TheGenealogist's SmartSearch and Death Records

TheGenealogist has just added another 14 million death transcripts to its database (now 26 million death records from 1960-2005), and you can use the website's amazing SmartSearch facility to explore your ancestors' records quickly and easily back through the generations. 

Here's an example courtesy of TheGenealogist team: the tragically early death in 1977 of  legendary T-Rex guitarist and vocalist, Marc Bolan, who died when he was only 29.  Marc's real name was Mark Feld, and we can use this to search the death records (above).

The ‘SmartSearch’ facility on theGenealogist allows us to jump straight to his birth record, which then links to his parents and potential siblings.  I am told that Mark didn’t have a brother or sister (although see comment below) but we can find full details of his parents Simeon and Phyllis, including their marriage record (left) which allows us to move onto the next stage of the family tree.

By Christmas, the team hope to have transcribed the death records back to 1930 giving even more access to data for the family historian.
Are these wonderful new ways of searching the records a blessing? They could potentially save you hours of wasted time and pots of money. Or do you prefer the thrill of finding out the links of your family tree by yourself? I'd love to know what you think!

All images supplied courtesy of TheGenealogist.