(SCROLL TO END OF POST FOR TWO QUICK VIDEO TUTORIALS ON FINDING FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS.)
Family history books are one of my favorite resources for searching for family! However, it was not long ago that I didn’t even know there were any that existed for my family lines. I am excited to share how you can find some of these great treasure troves and put them to use in building your tree and knowledge of your ancestors and heritage!
There are many times when looking for records to verify an ancestor’s life, location, surname, spouse, parents, etc. just doesn’t exist or is sparse. I have run into this challenge many times when researching before the 1850’s. One of my favorite tools to combat this issue lies in BOOKS! Before there were many official records, many families kept books and family bibles to keep up with their lineage and history. While this isn’t a guarantee, finding family books can often help break through those brick walls and help you learn many details about your family history. Family Search has been collecting and gathering FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS from all over the world and indexes about 200 per day!!! That’s pretty incredible! This collection of more than 440,000 digitized genealogy and family history books includes county and local histories, genealogy magazines, family trees, gazetteers, folklore, stories, and even medieval histories! Family Search has also recently updated their search page and has made it easier than ever to view many of these books online.
Below is a step by step tutorial for using this valuable research tool. It’s very user-friendly so don’t get intimidated! First you will need an account on FamilySearch.org. (It’s free.)
From the home page on Family Search, hover over Search and then go down the menu and click on BOOKS.
This will take you to the library search page where you will type in your search keywords. I will often try a combination of-
*Person’s full name
*Surname alone
*Other connected surnames (like spouse or mother’s maiden)
*Town, County or State (narrow down as much as possible and then expand as needed.)
*Church name (if known)
The trick is to BE CREATIVE with your search. You may hit the jackpot with only a name, but often times I will find more success if I combine search keywords such as EDMONDSON (surname) NORTH CAROLINA (state).
OR (see how I added the state):
After you click SEARCH, you can view the results.
Once I find a book that might have information that I am looking for, then click on FULL TEXT RESULTS. The best finds are the ones that have PUBLIC ACCESS (below). This is great news because this means you will be allowed to view the book’s entirety online- hence the fireworks I added. 
Go ahead and click Full TEXT RESULTS. If the book is thoroughly indexed, it will bring up pages where your keyword is mentioned. You can click VIEW and go straight to that page.
Once you click on VIEW, it will open your book! Yay!
Another cool feature to remember is that once you are inside the book, you can search within it. Just change the keyword in the top left corner and see if it is mentioned in the book.
For example, I had family who lived along the Pee Dee River in North and South Carolina so I searched that to see if there was any mention of that. And there was! My search words are even highlighted in the book. I will often search other first names in my family this way.
If access to a book is marked as PROTECTED (below), don’t immediately disregard it. There are ways to see if it has information you need and if so, then you can work on obtaining a copy.
To do so, click on FULL TEXT RESULTS. Even if it is protected, it will still display sections of the book that contain your keyword. Read through the information given and see if it is worth pursuing further.
If you feel that the book has useful information for your research but is copyrighted or says it can only be viewed from the family history library, I would suggest calling and talking to someone at the Salt Lake City Family History Library directly. This could also apply if the book is only partially indexed and stored in the vault. By talking to someone there, they can tell you exactly the process that is needed to obtain access to the book (since many situations are different). Just make sure you write down the title, author and the identification number before you call to speed up the process. You may be able to request a loan of the book through another library, hire someone to do the research and scans for you, or see if you can request to view the book online through a family history center near you. The workers there are very helpful and there are ways to get the information if you’re willing to go the extra mile.
Another option is to take the title of the book and search for the book on Amazon, Google and Bookfinder4U. You may be able to buy outright a copy for a great price.
And of course, if your search result didn’t produce anything helpful, go back, change your keyword and start over again. This process can take some time but there is a wealth of information to be found and worth the search! If you’ve had experience with the book search, I’d love to hear about it! Comment below.
Melissa Knapp
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