This isn’t always true of course, and you’ll miss a lot of results this way, but when looking for discussions about a person, biographies or in-depth data it can be a very helpful trick.
Want more advanced Google search tricks? Discover where you came from through photos, stories, historical documents, and so much more. Thanks so much for these hints to “Search smsrter not harder”.
Discover where you came from, and get to know who you are. This is hugely helpful if you are looking for birth, marriage or death records (or any date based source) but don’t know the exact date of an event. Use “James Wilcox” or “Wilcox, James” to limit results (remember that many genealogy related sites place the last name first). MyHeritage - Family tree, DNA & ancestry search, By purchasing this item, you are transacting with Google Payments and agreeing to the Google Payments. Just add DATE..DATE to your search box to accomplish this (two periods in between the dates like this 1900..1910). This App is specially designed to work with Heredis 2020 family tree software.
Today, many genealogists use Google for their genealogy internet and surname queries, and for good reason. Any more tips like this most welcome. It would be even better if Google would release a proper search interface for its own newspaper archive (https://news.google.com/newspapers) that provides results further back than 1982!
Try this search to locate resources in the library containing specific family information.
This is one of the best and most underused Google search tips for genealogists.
Your email address will not be published. However if you wish to ELIMINATE full sites or even domains, here’s the operator to use. Search.
Many people in my classes will say, “I didn’t know you could use Google for genealogy research!” And all 6 of these hints (and more) can do wonders. Thank you I did not know any of this but I did know that was some means of reducing the amount of hits that you get when you search on google. Register to get access to the lessons now, Google Image Search for Genealogy help article, Illogical Dates, Missing Parents, Bastardy Bonds: What to Do If Your Ancestors Were Born Out of Wedlock, 7 Expert Ancestry Hacks You Need to Try Today, How to Find and Use the Unique, Early U.S. Censuses of 1790 to 1830, 10 Things You Should Never Do With an Old Photo + What to Do Instead, http://jahcmft.blogspot.com/2015/11/noteworthy-reads-24.html.
Here’s the real power of the already mentioned SITE query.
Genealogy research, made easy!
I will serve me well when searching for my ancestors etc
Most of us use Google search to look for our ancestors on a regular basis. AncestryDNA is a cutting edge DNA testing service that utilizes some of the latest autosomal testing technology to revolutionize the way you discover your family history. I ordered the book immediately. This includes subscription websites like Ancestry.com and FindMyPast. Anytime you put multiple words in quotes, you will get more specific information. One of the most frustrating things about searching for ancestors in Google is that, while the engine will search an entire page for your terms, your terms may not have any association to each other.
Very useful. With the Ancestry® app you can explore and collect your family stories anytime, anywhere.
Free BMD – If you have ancestors from England or Wales, Free BMD may help you find birth, marriage, or death records. I was following lead after lead until 2:00am! We’ll have to see if we can find her maiden name on any sites so we can see if those people are related to us. Legacy Family Tree (Software for PC) LiveRoots (Genealogy Search Engine) MacFamilyTree (Software for Mac) Mocavo: Genealogy Search Engine This will bring up only pages that include one or all of the dates 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838 and 1839.
After typing in an ancestor’s name and a few details we often find that we’ve turned up hundreds or thousands of results, and most of them are irrelevant. Preserve and share precious family memories for generations to come. And gradually your family story becomes clearer.
It is entirely possible, for example, to find the exact names, dates and other details you’re looking for — but not in relation to each other in any way. The hint could reveal a new name to search or even a new ancestor to add to your tree. View the hint, and save it to your tree. If anyone needs assistance feel free to contact us directly. Thanks for this information. We hope these ‘secret’ tips help you in your Google genealogy searches! Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for. This archive was acquired, in part, from Paper of Record in the early 2000s, with the promise that it would be offered as a searchable database. I have been working on him for two decades, and there is a freakin’ book! However, there is a way to ask Google to find terms near each other! I’m very unhappy to hear of the upcoming changes.
As mentioned early on in this article, that can cause major problems for genealogists since many pages include long lists of dates and names. Sue G, I know lot tricks, but lot people don’t them, Google right to know all of searchers, but so much easy this way.
