Alan E. Mann, A.G.

alan@alanmann.com                                                                              Accredited Genealogist

www.alanmann.com/articles/slig.htm                                                             1 December, 2002          

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy                                                                    January 2003

Greater Research Success Using Technology Sources                                                

 

 

Name-based Searching

 

While there are surname sites (web pages devoted to a family or surname), the basic approach to finding data on the Internet is by surname using an index. Some databases are limited by locality, ethnic group, or other factors. There are many indexes to names in genealogies on the Internet that have across the board, or broad coverage. I will briefly cover many of the major ones that I have been able to locate.

 

FamilySearch Internet

•       by the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS web site)

•       Understand IGI name standardization

•       Note that web site search is much improved

•       A billion names (Ancestral File, IGI, Pedigree Resource File, Vital Records, etc.)

•       for more information, come to my Thursday evening class

•       located at www.familysearch.org/Browse

 

Internet Family Finder

•       by FamilyTreeMaker (Brøderbund, Learning Tree, or Genealogy.com)

•       actually a search engine, whose results are stored as an index

•       indexes hundreds of thousands of web sites, including Genealogy.com’s own site

•       located at www.familytreemaker.com/ifftop.html

 

RootsWeb Surname List

•       by Karen Isaacson and others

•       probably not a “surname catalog”, but included here anyway

•       a research coordination list; tells who else is researching the same names

•       located at rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi   

 

USGenWeb Archive search

•       by USGenWeb (volunteers)

•       Over 100,000  files of extracted or transcribed records

•       Search by state at www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm     

•       Search all states at once at searches.rootsweb.com/htdig/search.html

 

Ancestry Library Search

•       by Ancestry, Inc.

•       includes thousands of books & databases (published or extracted, not submitted)

•       includes indexes to most US census records 1790-1870 and some later censuses

•       includes PERiodical Source Index (PERSI)

•       charges for full access (free at FHL)

•       combined search searches all the books, databases, SSDI, and World Tree (but not PERSI!) located at www.ancestry.com/

 

GenealogyLibrary Search

•       by FamilyTreeMaker (or Genealogy.com)

•       includes thousands of books and databases (published or extracted)

•       promises to add three new databases a day

•       requires a monthly fee for access

•       located at www.genealogylibrary.com/

 

Gendex

•       by Gene Stark

•       indexes web genealogies created using GED2HTML and a few other programs

•       index included birth & death dates (if given) to help identify

•       located at www.gendex.com/

 

FamilyFinder Index

•       by FamilyTreeMaker

•       indexes CD‑ROM data (some on Internet, most require CD)

•       CD number in URL when you click on “more information”

•       Use volunteers (http://loricase.com/CDs/cdlist.html) or FHL to get data from CD 

•       index often name only, sometimes birth or death date range or state or country

•       located at www.familytreemaker.com/cdhome.html

 

Library of Congress Surname catalog  

•       by Library of Congress

•       tells what's been published, but content is not actually on web

•       located at catalog.loc.gov/

 

Mailing Lists

•       Mailing lists are communities working together

•       Thousands of lists are devoted to specific surnames

•       Most listed by John Fuller & Christine Gaunt (Genealogy Resources on the Internet)

•       General surname lists are listed at www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_surnames-gen.html

•       Surnames beginning with the letter a are at www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_surnames‑a.html

•       Largest is ROOTS-L, located at http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l.html

 

Newgroup Name Archive

•       offered by Rootsweb

•       indexes messages posted on public discussion areas

•       several groups in several indexes; pick the ones that apply (soc.genealogy.surname is for everyone)

•       archive covers years of messages; search one year at a time

 

Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS)

•       by the organization (volunteers)

•       Members have agreed to do a study that involves extracting all occurrences of a surname

•       Alphabetical list of all the surnames registered, with links to name & email of member

•       located at www.one-name.org/

 

Other

•       www.genforum.com

•       www.familyhistory.com

•       www.everton.com

•       www.gensource.com

 

Search many at once with a Meta-search

 

·     SuperSearch (12-15 databases at once--note limits), located at www.familytreemagazine.com/search/

·     MultiGen (multiple searches in separate windows…) located at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/CACulman/MultiGen.htm

 

For names in various geographical databases, see the material title “Place-based Searching” and for sites of more specific nature, please look at lists of database site, such as those listed here:

 

•      Many sources are available for regional or specific state research, such as the Bureau of Land Management, located at www.glorecords.blm.gov/.

•      www.bc1.com/users/sgl/

•      www.familysearch.org/Browse, and

•      www.CyndisList.com/database.htm.

 

To find sites devoted to a particular surname, you can also use a categorized list, such as:

•      Cyndi Howell’s List of Web Sites (www.Cyndislist.com/surnames.htm),

•      Genealogy SiteFinder (www.genealogy.com/genealogy/links/index.html), or

•      Surname Springboard (www.geocities.com/Heartland/2154/springin.htm).

 

An interesting list of indexes with links is the All-In-One Genealogists Index at www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/8310/gensearcher.html.  I have a sampling of some specific, useful indexes listed at www.geocities.com/Heartland/6266/indexes.htm.         

 

New sites are added regularly. An announcement is anticipated at www.heritagequest.com.  For other sites with pedigrees and genealogies submitted by individuals, see the article “Lineage Linked Databases” in Genealogical Computing magazine.

 

Another way to apply surname strategy is to use general search engines, or search tools that are not limited to genealogical sites. While these often return information that is not useful to family history research, some of the web pages they locate do not seem to be indexed by the genealogical search tools available. Search engines work well for unusual names, however. Popular search engines include www.google.com, www.altavista.com, and www.excite.com. There are thousands more. For information on using non-genealogical search engines for genealogical searches, see www.geocities.com/familyhistory.geo/howto3.htm.

 

Find your way by trying out the resources listed here. Spend a few hours experimenting and you will enhance and enrich your future Internet use. You’ll shorten the time to find anything, and you’ll amaze yourself with how much is available. Soon people will be coming to you, the Internet expert.

 

For a demo of thirteen popular web sites, see www.geocities.com/q6266/.

 

 

©Copyright 1997-2003 by Alan E. Mann.  All rights reserved.  Written permission to reproduce all or part of this syllabus material in any format, including photocopying, data retrieval or the Internet, must be secured in advance from the copyright holder.