Alan E. Mann, AG

fhfair@alanmann.com                                                                                        Accredited Genealogist

www.alanmann.com/articles                                                                               prepared January 2005

                                 

 

Web-based Research Tools

 

The session looks at computer tools available on the Internet to assist your research. While the original idea was to pick tools that run from the Internet, I modified my scope to include programs that you can download that will then improve or affect your Internet searches.

 

Hugh Wallis (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/)

Hugh has done a great work that helps researchers use the IGI more effectively.

  1. IGI Batch Number Search Tool (UK, USA, and Canada) -- Hugh has identified over 50,000 extraction batch numbers and lists them by state or county, then by town. Each batch number has a link that takes you to familysearch.org and fills out the batch number for you. This enables you to search IGI extractions by town!
  2. IGI middle name index (England, Scotland, and Isle of Man) – You may not be aware of this, but IGI searches ignore middle names unless you check the exact spelling box, which often restricts your search so much that you miss what you were looking for. Hugh has indexed the entire IGI for England and Scotland by middle names, so you can find things by middle name.  Descendants of John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith rejoice!

 

Stephen Morse (http://stevemorse.org)

Steve Morse has a plethora of tools to help with genealogical research. His new web site divides the tools into seven categories. These categories, with a quick summary statement of what’s in each category follow:

  1. Ellis Island Search Forms and Ship Arrivals – Need to find something on Ellis Island’s website? Depending on what your needs are, you can use the blue, grey, or white search form, learn what the differences are between these search forms, or get photos or other information from the site.
  2. Census and Soundex – The first option is an excellent overview of how his site can help with census searching. There are ED tools for the 1920 and 1930 census which are important in larger towns and cities. There’s simple search forms that save several clicks when using ancestry.com or genealogy.com (works only for those with subscriptions to those sites). It can decipher occupation codes given in the census, and generate soundex codes.
  3. Births, Deaths, and other Vital Records – Search five different versions of the Social Security Death Index, find birthdays of twentieth century people, and search New York naturalization and prison records.
  4. Calendar, Sunrise/Sunset, Maps – Jewish calendar, sunrise/sunset calculators, assistance finding street and satellite maps, various types of zip code searches.
  5. Creating your own Search Forms, Search Engines, and Databases – helps in designing and improving your own web site.
  6. Dealing with Hebrew Characters – Jewish, Israeli, and Hebrew translations, phone directories, and other help.
  7. Miscellaneous – Truly miscellaneous—from information about Belarussian towns to the history of computers.

 

Paf Insight

This tool is for LDS users. It is actually software that you download from www.ohanasoftware.com. It runs on your computer, but it searches the Internet automagically. Select an individual, family, or up to ten individuals in your PAF file, and turn the program loose. Not only will it find matches in the IGI, it will update your file with temple dates. It also has a number of non-web related functions. The company web site promotes their program for the following reasons:

  1. Search the Online IGI and Update Your Records
  2. Collaborate Easily with Others
  3. Repair and Compact your database safely
  4. Spend Less Time Merging and More Time Researching
  5. Number Your RINs the Way You Would Like Them
  6. Discover the "Hidden" data in your database

 

GenSmarts

This is a program that you can download from www.Gensmarts.com.  The program analyses your genealogy file and makes research suggestions. It will save the suggestions as “to do” items. The program recognizes nine different genealogy software programs as well as GEDCOM.

 

Each research suggestion has an explanation of why the search is important, what you should expect to find, and where the record is available. When the record is available online, it links you to the website. For example, GenSmarts suggested that I search the 1880 IL census for John Dearing because his father's birth place and mother's birth place were not in my database, and that information is available in the 1880 census. It told me what the family should look like in the 1880 census (ages, etc.; and it left out the children who died before 1880). When I said I wanted to do it, GenSmarts opened up familysearch.org, filled out the search boxes, and presented me with the results.

 

GenSmarts also gives suggestions from over 100 online catalogs and record repositories. It even includes some 60,000 specific records from a variety of sources, including the Family History Library Catalog.

 

The program will launch an online search automatically from the research suggestion for the websites shown below (in three categories). In several cases, it will fill out the search form and present the search results for you. In some cases, you may have to fill out information yourself. In a few cases (e.g., John Dearing 1880 census), you may need to modify the search to find the information sought.

 

Fee-based sites with trial or per image fee

Free websites

Subscription sites

     (no trial)

1837online.com

Bureau of Land Management

HeritageQuestOnline

Ancestry.com

BYU-Idaho

NewEnglandAncestors

.org (NEHGS

familyhistoryonline.net

Cayuhoga Ohio PC

Genealogy.com)

EllisIsland.org

Scotlandspeople.gov.uk

UK Public Record Office

     (census.pro.gov.uk)

FamilySearch.org

ScottishDocuments.com

Illinois State Archives

 

 

Indiana State Archive

 

 

Minnesota State Archives

 

 

NPS Civil War

 

 

RootsWeb.com

 

 

FamilySearcher

This tool is a program you can download from http://myweb.cableone.net/kevinowen3/familysearcher.htm. It works with any GEDCOM file and will help you search www.familysearch.org. Export a family or portion of your data file to a GEDCOM, open it in FamilySearcher, and do a thorough search of the familysearch.org web site without having to enter the search information. You can select IGI, Ancestral File, census records, Social Security Death Index, Pedigree Resource File, or Vital Records Indexes. FamilySearch.org opens in a window that is headed by the familysearcher program. It also searches Ancestry, RootsWeb, and EllisIsland. It’s freeware, so give it a try.

 

Searching the Internet
The Internet is the richest source of genealogical information available today. The amount, scope, and availability of data are staggering, even incomprehensible. It is virtually certain that there is valid information about your ancestors on the Internet that you don’t have. Information that you would probably want if you only knew it was there.  So how can you find it? With a lot of searching.

 

Generally, a genealogist’s Internet searching has two phases.

  1. First, you must find the website that may have the desired information.
  2. Then, you search that website for the desired information.

 

Finding the Website

There are many ways to find a website.

  1. The most common way to find a website is that someone else tells you about it. You can increase the likelihood of this happening by participating in society meetings (like this one), talking to other genealogists (phone, mail, email, online), or participating in online discussion groups or mailing lists.
  2. Directory sites are another common way. The best example is Cyndi’s List (www.cyndislist.com). Here, you can get more from a directory site by learning how it is organized and by reading the help screens and general information. It is almost always possible to search a directory site. Another directory site is Yahoo.
  3. When the above two methods haven’t yielded results, many genealogists turn to search engines. While “search engine” can be correctly used in several different ways, the most common usage is a web tool used to find web pages on a specific topic. It is important to understand what a search engine is, what it includes, and how to best use it. The answers to these questions may vary between each search engine. Generally, a search engine indexes web sites that those running it have been able to identify and index. Some index every word, some index only the first page, and a few just the first few sentences.

 

While there are many search engines, I would like to show you one with some extra helpful features -- ZapMeta (www.zapmeta.com).  Try turning snapshots on. The past versions can be helpful, and I love the preview panes! Or try a clustering metasearch like Clusty (www.clusty.com), Kartoo (www.kartoo.com), and Vivisimo (www.vivisimo.com). For more information on search engines, see www.alanmann.com/articles/tips.htm.

 

These are only a few helpful web sites or programs. If you are aware of other such utilities, please notify me by email at fhfair@alanmann.com and I’ll consider adding it to the online version of this webpage, located at www.alanmann.com/articles/web.htm.

 

 

 

©Copyright 1997-2005 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.