OneGreatFamily Blog

• Search for First and Last Names of Randy Johnson and No Other Names

  9/27/2013 1:56:00 AM

  The following article is a sample from Barry J. Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History." He is the founder ofMyGenShare.com, an online educational website for genealogy and family history. 

  1. First and Last Names with "Genealogy." This search uses the primary person's first and last names and checks for the terms genealogy and ancestry, along with similar terms, in an attempt to focus on genealogy websites.

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  2.First and Last Names with Locations. If you are getting too many results, you might want to try adding the place of birth or death to the search. This might, however, cause you to overlook websites that have your ancestor information, but with no place of birth or death given. Nevertheless, this is a way to reduce the search results to a more manageable number. If you do not have too many results at this point, you can skip these searches.

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry Tennessee OR +TN

  Search for Johnson Websites
  
  1. This first search will look for websites related to the name Johnson when the name appears in the title of the website

  • allintitle: Johnson ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  2.This second search will look for websites related to the name Johnson when the name appears anywhere in the website. This is a much broader search than the one above. Use this search if you found few websites in the previous search. If you think the name you're searching is an uncommon name, you might have useful search results with the search below. On the other hand, if it is a common name, you will most likely have an overwhelming number of results. If that is the case, you are prob-ably better off searching on first and last names for the primary person along with the first and last names of the father, mother, and spouse.

  Johnson ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  
  

  Read more great genealogy tips in Barry Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History."
  

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• Genealogy: Setting up Advanced Google Searches

  9/27/2013 1:54:00 AM

  The following article is a sample from Barry J. Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History." He is the founder of MyGenShare.com, an online educational website for genealogy and family history. 

  The following is a series of preformatted searches that offer new ways to research your family. Let's start with an example for a particular individual. His family information is listed here:
  
  Randy Johnson
  
  Father: Richard Johnson Mother: Amy Bradshaw Spouse: Sandy Green Place of birth: Nashville, Tennessee Place of death: Kansas City, Kansas
  
  The searches (below) are shown in the order that will often provide the best search results. Each of the searches checks for the terms genealogy and ancestry, along with similar terms, in an attempt to focus on genealogy websites. Also, each search will pick up websites that might use the common misspelling of genealogy: geneology.
  
  Search for Randy Johnson with Spouse's Names
  
  Often, searching for the spouse's names along with the primary person's names is the best way to look for an ancestor. This is because a spouse's name is more likely to be known than, for example, a mother's maiden name. So you are more likely to have good search results than with other searches.
  
  1.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the spouse's first and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Sandy Green" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  2.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the spouse's first name, middle name or initial, and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Sandy * Green" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  3.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the spouse's last name, followed by a comma and the spouse's first name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Green, Sandy" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  Search for Randy Johnson with Father's First and Last Names
  
  Searching with the parents' names could pick up websites that have information about siblings of your ancestor and their parents. This would be the case if someone had already researched a sibling's ancestry but was, for some reason, unaware of your ancestor. Searching for the father's names along with the primary person's names might be useful, because fathers' names are more likely to be recorded in older records than mothers' names. In turn then, fathers' names are more likely to be found on websites.
  
  1.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the father's first and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Richard Johnson" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  2.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the father's first name, middle name or initial, and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Richard Johnson" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  3.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the father's first name, middle name or initial, and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Richard * Johnson" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  Search for Randy Johnson with Mother's Names
  
  Searching for the mother's names along with the primary person's names is not the best possible search, but it might be worth a try if you are unable to find your ancestor by searching with other names.
  
  1.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the mother's first and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Amy Bradshaw" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  2.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the mother's first name, middle name or initial, and last name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Amy * Bradshaw" ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  3.This search uses the three name formats for Randy Johnson with the mother's last name, followed by a comma and the mother's first name:

  • "Randy Johnson" OR "Randy * Johnson" OR "Johnson, Randy" "Bradshaw, Amy " ~genealogy OR ~ancestry

  
  

  Read more great genealogy tips in Barry Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History." 

