6 Steps to doing free family history research using Puzzilla.org

Here are 6 steps to doing free family history research using Puzzilla.org.
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Puzzilla.org Beginner Tutorial

1.              Sign in to Puzzilla.org using your FamilySearch user ID and password.

2.              Examine “Ancestors” tree. Blue squares indicate males, red circles indicate females. Move your mouse over the symbols to browse their names.

a.     Notice  “Generations” field. Suggestion for youth: change to 7 or 8 generations.

b.     Click someone in the topmost row to select that person

c.      Click “Descendants”  button.

3.              Examine descendants tree.  Selected person is at the center; children are in the first circle, grand-children in the second circle, etc.

a.     Click “Targets” button. This adds a red square to persons whose children have not yet been found. These are good places to start because they are likely places where others’ research stopped.

b.     Suggestion: under Targets button click in “Birth Range” field and type 1830-1870 to narrow the time to a period of good record coverage.

c.      Click a target person. Suggestion: choose someone with an uncommon name.

4.              Click on “View in FamilyTree”. Examine person details in FamilyTree.

a.     Birth and death: upper left

b.     Spouse and children: lower left

c.      Parents and siblings: lower right

d.     “Record Hints” and “Search Records”: upper right

5.              Click “Search Records.” This is like a Google search and lists records in order of decreasing probability of matching your target person. Suggestion: Click “Record Hints” if any are available. Record hints show pre-selected historical records with a higher probability of including your target person.

6.              Examine “Search Results from Historical Records” or hint record details.

a.     Look for records containing your target person. Match the names, the event dates and places, and the relationships to known family members.

b.     Success: Previously-unknown family members are discovered in historical records, such as birth, marriage, death, census. Get help from a Family History Consultant to help you add new persons to the tree, attach sources, resolve duplicates, and submit ordinances.

c.      Try again: If you don’t find a match in the first Search Results page immediately, close that browser tab, return to the Puzzilla descendants tree tab and select a different “Target” person. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until previously-unknown family members are discovered in historical records.

d.     Suggestion: Try many searches; don’t get stuck on one person, one family, or one descendants tree. Try a different descendants tree for a different ancestor from the Puzzilla ancestors chart.