by Lianne Krüger
This article is part one of an introduction to how and why Google can be beneficial to a genealogist. We will review how to search, some terminology, how to narrow your search by using operators such as +, -, *, OR and quotes. Part two will be an article on advanced features of google searches.
INTRODUCTION
Genealogists love Google. It is said that the second largest number of websites on the internet is genealogical websites. That means that there are millions and probably billions of websites that contain genealogical information. There are commercial websites, free websites and family websites. In all of that, how do you find your ancestors? A search engine is necessary and Google is one of the best. Later I will discuss the difference between the Google and Yahoo!
A search engine can be used to search for web pages that contain
names of their ancestors
information about the locations ancestors lived
photos of people, sites, buildings
history of towns, cities, counties, etc
graveyard site locations and contact information, and
contact information for locations from county to national records.
NOTE
A web browser is a program used to facilitate entry to and usage of the internet; used to view HTML documents.
NOTE
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Each web page, on the internet, has its own individual address known as an URL. The URL for Google is http://www.google.com or for Canadians http://www.google.ca
SEARCHING
BEGIN
In your web browser type http://www.google.com
When Google appears type what you would like to search for inside the box, where the cursor is blinking.
NOTE
Google does not differentiate between upper and lower case. It searches as if all text is in lower case.
HITS
The number of oo ’s gives an indication of the number of result pages. Click on the number [indicating the page number] or the oo’s above the number. You can also click on Next will get you to the next page of hits.
To view one of these hit pages, click on the title of the website. The title is underlined blue lettering.
To return to the list, click on the Back button [white arrow in blue circle], located at the top left hand side of the screen.
After reviewing all the web pages on the first page, go to the next page of lists by:
1. Scroll to the bottom of the page
2. Click on the number 2 or
Click on the “o” above the 2.
Try This
1. Do a search with your name.
If there are no results with your name, try a name of a family member.
2. Select a page that contains your name.
3. Use the back button to return to the index search page.
DID YOU MEAN?
When I search for my name “Lianne Kruger” Google asks “Did you mean?” Lianne Krueger.
When Google thinks you spelled something wrong, even if you didn’t, it will ask this.
If you spelled it correctly, ignore this.
If you did spell it incorrectly, click on the new spelling which is a link and Google will search again giving you a new list of website results.
NARROWING YOUR SEARCH
When I google for Lianne Kruger there are 688 hits. That is a little much. I am not that popular! We need to narrow the search. Most of your ancestors will not be that popular either.
BE SPECIFIC
When searching, include as many words as possible to describe who or what you are looking for. Include the name and the location. The next article will illustrate how to put in years.
timothy bancroft clay county missouri
Also include spouses or other family names
timothy bancroft nancy davis clay county missouri
OPERATORS
Another way to narrow our search is by using what is called Operators. In math operators were the +, -, *, /, SUM, etc. Google can do math which will be shown later but we can also use these operators to define the text we would like to search.
THIS AND THAT
+ [the plus sign]
The + plus sign operator indicates that both names must be present on the webpage to qualify for a hit. By typing in the following many of the hits are eliminated. Those pages which contained just kruger and those which contained only lianne are no longer displayed.
lianne + kruger
DON’T INCLUDE THAT
- [the minus sign]
If you are looking for ancestors with the last name Pitt there would be more Brad Pitts than anything else. To exclude all websites that contained Brad, the minus sign “-“ is used.
word(s) –word
pitt -brad
If your ancestor’s name was Brad Pitt then I will exclude California or the word movie.
pitt -california
pitt -movie
NOTE
There is no space after the minus sign “-“. This will not work if there is a space between the – and the text to be excluded.
1. Type the word(s) to search
2. Press the Space bar
3. Type a Minus sign –
4. Do not press the space bar [no space]
5. Type the word to eliminate
6. Press Enter.
If you did a search for Princeton, most of those sites would be for Princeton, New Jersey. If you wanted Princeton, British Columbia instead, then you would want to exclude all websites that contained New Jersey. To exclude any sites that have “New Jersey” in it, the minus sign “-“ is used.
word(s) –“word word”
Search for “timothy bancroft”
Note many of the hits on the first page have bancroft-hinchey. Not the correct person.
Type “timothy bancroft” –Hinchey
If there is more than one word to eliminate use more than one minus sign by repeating steps 3 thru 5. With timothy bancroft there are now websites with “pediatrician” Eliminate those by adding another –[minus sign] operator.
