FamilySearch Groups
By Dale E. Lee
2022.08.03
One of the difficulties in researching Family History begins at the point where your ancestors emigrate from a different country than the one you live in. We normally have access to, or can find access to, facilities that can help us in our own country. But what do you do when you need information from a different country, or even multiple different countries?
One very helpful tool you can use is a Group, think Facebook Groups. Groups are organizations that help others with like interests. Each Group decides what its area of interest is and many have been formed to help others do research in Family History. These can be especially helpful in inquiring for information that can help point you to the data you are seeking. Most people know about Facebook Groups, but did you know that FamilySearch also has Groups?
To find them, go to https://community.familysearch.org and click on the Groups menu item at the top of the page. If your language is English, you can also go there directly by clicking on https://community.familysearch.org/en/categories/gp-groups-en.
FamilySearch has Groups relating to many different Family History categories. The following are only some of the Groups available.
Geographic:
- Africa Genealogy Research
- Asia Genealogy Research
- Australia Genealogy Research
- Canada – Events & Research
- Chinese Genealogy Research
- Czechia (Czech Republic) Research
- Descendants Of The Indian Subcontinent
- FamilySearch – Danmark
- FamilySearch – Sverige (Sweden)
- FamilySearch – Deutschsprachig (countries that speak german)
- France Genealogy Research
- Genealogia de Catalunya (a county in Spain)
- Greece Genealogy Research
- Latin American Genealogy Research
- New Zealand Genealogy Research
- Pacific Islands Genealogy Research
- Poland Genealogy Research
- Russian Empire Genealogy Research
- Switzerland Genealogy Research
- Japanese
Family Specific:
- Ansley Family Genealogy
- Dinkel/Prater Family Genealogy Research
- Justiss/Justice Family Genealogy
- Kavanaugh Family Genealogy
- Nuckolls Family Genealogy
Legal:
- Adoption and Unknown Family Research
Specialties:
- All Temple & Family History Consultants
- Ancestor Treasures
- Archives Matter
- Book Scanning/Digital Library
- Engaging Youth in Family History
- Family Bible Records
- Genetic Genealogy Research
- Military Records
Why would you want to join a FamilySearch Group? Because people that are closest to the culture are those that may have the most information about how to do research in that part of the world or specialty.
For example, clicking on the Wales Genealogy Research Group brings up a list of articles, one of which was written by Cedar Kedar on May 13th and is entitled “Welsh words needed for translating old records and articles”. (See https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/124300/welsh-words-needed-for-translating-old-records-and-articles).
This article contains 95 Old Welsh terms, grouped several different ways. The first group listed contains the following:
“Dates/Times
| Ganwyd hi/ef … yn [number] | She/he was born |
| Mlwydd oed | At [number] years old |
| Priododd a/ag | They married |
| Y diweddar [name] | The late [name]” |
Given that you may not know Old Welsh, knowing the terms that were used in old Welsh records can help greatly when searching the records for particular dates, locations and record types (marriages, deaths, etc.)
As you can see, this is just one of many very obvious ways that Groups may turn out to be extremely helpful in your research.
As the top of the FamilSearch Groups page states: “Connect with others to collaborate, share resources, and discuss family history topics that interest you.”
This is one more tool you can put in your Family History research tool kit.
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Seekerz LLC, © 2022