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• Famous Ancestor Of The Week: Bill Gates

  9/25/2013 11:15:00 PM

  Bill Gates

  
  Bill Gates was born William Henry Gates III on 28 October 1955 in Seattle, King, Washington. He was actually the fourth William Henry Gates in his family, but because his father had given up the "III" suffix to his name, he was called William Henry Gates III. He came from English, German, and Scotch-Irish descent. He came from a wealthy family; his father was a prominent lawyer and his grandfather a national bank president. He attended an elite private school, where he wrote his first computer program-a tic-tac-toe game that allowed you to play against the computer-in eighth grade. Along with Paul Allen and two other students, he was later banned from the school for manipulating the school's operating system to get free computer time.

  After founding Microsoft with Paul Allen and becoming a software engineering magnate, he became a billionaire in 1987. He was the wealthiest individual in the world from 1995 to 2007, despite antitrust litigation that ensued in 1998 (a judge ruled that Microsoft had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act). He stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2000 to focus on philanthropic work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He and his wife Melinda are the second-most generous philanthropists in American, having given $27 billion to charity. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 2005.

  You can see whether or not you are related to Bill Gates by going to the Relationship Calculator on the Family Dashboard Page when you login to OneGreatFamily.

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  Famous Ancestors

• Meet Your Distant Cousins at OneGreatFamily

  9/23/2013 12:25:00 PM

  Researching Your Ancestors' Siblings May Help Your Family Tree To Grow

  A family tree is a pretty basic concept to understand; two ancestors have children, their children have children, and so forth, down to the present day with you and me. Each set of children is what we refer to as a generation. Each generation adds more branches to the tree.
  
  Your direct ancestral line comes through only one of the children of each of your ancestors. Did you ever stop to think about the descendants of the other children? Not only will you find that many other researchers connect to your same ancestors, but you may even connect to the same ancestor more than once. Depending on how many generations back the common ancestor is there may be hundreds or thousands of descendants alive today. One may be your neighbor, your friend, or even your spouse!

  Another advantage to researching collateral lines is that it could result in adding more ancestors to your family tree. As you meet and collaborate with your distant cousins they may have information and stories about your ancestors.
  
  When submitting your family tree to OneGreatFamily, make sure you include as many relationships as possible. Sibling relationships are very important to include at OneGreatFamily because relationships are the primary source of information for OneGreatFamily to be able to match your genealogy with those that have been submitted by others. Accurate dates and places for events, while important, are not as valuable as actual family relationships.
  
  How do I reverse engineer my family tree?
  
  Let's start with reverse engineering a smaller family tree to better understand the concept. Suppose your grandparents on your father's side had five children. Being a child to any one of the five children would make you a cousin to the children of any of the other five siblings. The concept of "reverse engineering" your family tree is to look at all of the collateral information that is available in your family tree. Start by tracing your family tree back to a common ancestor (your grandfather in this case). Now, instead of looking at your father and your family, trace the descendancy of one of his siblings.
  
  With OneGreatFamily, you can easily "Reverse Engineer Your Family Tree" and see just who you are related to. Collateral lines often help fill gaps with your own direct ancestral line. See below for instructions on how to View an Ancestor's Descendancy.
  
  What are the benefits of reverse engineering my family tree?
  
  Reverse engineering your family tree allows you to find relatives that you otherwise may not have found. Families tend to migrate together, so finding a brother, sister, or cousin of your ancestor may lead to the discovery of records for YOUR direct line ancestor as well. You can also see if any of your direct line ancestors have any famous descendants by tracing the various lines of descendancy. Some of the most exciting relations that you can find are relatives that are still living today!
  
  With OneGreatFamily, not only can you trace these lines to your distant relatives, but you can also communicate with many of them! When you find a living relative, or any ancestor for that matter, you can use the Collaboration feature to get in touch with the submitter.
  
  For those genealogists who are dedicated to finding their direct ancestors, reverse engineering can also be particularly helpful. When you are stuck on a certain line, having data on the siblings and children of the ancestor you are looking for can aid in finding data for them.
  
  Many people enjoy genealogy because of the stories and information they learn about their ancestors. The reverse engineering technique can increase that learning by making it possible to gain knowledge about your "very-extended" family. By knowing about your ancestor's immediate family, you can learn more about who they were.

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• Genealogy: Google Tips to Help You Navigate Genealogy Database Websites

  9/20/2013 1:52:00 AM

  The following article is a sample from Barry J. Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History." He is the founder ofMyGenShare.com, an online educational website for genealogy and family history.

  
  

  Genealogy: Google Tips to Help You Navigate Genealogy Database Websites

  As you search the web, much of the data you seek will be gathered into websites like Ancestry.com and RootsWeb.com. These websites incorporate their own search engines to help you effectively explore their various database collections and assets. As you enter a website, our instinct is to type in the surname or individual you seek and hope you find a match. Take the time to find and review search query outlines that have been provided to help maximize their collections. Be aware that most websites have aspects of their organization and design that are unique to searching their collections and would not be effective in a Google search. The following are some tips to help you navigate searching websites that provide genealogical data:
  
  Review the contents of the databases. Throughout the Internet, you will find many websites that promote and offer data collections with the same category headings. If you were to compare the collections side by side, you would find portions of collections that are the same and others that are unique to that website. Sometimes you will find the website does not have any data but merely has a search engine that goes out to other websites and searches their databases.
  
  Whatever the case, it is important to take time to review what makes up the content of the database and where the sources come from so that you can better understand the value of the databases to you-especially if you are getting ready to order a subscription, such as with Ancestry.com. By looking around, you may be able to find exactly what you are looking for on a free site.
  
  Start broad and narrow your search. Whenever I start my search, I will usually start with a general, broad search. Based on what I receive in my search results, I will then use the search logic associated with the particular website search engine to narrow my search.
  
  Starting with a name. The search engine will first look for an exact name match, followed by common variants, misspellings, and nicknames. For example, a search for Bill Smith might return "William Smith," "Wm Smith," "Bill Smith," and "B. Smith."
  
  Filling in the blanks. When you are entering the data for your search, you must have at least the last name. The other fields can be blank. You don't have to fill in all the fields of your query.
  
  Be careful with abbreviations. Search engines find only exact matches. If you have used abbreviations, retype your search string using alternatives-for example, PA, then Penn, then Penn¬sylvania. Avoid abbreviations for descriptive terms (such as Sgt., Co., Reg't., Dr., or Jr.). Do not enter titles (like Dr., Earl, or Queen) or suffixes (3rd, III, or Jr.). Just search for the name without the title and then check the results for the ones you want.
  
  Use of quotation marks " ". Quotation marks are used in searches to denote that you are specifically looking for these words in this order. For example, you are looking for John Lee in Florida, then in your query you would enter John Lee Florida. Chances are, you would receive all the Johns in Lee County, Florida. By using quotations, you are able to make the search more targeted and avoid a lot of unwanted search results. The query now becomes "John Lee" Florida. The search will include results that include both John Lee and Florida.
  
  By using quotation marks, you tell the search engine that you want the words surrounded in quotations to be in exactly the order you have them.
  
  Advanced Search. Whenever possible, use the "advanced search" option. The more information you are able to enter in the search criteria, the better results you are likely to receive. For exam¬ple, by adding a date to your search you will help to narrow the scope. Even if you don't know the exact year, an educated guess in the "date" field will improve your results. The following are a few suggestions of how to improve the advance search:

  • Add a middle name, if you know of one
  • Add a birth or death year
  • Add a birth or death place

  Focus on specific databases. Every time a website like Ancestry.com adds a collection of data-be it records of Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Adams County Census, or a state's marriage records-the new information is being grouped with similar records. Sometimes the collections are kept as separate databases, and sometimes they are folded in with other data. In either case, you are given the opportunity to search within or among databases. After you complete your initial search, you may feel it prudent to narrow your search by focusing on one of these categories. Usually you can choose by clicking on a radio button or choosing from a dropdown box. The type of category groupings you will see include the following:

  • Ancestry Name Search
  • Census Records
  • Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
  • Social Security Death Index
  • Surname Indexes
  • Passenger and Immigration Records
  • Military Records
  • Directories and Members Lists
  • Family and Local Histories
  • Newspapers and Periodicals
  • Family and Local Histories
  • Photos and Maps

  Court, Land, and Probate Records
  

  
  

  Read more great genealogy tips in Barry Ewell's book "Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering your Family History." 
  

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