Searching Familysearch Image Collections

[farmeroman]

I've been trying to look at some Familysearch images, but when I search for, say, Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, it comes up with an Image Group that comprises a large number of random parish image files in a group helpfully listed as Item or Entry 1, 2, 3 etc. on the right hand side, but without any indication of where that collection starts or ends within the 2000 or so independent pages. Even worse the reference Entry 1,2,3 does not even seem to correspond with the position of the parish within the image group.

I could of course jump randomly through the collection in the hope of hitting the images I want to see eventually, but surely there must be an easier way. Am I missing something obvious?

[jonw65]

Hi
If you want the Hatfield Broad Oak BT's, then they are item 2 on the film (according to the catalogue)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/494879?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Click on camera icon, title board for item 2 is on image 1099
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSLX-VGT?i=1098&cat=494879

On the image viewer, DGS 4513863
First image (1100) from Hatfield Broad Oak
https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/image-details?dgsNumbers=4513863&rmsId=TH-1-159381-393599-39&imageIndex=1099&singleView=true

[farmeroman]

Hi
If you want the Hatfield Broad Oak BT's, then they are item 2 on the film (according to the catalogue)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/494879?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Click on camera icon, title board for item 2 is on image 1099
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSLX-VGT?i=1098&cat=494879

On the image viewer, DGS 4513863
First image (1100) from Hatfield Broad Oak
https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/image-details?dgsNumbers=4513863&rmsId=TH-1-159381-393599-39&imageIndex=1099&singleView=true

Thanks for that one, but it doesn't seem easy to find any one parish on any one image set. For instance, image entry 1 on that reel claims to be Hatfield Heath 1861-1884, but in fact the first set is Harwich 1813-1876. I'm just surprised that the entry for each set doesn't contain a simple "starts at image xx".

[rosie99]

I am just grateful that we are able to access these records free of charge even though it does take some working out.  Familysearch are prone to removing records from those we can access though so always worth making the most of them while you can.

[goldie61]

I am just grateful that we are able to access these records free of charge even though it does take some working out.  Familysearch are prone to removing records from those we can access though so always worth making the most of them while you can.

Hear hear Rosie!
Living on the other side of the world, even before Covid restrictions, it was not possible to visit Record Offices to look through registers, documents, etc which have yet to find their way onto any website to be able to view them. Many times I have found they would be on familysearch if I delved into the catalogue deep enough.
Just the other day I found mention of some wills I was interested in at Nottingham which seemed only viewable at Nottingham Archives. Heaven knows a) when they would be open again; b) when they would get round to answering queries; and C) how much that would cost me for the copying of several wills.
After a lot of digging on familysearch (no such easy thing like just entering 'Nottingham wills'!), and having to trawl through many films to first find the year, and then the person, I finally managed to find all but one, as that film is not yet digitised. Took me some time, but how fantastic!


I did notice there are still many, many films not yet digitised.
I thought they told us the plan was to have them all digitised by 2020? (pre-Covid then).
I guess they're working on it, but will have been set back like everything else this year.

[goldie61]

I'm just surprised that the entry for each set doesn't contain a simple "starts at image xx".

When you think of how many films they have (it must run into the many hundreds of thousands, if not millions), the work involved in doing that for each of them would be absolutely huge.
Sometimes you might get up to 8 or 9 sets of images on one film.
Remember many of these films were done in the 1960s and 1970s, so we are lucky to have them at all.
And they're all free!

[farmeroman]

Yes I can see all of your points. Hatfield Broad Oak was a bust anyway, but I'm having some better luck with the Cambridgeshire images, which don't appear to be available on Ancestry or FindMyPast yet.

Thanks all!

[farmeroman]

Yes I can see all of your points. Hatfield Broad Oak was a bust anyway, but I'm having some better luck with the Cambridgeshire images, which don't appear to be available on Ancestry or FindMyPast yet.

Thanks all!