Family Search Pilot Site

[Muggins in Sussex]

Can someone exlain how this works, please. http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

It sounds as though it contains names which aren't yet on the main Family Search site :confused: - or is it just duplication?

It also seems to have transcribed census and other records including passenger lists when you click on names

Thanks

Joan

[peppie]

There are load that are not on the family search including BMD indexes for Ireland, you have to keep going back as its constantly being updated. Even my mums on there :eek::d so it's got things going up to 1945 at least

[kiterunner]

Yes, it has lots of stuff which isn't on the main FamilySearch site.

The best way to see what databases it has is to click on "Browse our record collections", then click on a part of the map. If you click on Europe, make sure to scroll down to look at Ireland as well as the UK! Unfortunately it seems that images of each dataset are only available before they have been indexed / transcribed, and once they are indexed, you can't view the images any more. But I suppose it's churlish to complain about that!

One tip - the search facility still needs some tweaking, so if at first you don't succeed, try try and try again. For instance, when you put in a place name it will come back with a few variations of the same place and if you don't pick the right one it might find nothing! Give us a shout if you get stuck.

[garstonite]

Alas , my Heligoland born gg grandfather is not on there , but thanks for the link ,you gave me hope at least......lol.......allan:)

[Just Gillian]

Even my mums on there :eek::d so it's got things going up to 1945 at least

Yes, I was amazed to come across my father being baptised, along with his siters, when he was 11. Wish I could have asked him why.

Joan, I'd agree with Kite. Narrowing the search by place, and sometimes even event, doesn't necessarily bring up the results you'd expect. So I just keep it as broad as possible and trawl through the lot so I don't miss anything.

Kite - I didn't realise that's why I couldn't see images I thought I had seen before. I'll obviously have to check the site more often so I don't miss the window.

[kiterunner]

I suppose the images take up a lot more space on their server than the indexes do, so they can't just keep all the images on there forever, but it does seem a shame that they don't fully transcribe each record in that case (e.g. father's occupation on baptisms, witnesses' names on marriages)

[Mary from Italy]

There seems to be nothing on that site for the UK apart from Cheshire, Durham, and the records that were already on the BIVRI discs - or am I missing something?

[kiterunner]

It's also got 1841 and 1861 censuses, and it has the Irish Civil Registration indexes which includes Northern Ireland up to a certain date, around 1921 I think.

[Mary from Italy]

Yes, I'd found those, thanks.

For anyone who has Ancestry, it's much easier to search the censuses and BIVRI there, so the familysearch pilot site only really seems useful for Irish records so far.

[Uncle John]

From something I read eleswhere, the LDS are putting material on this site that doesn't have to go through the strict Temple Ordinance process required for stuff that goes in the IGI. So more or less all new material will appear only on the pilot site.

[Olde Crone]

Oh, I am dismayed to learn that the images are not permanent, I was led to believe (or just misunderstood) that they would be, and that that was the whole point of this new site.

OC

[kiterunner]

Well, I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but the images of the Irish GRO indexes were on there and now they're not, and the same for the Cheshire parish registers and bishop's transcripts, so it seems they're removing the images when indexing is finished. Maybe your local Family History Centre can shed light on it next time you're there?

[marquette]

I saw a demo of this last year at a conference, on some Cheshire records, but I understood it was to be the "new" thing, instead of adding to the IGI. I don't remember the man saying anything about the images going after indexing - he told us to keep checking as they were adding more and more. However, this may still be a pilot trial and maybe they are still working on the size of the server to be needed.

Di

[Kit]

I checked some Aussie records. They were indexed and the image was still there. In the cases I was looking at though they were images of a card index (with all info) not the registers themselves.

[kiterunner]

Oh good, so it may just be a temporary thing with the Irish GRO indexes and Cheshire PR's and BT's.

[Kit]

Could be Kate. The index cards I looked at they had 9-12 on an image so easier than a PR page, maybe.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thank you for all your replies. I can see the site will keep me busy for some time!

Maybe I'll even find Clarence T Platt :d

[Kit]

I didn't realise the site performed miracles. :p

I certainly hope you do find him. I suspect you have one of the best known families on this site.