Sharing our Links to the Past
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Finding Surnames by Using Simple Search Engine Techniques This program was presented April 17, 2000, by Wally Gray, to the Sedona Genealogy Club. Wally is publicity chair for the club. The keyword is simple. I am not including any complicated or difficult procedures, but I will show you where you can find more advanced techniques. (See bottom of this article.) A Search Engine is a program which acts like a library card catalog for the Internet. Search Engines rely on key words or phrases to make a search. There are hundreds of search engines. We will cover only a few and we will limit our searches to surnames (including first names where desireable.) Remember:
Included in this presentation was using search engines, using the Family Search site, and filing your findings in folders (paper and electronic.) Cyndi's Search Engine Cyndi Howell maintains a very popular web site at http://www.cyndislist.com. We can work from her site and will do so for this presentation. Go to http://www.cyndislist.com/searchit.htm Scroll down to "Search Engine for Cyndi's List." This is her own search engine which will search her site only. It is best to start with this because it will cover her extensive site of over 62,600 genealogy links. Type in a surname (in lower case.) Try to select an unusual name rather than a common name like Smith. (Smith will yield you 96+ links!) When you click on Find! you will be shown links matching your surname. Start clicking on those links. In many cases you will be taken to pages containing many names. To find where your surname is located on those pages, go to Edit (top page menu). Click on it then click on Find in Page or Find on This Page (depending on your Browser). Type in the surname and then search. The surname you want will be highlighted. You may continue searching on that page and the other pages in this manner. Of course you will click on the appropriate links. Before conducting the page search be sure the page is fully loaded or you will not find what you are looking for! Regular Search Engines Now we'll go to the regular search engines. We will use Cyndi's List to help us. (I am listing some search engines at the end of this article but we will use Cyndi to help us here.) Go to http://www.cyndislist.com/search.htm. (Notice the various link choices here.) Click on Popular Search Engines. You will see links to 12 engines. By clicking on the name of the engine you will be taken to it. If you click on the links below the name of the engine you will find instructions for using it. Here is where you can learn how to conduct more sophisticated searches (which we will not do in this presentation.) Let's cover just a few. Click on the ones mentioned as we come to them.) Alta Vista. One of my favorites. Very extensive. By clicking on the engine name you will find a space to type in what you are looking for. I prefer using the surname plus the word family. Example: publicover family. You may get thousands of results. (Notice, the results of this particular search show there are over 214,000 pages or links. Usually the most important and pertinent results are found toward the top.) If there are too many extraneous answers, type in a full name such as "james publicover." (The quotes help in some engines. Just experiment.) This will result in more specific results and only 13 or so links. Use lower case because it often includes more than if it were in upper case. You may also try locations such as gray family +sambro. (Sambro is a town in Nova Scotia. This limits findings to certain locations, at least for the first few listings.) Others we tried in this presentation were Excite!, Google (ignore the "I'm Feeling Lucky"), and Snap. I find these are very helpful surname-wise. Try the others. (I list many below.) I usually avoid the Meta search engines, because I think they are complicated and limiting. However, you might try MetaCrawler at http://www.metacrawler.com/index.html. This engine is mentioned because it automatically runs your search on certain engines at once, tossing out the duplicates and giving you what is left. It uses these engines: About.com, Alta Vista, DirectHit, Excite, Google, GoTo.com, Infoseek, LookSmart, Lycos, RealNames, Thunderstone, Webcrawler and FindWhat. ( Use the surname only (do not add family.) You will receive some extraneous information from this engine, but that's fine. If you use MetaCrawler, also use the regular sites even though they are included in this meta engine.) For more specific and sophisticated ways to search see this excellent link which describes some advanced techniques: Search Engines and Surnames. This article was on the Rootsweb mailing list and I received permission from the author to reproduce it. FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service So much for search engines as such. Now, let's discuss the
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service site at http://www.familysearch.org.
Notice that regular search engines cannot index databases such as FamilySearch.* You will find that once you come up with the name you want, by clicking on that name you can get an Individual Record of that person, a Pedigree Chart, and information on parents, children, etc. You may also get the source or contributer of the information. You may even download a GEDCOM which could be imported into your computerized genealogy program (such as PAF, Family Tree Maker, etc.) I prefer importing the GEDCOM into a new file rather than an exisiting one. This site has many other features which you can browse for (going to the Home Page.) *(For a list of thousands of genealogy data bases, go
to http://www.lycos.com/srch/?lpv=1&loc=refinebox&rfindex=7&prev=databases&query=genealogy+databases Where do you place your findings? One of the problems of obtaining all the information is where to put it without losing track of it. This is solved by filing it in folders, either paper or electronic. Paper Folders: Simply make up a file folder for each surname or name and print-out your findings, filing them in the proper folder. If you don't want to print out your data, you can file them electronically. Electronic Folders: Create a bookmark of the site and file it in a folder. The advantage of using a folder for your bookmarks (or favorites) is that the folders take up less space on your bookmark list. How you do this depends on your browser. (This may be complicated, but work at it and you will understand it!) Here is how: For Netscape: Go to Bookmarks/edit bookmarks/file/new folder/name it. Once the folder is there when you create a bookmark go to Bookmarks/file bookmarks. It's done! If you already have something bookmarked, go to Bookmarks/edit bookmarks/select the folder. It's done! To find the file, go to Bookmarks and click on the proper folder. To move something already bookmarked to to Bookmarks/edit bookmarks/drag the file to the appropriate folder. For Internet Explorer: Go to Favorites/organize favorites/create folder/name new folder. Once the folder is there when you create a bookmark go to Favorites/add favorite/create in/click the correct folder. To find the file, go to Favorites/organize favorites/click on the folder and select the file. To move something already bookmarked, go the Favorites/organize favorites/move to folder/select the proper bookmarked item/OK/yes. Backing Up Bookmarks. You should always BACK UP your important genealogy files including Bookmarks and Favorites. Here is how to back up the bookmarks lists: (Best: back up whole system if you have that capability.) Disclaimer: Be sure you know what you are doing! In E IE 4.0: using My Computer or Windows Explorer, locate the IE Favorities folder in C:\Windows. Right click on the Favorites folder under C:\Windows and choose Copy. Right click on the drive you want to copy to and choose Paste. (Copy to a floppy.) In IE 5.0: Open the IE 5.0 browser. Click on File on the menu bar. Click on Import and Export in the drop-down menu. Follow the steps of the Import/Export wizard to copy a single folder (or your entire Favories list) to a floppy disk (or other storage location.) In Netscape 4.x: Using My Computer or Window Explorer, locate a file named bookmark.htm (located in C:\Program Files\Netscape\Navigator\Users\yourname or in C\MyFiles\Users\yourname (where "yourname" is the login name you use to log onto the Internet via Netscape.) Right click on bookmark.htm and choose Copy. Right click on the drive you want to copy to (floppy, etc.) and choose Paste. (For me here is how it worked: C"\Program Files/Netscape/Users/yourname. Holding the right click button, I dragged bookmark to the floppy disk icon and clicked on copy here (not move here!) Systems may vary. Conclusion There we have it in a nutshell: a simple approach to search engines. The following information will give you further insight: Cyndis' List
on Search Engines. (Includes links to all kinds of information).
(http://www.cyndislist.com/search.htm) Popular Search Engines (Try them all, find the ones you like) Please note: Each engine has a place to help in your search techniques such as a tutorial or a way to conduct searches. This is usually found by clicking on help. Sometimes it may say about or advanced search. Cyndi's list of the web sites also gives you these helps. Alta Vista
(http://www.altavista.com) Home Page of Sharing our Links to the Past |
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