“timothy bancroft” –hinchey -pediatrician
We can also use this for brad pitt by excluding both movie and california at the same time.
brad pitt –movie -california
Try This
1. Search your name. Eliminate anything that appears often that is not related to you.
WORDS BETWEEN
* [the asterix sign]
If you don’t know the middle name of your ancestor or not sure how they would spell it this operator is great. Type in the example below and note the hits. You will see words between the first name Timothy and the last name Bancroft. The * indicates that there is something between the two words. Doesn’t matter how many words or characters there are.
Try This
timothy * bancroft
USING QUOTES
Another operator used to narrow searches is quotes. Quotes indicate that you want only pages where the text appears exactly as it appears within the quotes. Type in “lianne kruger” and note the number hits versus the original search.
Try the examples below, Red Deer, Alberta with and without quotes. Note the difference of hits between the two searches.
Red Deer Alberta and “Red Deer” Alberta
Here is another example from earlier. This time use quotes. There are three hits instead of several pages.
“timothy bancroft” “nancy davis” “clay county” missouri
Sometimes this will eliminate all hits or narrow too many websites and you might miss some information. What if the last name appears before the first name, or they don’t list Nancy’s last name? It is good to do both. The following operation is also useful.
OR OPTION
In some websites the first name could come before the last name or after with a comma. The OR operator allows us to search for both in the same search at the same time.
word OR word
NOTE
OR must be capitalized
macKellar OR mckellar
1. Type the word you want to search
2. Press the Space bar
3. Type OR
4. Press the Space bar
5. Type the other word
6. Press Enter.
The | key may be used instead of OR.
NOTE
| is found on the keyboard with the \
Google will usually include Mackellar when mckellar is typed in. The OR operator is used for more than one word by using quotes.
“word(s)” | “word(s)”
“kruger, lianne” OR “lianne kruger”
MATH CLASS
Back to math class! Remember those math operators we used for words. They can also be used with numbers. If you need a calculator and don’t have one with you, Google can help you. Suppose you are trying to figure out what year someone was born. The article says they died in 1875 at the age of 47. Type in Google in the box you use for searches the following:
1875 – 47
A little calculator icon appears, the formula and the answer.
1875 – 47 = 1828
Note:
If they have already had their birthday then this is correct. If they have not then they were born in 1827.
CONCLUSION
Have fun and experiment with the operators above.
This article has been an introduction to searching. There is so much more Google can do for you. The next article will include more operators which allow you to search for a range of years, how to search only one website and view sites similar to another. It will also include how to view old websites, search for images, translate a website and more.
—–
Lianne Krüger researched her family line back to the first three land owners of Canada. She has a genealogical historical article published by BYU Studies magazine involving Massachusetts and Missouri. Lianne is presently researching Ireland and Missouri. She received a computer degree in 1979, has been teaching computers since 1982 and has written computer instruction manuals.
Share this: Print article
Like this:
Like Loading...
Read Full Post »
Keynote Speakers at the AGS/AFHS Conference 2012
Posted in Editorial comment, Family History General, News, Newsletters, Research, Using the Internet on April 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Congratulations to the Alberta Genealogical Society and Alberta Family History Society for the great conference they put on in Red Deer on April 13 and 14. It was great to see the 2 organizations put on the conference together! Over 250 people were in attendance. You can get information on presentations including handouts by going to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conferenceindex.html . To get any handouts (not all speakers had handouts) click on the link to Presenters and then click on the presenter’s name.
The 2 keynote speakers were Gena Ortega on the Friday evening and Dick Eastman on Saturday morning. They were both excellent. I know many of you couldn’t come so here are my notes from their presentations – certainly not comprehensive notes, but some of the things that caught my attention. Apologies for any errors I am about to make! Please don’t share my errors!
Gena Philibert-Ortega – Researching Like a History Detective
(Gena is an author and blogger from California. Her blogs include http://philibertfamily.blogspot.ca/ Gena serves as Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is also a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance). Gena has a handout on the conference website.
Context is everything. Without context we make assumptions – draw false conclusions – may research someone else’s family. We tend to stick to government documents and don’t stray too far from it – need to consider other sources.
What is context? Set of circumstances that surround a particular event
PBS Show History Detectives
Genealogists are History Detectives
People in family tell us whacky stories – & we try to work it out
What do Detectives do?
