Adding Sources

Adding sources to your family tree on FamilySearch.org is crucial for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the information you're documenting. Sources may include birth certificates, military records, obituaries, census records, and so much more. Many of these sources can be found online (e.g., billiongraves.com) and cited using a URL. By including sources, you provide evidence to support key events in the person's life as well as connections you've made between individuals, helping to verify their relationships within the family tree. This not only enhances the credibility of your research but also assists others who may be exploring the same family lines. Ultimately, by diligently citing sources, you contribute to the collective effort of preserving accurate family history and ensuring that future generations can build upon a solid foundation of documented evidence. Further, tangible information about an ancestor, like a copy of their birth certificate or their name on a census record, provides a glimpse into their life and a reminder that these names represent real people who preceded us on this earth.

Citing sources is easy. Follow these simple steps:

First….add a source to the individual’s source “library”

1. Within an ancestor’s familysearch.org page, click on “Sources”, immediately to the right of “Details”

2. Click “Add Source”…then “Add New Source”

3. Fill in source form

Second….link the source to an event

1. Within “Details”, click the pencil to the right to edit.

2. Click “Tag Sources”….and choose the source from the “library” that supports the information included in FamilySearch