It appears FamilySearch has quietly opened their court records to FamilySearch’s AI-powered search!
Why is AI-enabled search of court records game changing?
When launched, FamilySearch allowed users to search Land and Probate records using AI full text search. This was an immediate game changer for many genealogists, allowing us to find our ancestors in records that either might not be indexed or where our ancestor would not be in the index. (Ex: When our ancestor witnessed a land transaction or was appointed as one of the appraisers of an estate.)
Court records take that one step farther. Records such as court minutes are generally not indexed. And even when they are, such as the wonderful court record indexes in Spartanburg District/County, SC, the index usually only mentions one or two parties, not everybody named. This misses people such as additional parties to a suit, witnesses, and even crime victims.
FamilySearch allowing us to search court records with AI opens up a whole other avenue of inquiry. I’ve already found where my (purported) 5th great-grandfather George West the Elder got sued along with a man I’ve never heard of in 1858! Now I have a new avenue for inquiry and a new member of my ancestor’s FAN Club!
How to Search Court Records with FamilySearch AI Search
- Login to FamilySearch
- Scroll down to FamilySearch Labs (in the right navigation bar) and click “View Experiments”
- Enable the “Expand Your Search With Full Text” experiment
- Get to searching!
Be sure to try different combinations of your ancestors’ names or other keywords. And don’t narrow it down too much. I’d love it if my ancestors stayed in their home counties, but alas, they tended to wander.
Note that I haven’t found where FamilySearch announced this change, though their homepage for this experiment does say something like: “check back often as we add new records.” But I’ve had good luck finding court records via the AI search in Georgia and South Carolina, but it’s unclear whether they’ve allowed their AI search bots into all court records. That’s where trial and error will come in.
Last but not least, as my friend and excellent NC researcher Diane Richard reminded me, not all records are digitized! And even if they are, that doesn’t mean they are on FamilySearch. So while this is game changing, be sure to locate what records exist and where they are located so you can perform your reasonably exhaustive research.
Did you find any wonders about your ancestors with FamilySearch’s AI search of court records? Let me know in the comments!
3 thoughts on “Court Records Added to FamilySearch AI Search”
Looks like there are all sorts of new kinds of records in the mix. I guess I know what I will be doing for the next few evenings.
Right? What a find-slash-NIGHTMARE to discover on a Monday morning! I can’t wait to dig in, though!