Our September 25th meeting was an introduction to:
Using Google to
Enhance your Genealogy Research
Google
has many features that a family genealogist can use to find genealogical
records, assist with organization or enhance their family tree and history.
Today, we’ll take a basic look at 7 of their top features.
#1 - Google Search
Engine
We
all know that Google has a powerful search engine. You can harness that power
by knowing a few tips to maximize and streamline your results.
* Start by
searching for information on “how-to” search for genealogy records in county,
state or country.
Examples:
Ontario
Canada genealogy records
Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada genealogy records
How to search for
genealogy records for Ontario, Canada
Genealogy records for
Westmoreland, Pennsylvania
Bas-Rhin Alsace
genealogy records
* Create some basic
search phrases to help find information on your ancestors:
Examples:
Sebastian
Phillips Family Tree
Alois & Regina Walter in Ontario in the late
1800’s
Walter Family Genealogy in Ontario 1840-1950
Alois Walter Family genealogy in Ontario
Alois Walter Alsace early 1800’s
If
you’re not getting the results you want:
Tip
#1
- Add the county where they lived.
For
instance, instead of: Alois & Regina Walter in Ontario in the late
1800’s
Change
it to: Alois & Regina Walter in Waterloo Ontario Canada in the late
1800’s
By
adding the name of the county “waterloo” you will streamline the results to a
specific area.
Tip
#2
- Shift the order of the words.
For
instance, instead of: Genealogy
records for the Bas-Rhin area of Alsace
Change
it to: Bas-Rhin
Alsace genealogy records
Tip
#3
– To search a specific time period type your phrase like this:
Alois
Walter in Waterloo Ontario Canada 1840..1915
Tip
#4
– Search for ‘family genealogy or history’ blogs with these phrases:
Alois
Walter family genealogy blog
Walter
Family history blog
Alsace
France genealogy blog
When
you use the phrases listed above, with targeted or unique words such as “Alois”
or “Ontario, you can expect better
results.
Note: There are
many ‘genealogy’ blogs that provide educational benefits for all of us who are
learning new tools and tips for researching our family trees. A brief list of
some can be found on our webpage, or you can search for some in the towns, states
and/or countries where your family research takes you.
Tip
#5
– If you use quotation marks around your search phrase, the search will produce
information with that exact phrase in
its contents. For instance, if I Googled for “Alois & Regina Walter” then
the search results will only produce websites, blogs or documents with that
exact phrase in it.
Tip
#6
– If you find a particular website or blog that contains information relevant to
your family history, you can find more relevant websites by using the following
phrases in the Google search engine box:
Link:www.smithancestry.com
Related:www.smithancestry.com
For
a definition of a word, or in this case an occupation, enter the following
phrase:
Define:cooper
Examples
of other types of search phrases:
Look
for specific records - If you know your family’s religion, you can search
for churches in the area where they lived in hopes of finding records that
aren’t on Ancestry.com. A typical search phrase might be: Catholic Churches in
Alpena Michigan in the late 1800’s
Broaden
your search - The search phrase - Tanguay families in
Michigan early 1900’s – found a lot of old message boards. While these boards
aren’t in use that much these days, the information contained in the string of
messages can prove quite helpful.
Additional
suggestions for creating ‘search phrases’
–
Keep
your search phrases simple, use focused key words
Tweak
your search phrases by eliminating words or rephrasing them
No
results? Get creative and use your imagination when creating a search phrase
#2 - Images
After
looking at the website results that your search produced, click on ‘Images”
on the Google Toolbar. Some helpful information under ‘Images’ might be:
1.
Photos
of your ancestors, their cities of origin or residence, maps of towns, states
and countries where your ancestors lived.
2.
Drawings
(i.e. a sketch of the old European city that your ancestor hailed from)
3.
Old
Postcards of the town your ancestor emigrated from or lived in within the U.S.
4.
Clip
Art to use when writing your family history or your family tree (i.e. I use
flags of countries my ancestor immigrated from in my Ancestry.com tree)
#3 - Google Books
There
are 3 types of books under the Google Books section:
1
– Public domain books show full text and are downloadable to a PDF file
2
– Out-of-copyright books show a preview and some full text
3
– Copyrighted books sometimes show partial text. It might be enough to know if
it warrants making a trip to your local genealogy library in search of the book
or purchasing a copy online.
To
locate information in a book about your pioneer ancestor, search for county,
town and state histories of the area where your ancestor lived. Even if your
ancestor wasn’t a pioneer ancestor, his
or her name might be mentioned in another book, such as a centennial book of a
town.
#4 - Google Alerts
Google
provides you the ability to set up an ‘alert’ of names or phrases of
information you’re interested in. When a new item is posted online that
contains the name or phrase of your choice, Google will send you an email of
that item. This allows you to keep current with new information that might help
in your genealogy research.
1 - To set up a
Google Alert, sign into your Google account or go to
‘http://www.google.com/alerts’
Type
in the names of your ancestors and/or a search phrase such as:
“Alois
* Walter”
OR
“Alois
* Walter” Waterloo “Ontario” 1840..1914
The
‘quotation marks’ for Alois Walter or Ontario will produce
results that have these three words in them.
The
asterisk * will produce results with a middle initial or without a middle
initial.
The
‘1840..1893’ will produce results for anything with a time period between 1840
and 1893.
2 - Click the ‘Show
Options’ box to select certain variables for your search.
3 - Click the
‘Create Alert’ button to finalize your Google alert.
Additional
suggestions for ‘Google Alerts’ –
Google
Alerts can always be edited or terminated
Establish
an alert for each of your surnames
Examples:
“Cooke” “Waterloo
Ontario” 1840..1893
“Cooke” “Wilmot
Ontario” 1840..1893
#5 - Gmail
Use
your current Gmail account as a filing system for any emails you send or
receive regarding your genealogy inquiries or communications. Simply, create a
label for each surname that you’re researching. File all pertinent emails in
your labeled files.
Use
the ‘search feature’ in Gmail to quickly find a past correspondence that you’ve
filed away.
#6 - Google
Translate
Google
offers a service that will translate a document or a webpage for the reader. To
translate a document just enter
“Google translate” in the Google search engine box. Two text boxes will be
provided and you will be able to choose which language you want to translate
from and to. Either type in the information in a foreign language or cut and
paste it into the first text box. Google will automatically translate the
foreign words for you.
To
translate a website into English,
such as the www.Bas-rhin.fr website (which is
the French archives for the Bas-Rhin area of Alsace, France), simply click on
the two boxes located on the far right of the search engine box area where the
web address is shown (one box is black with a ‘G’ in it, while the other box is
white with an ‘R’ in it) and select ‘translate.’ The webpage will automatically
translate to English and you’ll be able to maneuver around it in search of
records.
#7 - YouTube
Yes,
YouTube is not only owned by Google, but it’s a GREAT resource for locating
“how-to” videos on everything related to genealogy. When you get stuck in your
genealogy research, it’s important to enhance your knowledge on how to search
for records in specific states or countries. YouTube videos are a great way to
learn more. You’ll find videos on a number of genealogy topics: DNA, chain
migration, finding female surnames, courthouse records, searching oversees,
etc. The list is endless, and the more you know the more successful your
research will be!
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