The weekend has rolled around once again and Randy Seaver has presented his latest challenge for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1)  FamilySearch Full-Text Search continues to add databases and searchable images to their collections.  This is a gold mine, especially of land, probate and court records.

2)  Pick one or two of your ancestors and see what you can find on FamilySearch Full-Text Search about them.

I have to admit I’ve been using full-text search a lot lately. some names have come up entirely empty even though the FamilySearch collections for that location are unlocked.

However, on my husband’s line, I had two great finds.

I’ve been working on updating many family lines including my husband’s quadruple Woodruff family in Hopkins County, Kentucky.

Full-text search enabled me to go directly to an estate administration for Samuel Woodruff in the early 1840s and, tied into that estate, was the will of his son, David Woodruff, who died in 1841.

Those two finds allowed me to prove all the living children of both men – David was living when his father died – and through David’s will, I could sort out his children and trace what happened to his widow.

There is an upcoming series on this family in my blog queue.

FamilySearch full-text search is the greatest advance that has happened with AI.

Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge.