Wow! I am very impressed with the Family Search Pilot. Genealogy heaven you might say. Look it over - Federal Census, State Census, and more records. Limited now but the project is growing. I've just checked out American stuff because that's where I'm looking right now but they also seem to have many international records you can search.
A few days ago I noticed the Maryland, Cecil County Probate Records on the site. Since my wife has Frazer ancestors from Cecil county, I just started with a search by surname which turned up several records I wanted to look at. I read the will of her ggggrandmother, Emily Frazer. I did have a problem with 1 record so I emailed and heard back within a day. I was doubly impressed. Not only a chance to look at some very old ancestral stuff, but when I had a problem with one record (Emily's grandson), I emailed support and heard back the next day. Very impressive website and impressive support. Now to look at my Bouldens, Evans, and Scotts in that county.
Check it out:
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Genealogy By Village
I just ran across any interesting website for genealogy. My initial finding was due to looking for something new for Irish (specifically limerick) Genealogy but this is useful for all villages in the UK and Ireland. The site is the CuriousFox http://www.curiousfox.com/. There is a function (near the top of the page) that allows you to search for locations or browse to the location of interest and see who is searching what names in that area. The site is supported by a modest subscription but you are welcome to look for free.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Improve your genealogy queries
I see genealogical queries in many places that could be much improved. You want to give enough information that someone working on the same family would recognize it and read the query. After all, what is the point unless you get potential relatives to read it.
A good title gets attention. For example if I was researching Emma MacKenzie who lived in New York around 1890 to 1920, I'd be very like to read a query that was entitled "Emma MacKenzie, New York, 1895" than something simply called "MacKenzie family". Gives enough in the title to make it interesting enough that your potential relatives will read it. People are busy and are unlikely to read further unless they have reason to believe your query is worth a bit of their time.
Try to keep it to the point. You can share details by email when someone writes you. Any given name unless it's really odd will most likely occur several times in an area so be sure to include facts like spouse, children and approximate dates. Remember that the potential relative that reads this may know either more or less than you do. Don't make the query so long that people give up before getting to the essential facts.
A good title gets attention. For example if I was researching Emma MacKenzie who lived in New York around 1890 to 1920, I'd be very like to read a query that was entitled "Emma MacKenzie, New York, 1895" than something simply called "MacKenzie family". Gives enough in the title to make it interesting enough that your potential relatives will read it. People are busy and are unlikely to read further unless they have reason to believe your query is worth a bit of their time.
Try to keep it to the point. You can share details by email when someone writes you. Any given name unless it's really odd will most likely occur several times in an area so be sure to include facts like spouse, children and approximate dates. Remember that the potential relative that reads this may know either more or less than you do. Don't make the query so long that people give up before getting to the essential facts.
Welcome
This is a new blog for my interests in Irish genealogy. For time to time, I'll post something I think of interest or comment on another blog that has something I think helpful.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)