AI-Powered Full-Text Search of Handwritten Text at FamilySearch

FamilySearch announced at RootsTech last week that they have launched a full-text search powered by artificial intelligence. It currently includes the US Land and Probate Records and Mexico Notary Records collections. This is still an “experiment” in FamilySearch labs, available at https://www.familysearch.org/Labs/, but it already includes over 100,000,000 records, with more collections to be added in the coming months.

I tested the full-text search on my brick wall, the father of John Robert Dyer, born about 1813 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. I haven’t found many Dyer men as candidates for his father in Hawkins County, partly due to record loss in the county. A few years ago, I did find an Ignatius Dyer who was listed in a Rogersville Store account book, held by the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Rogersville is in Hawkins County. I didn’t immediately find any other records of Ignatius Dyer, after doing a broad search on Ancestry and FamilySearch. There isn’t much in the account book to connect him to other people. I moved on to other projects.

To test out the new FamilySearch full-text search, I searched for the keyword Dyer, then filtered the place to United States > Tennessee > Hawkins County. I then filtered the year to 1800s. One of the deeds listed was for an Augustus Dyer – but when I looked at the image, I think it actually says Ingnatius Dyer. He was a witness on a deed! Now I know some of Ignatius Dyer’s associates, which was more than I knew before from the store account book.

Full-text search of historical records is going to open the door to so many more discoveries – in a fraction of the time! Handwritten text recognition is finally here. I’m so excited.

Learn more about the full-text search with the video on the full-text search page, and the following articles:

FamilySearch. “Find the New Full Text Search for Historical Records,” March 2, 2024. https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/find-the-new-full-text-search-for-historical-records.

Powell, Kimberly. “12 Strategies for Using FamilySearch Full-Text Search.” Learn Genealogy, February 29, 2024. https://learngenealogy.com/familysearch-experimental-full-text-search/.

Russell, Judy G. “GAMECHANGER!!!” The Legal Genealogist, February 29, 2024. https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2024/02/29/gamechanger/.

Sam Silvey

· Reply

March 5, 2024 at 10:41 AM

Nicole,

I’ve been waiting for this for a few months, I missed the earlier ‘beta’ test last year! As I was driving up to RootsTech I told my friend riding up with me about this database and my hopes that it was going to be ready for ‘primetime’, and here it is!

I have found things I would have never imagined. Your example is perfect.

What an exponential jump in search technology! The next few years are going to be amazing.

Valerie Miller

June 21, 2024 at 2:38 PM

I’m using this for my BYU-Idaho FHGEN 411 class! It’s been fantastic! How do we create Evidence Explained citations from the FS Labs?

Nicole Elder Dyer
· Reply

Author

June 21, 2024 at 6:50 PM

I would just cite this in the regular way you would cite an image at FamilySearch – unless you want to cite the transcription itself – but usually the transcription isn’t perfect so you would want to correct it for your research report. So for a deed found through full-text search, you would just create a layered citation like this: Hawkins County, Tennessee, Deeds 5:195, John R. Dyer – James Hord, 3 Jan 1834; image online, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org…fullurl : accessed 21 June 2024), image group number 7903465, image 68 of 385.

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