. Johnson

FYI

I am just another 'lowly User/Patron ...

Query ...

I am just curious.

IF, I understand, your 'Question', correctly; THEN, what you are basically asking is that, IS there a WAY to add, ADDITIONAL "Names", of OTHER individuals/persons, to the "Index", of a "Source", being individuals/persons who DO NOT (already) appear on the "Index" of the "Source".

Question: Is that correct?

Please advise.

IF, such is the case; THEN, as are as I am aware, there is not.

We ONLY have the ability to "Edit" the "Index" of certain "Sources"; and, as far as I was aware, for those "Sources" that we can "Edit", we can ONLY "Edit" certain "Detail" ALREADY in the "Index", certainly NOT able to add anything else (ie. ADDITION detail).

Again, I am just curious.

Brett

Miss Jessie

You can use this process to create a source linking the persons named in images from an unindexed microfilm or an unindexed record collection (records that currently do not have the option to search for your specific ancestor) as a source in Family Tree: 

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/can-i-use-an-unindexed-image-as-a-source-in-family-tree

You can also create your own source description & use the Source Box to attach the source to multiple persons.

CarolynLawrence1

After moving this to Memories, I realized it was fine where it is and moved it back to Family Tree, sorry for any inconvience.

Dennis J Yancey

Im rather confused by this whole whole thread

BUT if you do upload a FamilySearch Memories item - you can link it to as many people that the item references . . . (assuming you can find the corresponding people in FT and make the link)

I do believe that words in the description are also searchable (whether or not the items is actually linked to a person)

so if you had a probate record for a "John Doe" that you had uploaded to FS Memories - and you did not know who to link it to for whatever reason - you could put the name, place, and year in the title or description - and in theory if anyone else did a search on "John Doe probate" - they should be able to find the record.

This would be via the Memories FIND option

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find

PLEASE NOTE however that when you wish to do a multiple search term and find any record with BOTH terms - you must use the "and" option

So for example the Family Bible Preservation Project - has uploaded over 15,000 Family Bibles to FamilySearch Memories - - The use of the term "indexed" is a bit ambiguous - but a person CAN do a search for any family bible in FS Memories for example by doing a FIND on "YANCEY and BIBLE" to find any Yancey Family Bible -

example: https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find?searchTerms=yancey%20and%20bible&searchType=text-search&searchCategories=IMAGE%2CPDF%2CTEXT%2CAUDIO%2CALBUM&page=1&maxRecords=50&firstRecord=0&_=1628469463694

obviously you can use any set of multiple terms to find names and types of records (assuming that the person who uploaded it included names and other basic info in the title or description)

Important note: if you are doing multiple terms the "and" operator must be in LOWER case for it to work.

is that more or less what you were trying to accomplish???? Im not sure if it was.

If not - can you please clarify a bit more what you envision.

Z. Johnson

Thank you all for the responses, this has been quite helpful. I've flagged a few of the more useful responses, but all have been helpful and instructive.

I should note that at least part of my concern is over individuals who really should be attached to a record, but aren't. For probate records specifically, all of the members of the household really should be listed. It's straightforward to attach family members, so if they aren't included in the indexing, it's not a big deal, since they can be attached to the memory and it'll show up in their FamilySearch record.

But servants/slaves/tenants who don't get included are a different story - it's not easy to find a record to attach them as a tag, but they really should be listed if they're included in the probate record. A list of household members in a probate record is really an informal census, but we aren't treating it as such.

But I think that's more of a suggestion item, so I may add that as a suggestion in the indexing section.

Dennis J Yancey

I guess Im still very much confused if you are referring to index a source in FS

or simply attaching a FS memories item (that is not part of any formal indexing process) and then linking it to people

in other words - when you say "INDEX" - - what index are you hoping to see such names be included in- - there are various possible interpretations for "index" in this context. the use of the word "index" is what is confusing me. what index specifially?

Dennis J Yancey

in other words - - there is a whole army of indexers - indexing items that FamilySearch has as part of its massive indexing project - but that is totally apart from submissions to FS Memories - which is why I am confused.

so my question is what index is it that you are hoping people will search and find the records for your probate records (and are these probate records you yourself have uploaded to FS Memories from your own files)?

Dennis J Yancey

FS has various BILLION record indexes that people can search- but THEY are in control of what that indexes and how it is indexed. A general user cannot just submit a FS Memory - and then expect to somehow index it and make it part of the normal FS indexes.

BUT there are various ways you can do something very similar - such as upload it to FS Memories - and give it a description or title complete enough that a user submitted QUERY of FS Memories can find a match on a name, place, or record type on specific user submitted Memories items. But truth is that is not the exact same thing as a true index which it seems you are alluding to. (and it s reliant on a free form field of title or description - not a true index entry)

dontiknowyou

I put the source in my Source Box, write up a detailed description with the additional person's names, and from there attach it as a source to the pages of those persons. Preparing to do this may take a lot of research, and possibly making the relevant person pages, before attaching the source.

Dennis J Yancey

yes - thats great

but it seemed like the original poster was trying to see how best to do things so that such names would end up in some sort of index - that could be searched by name.

still waiting on them to provide further clarification as to what they meant.

Dennis J Yancey

following up on my previous comments - this is an example of a FS memory that is an example of what I was referring to:

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/18251747?cid=mem_copy

Note that in the description is a long transcription of the document (note you have to click on "more" to see the entire description)

Note a quite lengthy description - even a transcription - - that names and other words are included in the description - and are actually useable in a FIND/SEARCH for FS Memories

For example the following search brings up that same document - using words that are imbedded deep into the description - not just in the title. (and even if people mentioned who were not tagged)

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find?searchTerms=sophia%20and%20hunn%20and%20calcutta&searchType=text-search&searchCategories=DOCUMENTATION&page=1&maxRecords=50&firstRecord=0&_=1628614799699

Dennis J Yancey

can you point us at a few examples of your probate record??