Are you familiar with the Record Linking Lab at Brigham Young University? Its self-proclaimed mission is to “develop tools that link families and individuals across records,” with the overarching goal “to expand the base of people able to find their family on the Family Tree at FamilySearch.org and reduce barriers to participating in family history work.”
A few years ago, I developed a lesson titled 5 Ways to Do Family History in 5 Minutes. One teaching point encourages people to spend time attaching records to their ancestors as a way to discover missing family members and add them to the FamilySearch tree. The tools at the Record Linking Lab broaden the purpose of attaching records and allow users to serve humankind by documenting and adding more people to the tree based on what has been recorded in historical documents. Three different “volunteer opportunities” are available.
GeoHints
With GeoHints, you can select a geographic region and surname and attach all hints for people of that surname in that region. Simply type a surname and/or place in the search box to get started.
The app will generate up to 200 pins for people meeting your search criteria. Click on a pin to go to FamilySearch’s Source Linker and evaluate the record hint. If no pins are generated, try searching for a surname OR place, or broadening your place search.
The hints are color-coded: Green for easy, blue for intermediate, and purple for difficult. You can change the options to choose which difficulty level you would like to see.
Since visiting the graves of my ancestor Perez Mason and his wife a few years ago, I have been interested in the Mason family. I did a search for Masons in New Hampshire, which didn’t generate any hints. I broadened my search to the United States and was able to see quite a few record hints for Mason families. Clicking on a pin took me to the source linker to evaluate the hint.
You can also choose to work on a project that has been set up by the Record Linking Lab. Simply click the projects tab on the search box pictured above. Here are some of the available projects:
- First Responders: Record hints for people in US census records that have an occupation that would be considered a first responder. This was created for the National Day of Service on September 11.
- Five-Star: Hints that get the highest quality rating on FamilySearch and are great for all ability levels.
- Tree Extending Hints: Hints that help add new people to the Family Tree. These are family members in the record that were not added previously to the Family Tree.
For further information about GeoHints, read the detailed instructions provided by the Record Linking Lab here, or simply click here to get started!
Random Hint Button
The next option for analyzing record hints is the Random Hint Button. It’s simple – every time you click the button, you get a hint. The default setting is a Five Star hint. Remember, those are the hints with the highest quality rating on FamilySearch. Access the Random Hint button here.
5-a-Day Project
The last option offered by the Record Linking Lab for analyzing record hints is the 5-a-Day Project. When you sign up, you will receive five record hints via email every weekday. This is a great way to remind yourself to participate daily in a small family history task that will benefit others. Simply go to the website and subscribe.
Learn More About Evaluating Record Hints
If you are unfamiliar with how to evaluate and attach records using FamilySearch’s Source Linker, watch my video in the GenealogyNow Learning Center: 5 Ways to Do Family History in 5 Minutes. This video will also provide additional microtasks that you can complete in under five minutes a day.
