I
spend a lot of time searching the internet, reading books, looking
through files, that kind of thing. But I find it to be fun. I like to
find information (some call me a miracle worker). This is why I work at a library. It is all about
knowing where to look. And having a little patients. I have certainly
looked at loads of information in the past few years most of which
doesn't have an significance to my genealogy research. What I do know is
that you can't leave any stone unturned. I always seem to find an
invaluable piece of information just when I am not expecting it.
There
are little interesting tidbits to find to make this searching more fun. Susan Ann Bailey Morgan was
counted twice on the 1900 census. On 1 June, she was with her parents in
Carroll County, Kentucky and on 25 June, she was in Jefferson County,
Indiana with her husband. This also happened to Susan Jane Richmond
McCutchen in 1860. She is with her husband and kids in Lexington,
Indiana and also with her parents in Trimble County, Kentucky being
listed as Susan Richmond. Of course the worst happens also, I have some
people that just can't be found. Maybe they were traveling.
It
is really important to be familiar with family names and the names of
people your family hung out with. In looking at books written about a
family line, I look for names that are not in my direct lineage. An
example is the name Banta. I haven't found any direct lineage to a Banta
but my 4great grandmother Phebe Ann Demaree Bice had a second husband
names Henry Banta. Her sister Nancy also married a Henry Banta. So, I
look in Banta files and Banta family books.
Read
Books
I don't just rely on what is published on the internet. I read any book
I can find on my family lines. Best place to find books is in a library.
Second best place is on the internet.
An
invaluable web site for finding searchable text books is www.heritagequestonline.com.
This site is by subscription only and is usually subscribed to by
libraries. Go to your local library and ask if they have access. If they
don't, tell them they need to get it. I know that my county library and
all the surrounding county libraries subscribe to it, so you should be
able to find a library that can provide you access.
Another
web site for books is books.google.com. The search engine Google is on a
quest to digitize all the books in the world. Don't know how long it
will take but I have found genealogy books on there. Most book on there
are copy righted and it makes searching the book a little odd but still
worth a try.
Libraries
I go to libraries and open the books up and see what it says for myself.
When it comes to visiting libraries to do research, I have it a little
easier then some, I live right here where my ancestors came from. Of
course I have grand ideas of traveling to North Dakota, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and everywhere else.
Inter
Library Loan is a great way to get genealogy books from far away states.
Any public library in America should be participating in this program.
Most will charge a fee for getting you a book but it can be worth it. Of
course I have tried to request books and haven't been able to get them.
Lots of libraries don't lend out their genealogy books. What you can do
in this case is call the library and ask for photo copies.
Check
out the library's web site to see what they have to offer. Email or call
them to see if they can scan a document and email it to you. We do it at
my library for free. Just don't go over board on your request.
Searching
Census Records
I
search for census records on Ancestry.com and on HeritageQuestOnline. A
big tip I discovered while doing many searches for census records is to
always look who is living next door to your relatives. Chances are you
are related to that person as well. I had been searching and searching
for one great grandfather only to find him a couple doors down on a
census I already had printed out with another great grandfather on it.
So that got me to go back and look over all the other census forms I had
printed out and sure enough I found some one else I had been searching
for but couldn't find.
Many of my census searches don't yield anything, because the names
are so miss spelt. My second tip in searching census records is to
search every spelling and every combination of names you can think up.
Even using the Soundx feature I haven't been able to find people. I
often search first names only if it is unusual enough and I know at
least the state.
My
third tip is to search for the known neighbor names. I was having
trouble locating some one. This person always lived in the same place
and I had several years of census records on him. So I decided to find
the neighbor who was always on the same page and sure enough it led me
to the person I was looking for.
The
Internet
Sometimes when I am at a loss on where to look next, I just go to www.yahoo.com
and type in the name and a place. Never know what you might find. This
of course works better for uncommon names. Taliaferro Craig is a good
example. Lots fewer hits then trying to search William Adams. And I
don't just search on Yahoo. I search on Google or AltaVista or Lycos.
Every search engine searches different and will yield different results.
Check my Where I Get My
Information page to see websites I like to use.
The
internet is growing everyday. Libraries all across America are involved
in digitizing history and getting it out onto the internet. I am
currently involved in a project that is digitizing letters of World War
II soldiers from Indiana.
The
point is that just because you searched for a person today and found
nothing doesn't mean there won't be something to find tomorrow.