Listen to witnesses – what they say and what they don’t say
Observe
Question experts
Gather evidence
Aha moment
What makes genealogy interesting ?
Not the forms
About going to cemeteries
Bringing ancestors to life
There is much more than Ancestry and FamilySearch websites
Analyzed some old picture
Enlarge – look for details – religious collar with SA on it
Look for unseen clues
Gather evidence from lots of people
Research Salvation Army
Use eBay – searched for vintage Salvation Army photos
Think like an historian
Find all the books you can about the locality
Genealogy is history on the micro level
Look for articles
Call reference librarians – maybe through a chat feature
Get past vital record, census, and surname searches
Don’t make assumptions
1911 England – person not in census? – suffragettes refused to be included in the census! What documents existed at this time period? History at that time? Neighbors?
Do you use library websites? University websites? Worldcat? Repositories ?
Try to recreate the community your ancestor lived in
Libcat – guide to libraries on the internet – not just USA
Repositories of Primary Sources – google search term
Library and Archives Canada – archivianet and online maps
David Rumsey map collection – can also be an add on to Google Earth
Alberta Women’s Institute website – look at the Tweedsmuir Histories
Experts are important in genealogy
How do you find experts?
Social networking – such as genealogywise – ask questions
APG – Association of Professional Genealogists
Message boards
Books
Universities
Ask local historians
Google books – can be very good – to research a topic
Put in ancestors name
5 steps to research:
Get to know all the sources.
Look for finding aids, research books, how to books
Cluster genealogy – identifying and reconstructing a persons social network – increase the pool of people – FAN principle (Family, Associates and Neighbours – from Elizabeth Shown Mills) – Where they lived, occupations
Use Google images
Stories behind people create interest
Look at different kinds of collections
Search the catalog – special collections, digital collections – many times surnames as search terms won’t help you
Worldcat http://www.worldcat.org/ – catalog of libraries – give it your postal code -and it will find library near you that has book – can copy citations and sources. Search terms may not be what you think. Cookbooks equal cookery in catalog. Good to look at subject headings.
University libraries online – often have chat features or ask a librarian
Women’s collections
Be flexible in what you use as key words
PERSI valuable resource – available at ancestry.com – look for articles
Reconstructing lives
Context is everything
Genealogy is a puzzle
(interesting fact: US women until c 1936 who married non US males lost their citizenship)
Dick Eastman – The Family History World in 10 years time
(Owner and writer of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog – which I read every morning before breakfast! You can find out how to subscribe to receive by email if you go to http://blog.eogn.com/ and click on subscribe to free standard edition. Dick is from Florida – so he really appreciated our spring time snow!)
For handouts go to: eogn.com/handouts/10years
Genealogy 0.5 – until c 1920 – original records – compiled sources – no microfilm – expensive – few societies – elitist
Genealogy 1.0 – 1920 – 1980 – microfilm – Alex Haley
Genealogy 2.0 – 1980- 2012 – digital records – social networks – TV shows – expanded audience
Genealogy 3.0 – 2012 and beyond – now – many records online – google books – see werelate.org – bloggers
The Future? – more records online – focus on putting images online – with transcripts and indexes – wifim (what’s in it for me) – dealing with inertia – genealogists interrupt bureaucrats real work? – archive email? Archive of Facebook – archives.org has a wayback machine
- online all the time everywhere – ease of access – information moving to the cloud – google glasses are coming
- new and better software – cloud based – comparing and matching records – collaborative – so more faster and easier – software that works on any platform – hardware OS is currently an impediment – data privacy issues?
- changing audience – getting younger! – busy family members can do genealogy in spare moments – driven by technology – TV programs – new audience has different interests such as stories of ancestors, not charts, may not join societies (not joiners) , not classified by age, gender or nationality – Boston University class 40% born a outside US, 90% had one or more grandparents born outside US – traditional data sources like census don’t work well – 50% non white – 50% did not share a surname with their own father – need global resources
Shane Robison VP HP at Rootstech 2011 said – desktop sales declining – tablet and smart phones soaring – within 5 years 60% of Internet access not from traditional computers
How is our society going to serve this audience?
Will traditional libraries cease to exist? Will all books be digitized? At what cost to access?
Share online!
Back it up!
Share this: Print article
Like this:
Read Full Post »