casestudy

Alan E. Mann, A.G.

familyhistory.geo@yahoo.com Accredited Genealogist

www.geocities.com/q6266/ November 1999

Successful Online Searches:

A Step by Step Case Study

By Alan E. Mann

I’m often asked how to find useful information on the Internet. I share URLs or addresses along with some general guidelines for searching. People often later tell me wonderful stories of great successes on the Internet. Unfortunately, I sometimes also hear from people who said they went to the sites I mentioned, but weren’t sure what to do. As a demonstration of how it’s done, I put together this case study.

This case study comes from my own genealogy. I started with my grandmother’s line, which was the line about which I had the least information. The attached family group sheet shows the basic situation when I decided to start looking on the Internet for any information I might be able to add about the family.

The information I had about Daniel S. CORLEY came from:

1 - the 1850 census of West Fork, Washington, Arkansas,

2 - the 1860 census of Belton, Bell, Texas, and

3 - extracts from the CORLEY Family Bible.

I also looked for the family in the 1870 and 1880 censuses, but didn’t find them.

I also looked through marriage records in Bell County, where I found the marriages of several of the children.

I looked for land records, but they had not been microfilmed for Bell County.

Now I’m ready to look on the Internet. Keep in mind, if an Internet source tells you what film to look on or suggests you contact a relative with information, you are using Internet-guided research. To see what happened when I went looking for Daniel S. Corley, check out www.geocities.com/q6266/.

This page is here to allow you to search the same web pages I used, but searching for your own ancestors. Here’s are links to the search sites of the ten Internet sources I decided to start with:

FamilySearch Internet	RootsWeb Surname List
Internet Family Finder*	GenForum
Ancestry Library	Fuller & Gaunt list of mailing lists
USGenWeb Archives	FamilySearch Collaboration Lists
Kindred Konnections	Texas GenWeb (Bell County)

*You can use Lori Hoffman's CD Lookup List to use a volunteer to look up information from a CD-ROM for you without having to buy the CD-ROM. The CD Lookup List is http://loricase.com/CDs/cdlist.html.

©Copyright 1999-2002 by Alan E. Mann. All rights reserved. Written permission to reproduce all or part of this file in any format, including photocopying, data retrieval, printing, or any computer bulletin boards, must be secured in advance from the copyright holder.

Family Group Record

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Husband: Daniel S CORLEY

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Birth: bet 1812-1815 Tennessee

Death: Burial:

Marriage: abt 1834 of Arkansas

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Wife: Susan H K

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Birth: 1816 Tennessee

Death: Burial: ================================================================

Children

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1 M George Kuykendall CORLEY

Birth: 26 Mar 1836 , Washington, Arkansas

Death: 15 Feb 1864 , Texas Burial:

Marriage:

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2 M Nathaniel CORLEY

Birth: 18 Aug 1837 , Arkansas

Death: 3 Feb 1870 Burial:

Marriage:

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3 M Henry Karnes CORLEY

Birth: 27 Feb 1839 , Arkansas

Death: Burial:

Marriage:

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4 M Thomas Haynes CORLEY

Birth: 30 Aug 1840 , Franklin, Arkansas

Death: 28 Feb 1917 Burial:

Marriage:

---------------------------------------------------------------- 5 M James J CORLEY

Birth: 29 Aug 1842 , Arkansas

Death: 20 Sep 1844 Washington, Arkansas Burial:

Marriage:

---------------------------------------------------------------- 6 F Almeta CORLEY

Birth: 1843 , Arkansas

Death: Burial:

Marriage:

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7 M Oliver CORLEY

Birth: 1845 , Arkansas

Death: 14 Jan 1874 Burial:

Marriage:

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8 F Seletee CORLEY

Birth: 16 Jan 1848 , Arkansas

Death: Burial:

Marriage:

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9 M William Daniel S CORLEY

Birth: 19 Oct 1849 , Arkansas

Death: 2 Jun 1876 Burial:

Marriage:

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10 M John P F CORLEY

Birth: 6 Jan 1852

Death: 22 Jun 1852 Burial:

Marriage:

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FAMILY NOTES

HUSBAND NOTES: Daniel S CORLEY

OCCUPATION: Blacksmith/Wagon maker

BIRTH(1): General(2): 1860 Census of Bell county, TX (page 333) 1850 Census of West Fork township, Washington, Arkansas

WIFE NOTES: Susan H K

BIRTH(3): 1860 Census of Bell county, TX (page 333)