Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy January 2002

Other Tidbits & Unusual Strategies for Internet Research

This class is a catch-all for other things we want to share with you. It isn’t organized into logical sections, and it doesn’t flow from paragraph to paragraph. It’s just a bunch of unrelated concepts thrown into a miscellaneous other class.

Use FamilySearch keyword search. It does a full text search of genealogically useful sites. It’s like having a search engine, only it searches only genealogy sites.

Use search engines, remembering quotes, wildcards, + and -, etc. Consider other things to search for—topic, nickname, place, ethnic group, or ? Try combinations of two things (name and place, place and topic, topic and ethnic group, etc.).

Once in a while, just try surfing. The sense I mean is random, unfocused wandering. We hear so much about setting goals and remaining focused—and these are important. But they shouldn’t totally eliminate surfing. Visit a site like FamilySearch web sites or CyndisList, pick a category and just click on links (use fourtimes or two windows). You may get some ideas of things to try.

Genealogical newsgroups can be fun and even profitable. But there are other newsgroups out there. Most of them are willing to help. There are groups for most countries of the world in the soc.culture Hierarchy. Pose a question in the group for the country of your ancestry. Learn about the history and culture. You may get to know someone in the area where your family lived and they may offer more specific help once you know them. Other non-genealogical groups might be able to help, as well.

Consider leaving a query in an ethnic or geographical society or group’s web page, even if the society or group is not a genealogical group.

Browse record types from a library catalog, archival web page, or society offering. You may discover a record you didn’t even know to look for.

Call (telephone) or email people with the same unusual name or with the same common name in the same small area that your ancestors lived in. This has worked for me—even with common names like HUGHES and JACKSON when its in a small town. Use switchboard.com and teldir.com to find phone numbers, and email directories to find email addresses.

There are thousands of how-to articles on the Internet. Check out how-to and beginners categories on CyndisList, and make a goal to read at least one every month on a subject you don’t know enough about.

United States National Atlas –

The Internet is a treasure trove of reference works. There are glossaries, dictionaries, abbreviation lists & acronym finders. Please note some examples:

Cyndi's List - see Dictionaries and Glossaries

Consider looking for ethnic and political histories as well as local and national events. While there are many resources under History, many will be found under place (country, state, province, county, or even town), and some under "military" or "wars." For example, you might find a history about the 1860's under History, you might find one under the county where your ancestors lived, or it might be under U.S. Military or the Civil War. Be flexible. When trying to learn about the historical setting of your ancestors and the records concerning them, look several different ways -- by place, topic, and record type.

Cyndi's List is best in the area of U.S. History, listing the following subcategories:

Be careful to check all possible categories in Cyndi's List. For example, the Civil War category has the following subcategories:

Some major starting points (see Summary) include:

MOST OF ALL – develop an open, inquisitive mind and keep your eyes open!