From Argentina to DR Congo, see the newest FamilySearch records collections in 2024 – Church News

As RootsTech kicked off Thursday Feb. 29, FamilySearch curators presented new and upcoming digital records collections available to the public this year through FamilySearch.

The collections come from over a dozen countries.

Weekly updates on collections are available on the FamilySearch blog.

North America

1931 Canada Census

This new collection came through a collaboration between Library Archives Canada, FamilySearch International and Ancestry.com. LAC provided the images, while Ancestry.com used artificial intelligence to index them and FamilySearch validated the data.

Canada Chinese Exclusion Act Records, 1923-1946

These records include registration forms and index cards that all Chinese in Canada were required to fill out following the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1923.

New York Land Records

The result of a collaboration between FamilySearch and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society that began in 2018, the collection contains index books with lists of grantors, grantees and mortgagors. In December 2023, FamilySearch added 12 million records to this collection.

U.S. Naturalization Records

Over the last six months, FamilySearch published over two million indexed naturalization records from the following states and region:

• Arizona, 1870-1955
• Connecticut, 1795-1945
• Delaware, 1817-1936
• Missouri, 1830-1985
• New Jersey, 1796-1991
• New York, 1824-1991
• Pennsylvania, 1795-1991
• New England, 1987-1906

North Carolina Cohabitation records, 1866-1868

After the Civil War, justices of the peace in North Carolina were tasked with locating cohabitating, unmarried couples — including freed black residents — and registering their relationships.

Alaska Village Census Rolls, 1919-1972

The collection of images was provided by the Sealaska Heritage Institute and hosts over 200,000 indexed names.

Montana Flathead Nation Records

These records are a compilation of census rolls, enrollment records and over 5,000 obituaries from the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille tribes.

Wills, Deeds, Plantation Records, Notarial Records

A new collection from the Southern United States announced Thursday during the FamilySearch Tech Forum; the text transcription was produced with artificial intelligence.

Latin America

Argentina, Military Records, 1911-1936

This collection contains 8 million records, including enrollment and registration books.

Argentina, Buenos Aires, Passenger Lists, 1901-1922

During what is known by historians as the Great Migration, Argentina was the recipient of 11% of European immigrants during that period. The collection has 4.5 million records

Paraguay, Civil Registration, 1842-2012

This collection was indexed completely by artificial intelligence. It currently has birth and death records — marriage records will be added later this year.

Colombia, Archivo Distrital de Bogotá, Obituary Books, 1900-1940

Asia

Korea Collection of Genealogies, 1200-2014

This collection consists of Jokbo records — genealogy books passed down through Korean families with birth and death information, personal achievements and household details. The information is presented in a tree-like format with each row representing a generation. Ten million images are available, while indexing into modern Korean and English is in process.

Japan Genealogies, 850-2012

Similar to Jokbo, Keizu records are extensive genealogies kept among Japanese families with relationships among family members organized in a hierarchical structure. Two million images are published with indexing in process.

Thailand Image Capture Project

FamilySearch partnered with Meajo University in Thailand last year to digitize cremation books, yearbooks, newspapers, biographies and retirement books, a total of nearly 100,000 records.

Palau – Church Records, 1921-1940

Over 7,000 records are currently published and searchable in this collection.

Europe

Ukraine, Filtration Records 1943-1952

These records consist of information for Ukrainians imprisoned by the Soviet regime during World War II. The files created for each person may include an identification card, a work permit, registration form, written autobiography, statement and a verdict. The collection includes images of 250,000 files from the cities of Kyiv, Poltava and Khmelnitskiy.

Greece, Refugee Farmers Index 1928-1930

This index houses the records of Greek refugees fleeing back to Greece due to genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Upcoming Europe Image Collections

• Germany North-Rhine Westphalia Civil Registration, 1875-1899
• Belgium Vital Records 1911-1950 from Brussels and Leuven and Wallonia

Upcoming Index Collections

• Albania Various Ottoman Period Records, 1300-1949
• Belgium Civil Registrations 1891-1950 from East and West Flanders and Brabant
• Ariege, France, Civil Registration 1583-1923
• Aude, France, Civil Registration, 1537-1882
• Landes, France, Civil Registration 1580-1898

Africa and Middle East

DR Congo National Identity Cards, 1884-2019

These identification cards contain photos, occupational information, birth information and the names of spouses, parents and children. A week after FamilySearch completed scanning all available cards for this collection, a flood ruined a large amount of the physical records.

Sierra Leone Marriage records

This collection contains marriage certificates for both Christian and Muslim couples, the latter in both English and Arabic.

Palestine, Nablus, Population Registers, 1881-1917

Africa Oral Genealogy

A new user interface is now available on familysearch.org/africa that allows users to easily find recorded oral histories from across Africa. Users can find these oral histories by country, tribe and village.

Upcoming Collections

The following collections will be available in the coming years.

• Ottoman Palestine Governorate
• Kurdish Oral Histories
• Marriages and Deeds in Liberia
• Chaldean Church Records
• Tunisian Catholic Diocese Records
• Syrian Catholic Diocese Records
• Lebanese Maronite Records
• Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Church Archives, Marriage Records, 1800-2022
• Israel, Assorted Jewish Community Records, 1800-1945