Preserve and share precious family memories for generations to come.
Since the Google search engine went live in September 1999, it has changed the way people search the web.
Or, when searching for a surname, to find articles centered around that specific last name. When you type in a name like James Wilcox, Google will search the entire title and text of pages for those terms.
I don’t care to be related to Jesse James! Unsubscribe at any time. -site:ancestry.com blocks all ancestry results from your search.
What will you discover about your family’s past?
Build a family tree & unravel your ancestry. Required fields are marked *. Awesome find! Great information- no wonder I was struggling. site:loc.gov sorrel “new iberia” This is to locate all references to sorrel (family NOT horse) with references to the city of New Iberia, LA. The woman in the picture looks so much like my mother that I had to click in and see where the photo was taken!
Oftentimes when we are searching for ancestors, especially those with common names, we may find that a certain person or location we’re NOT looking for turns up again and again, clouding our results.
I would like to know how I can go about saving the information I have on both sites.
Thank you for sharing these tips! You can use the -site: as many times as you like in the query.
Please try again.
Using Google in Genealogy Searches. You are searching for ancestors in France, but your search returns information from the UK which is of no use. We do not charge a fee unless we locate the party you are searching for.
• The records are protected behind a firewall and cannot be searched by Google. Discover where you came from through photos, stories, historical documents, and so much more. Typing in an ancestor’s name—or a surname and a place, or an ethnic group and a place—can lead to obituaries, background information, and other unexpected discoveries. The minus sign can be placed in front of many terms to further refine results ( -dunbar -somerset -1907) or term strings (-“Wilcox, James Robinson”). Build a family tree & unravel your ancestry.
Genealogy research, made easy! Luckily, Google is a pretty smart search engine and can help you reveal just what you’re looking for — if you know the ‘secrets.’.
Below we have walked you through 6 of these hidden search tips that will help you locate your ancestors much more quickly. These are really helpful search tips most of which I haven’t used before and look forward to trying.
MyHeritage - Family tree, DNA & ancestry search, 23andMe - DNA Testing : Health & Ancestry, Cookies help us deliver our services. I wanted to let you know that I’ve included this post in my Noteworthy Reads for this week: http://jahcmft.blogspot.com/2015/11/noteworthy-reads-24.html. I am hoping that you might have an article on illegal immigrants.
The more you add, the more hints you get. We are using an example ancestor — James Wilcox, married to Mahala and born in 1837 — to illustrate each trick. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies, By purchasing this item, you are transacting with Google Payments and agreeing to the Google Payments.
Congratulations on finally finding something so significant! Note: Sometimes when you apply these operators, especially if you do so several times in a row, Google may check to make sure you’re a real person and not a computer by transferring you to a captcha verification page. Just make sure that the minus sign is placed directly before the term with no space in between. I certainly do appreciate them.
Many extraneous results from ancestry always adds to the clutter you must sort through. I hope you will lend your voice to have Google fix this. site:loc.gov and simply add the term you wish to find.
Use the back door approach. so far my findmypast search is going great but there are a couple that I can’t find, nell. We won't send you spam. Very odd.
Billions of free genealogy records are available online, you just need to know how to find them. This is an app that allows you to make family trees. Every individual Social Security Account is listed in several ways in the Social Security Board Records Office. Oh good, not just me then! For those who may not have spent a great deal of time searching Google for family history, we’ve included 3 important and somewhat common tricks, as well as the more advanced tricks in our list. Explore the hint to learn something new.
My daughter in-laws mother immigrated from So. You can often find the book and the passage with the info regarding your ancestor.
Why does google find these search strings so suspicious that it keeps asking me to prove I’m not a bot? Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. This works to exclude specific sites as well (-rootsweb). These are great tips! I shall try the “Virtue Family” option but feel that this will definately limit a lot of good stuff. I have the same problem with a maternal ancestor’s surname “Standing” whst I do is type surname:Standing … so, no gaps either side of :
Very helpful! Discover where you came from through photos, stories, historical documents, and so much more. Most of us use Google search to look for our ancestors on a regular basis.
Register to get access to the lessons now. Discover how to build your best family tree with our online courses. Get two full weeks of free access to more than 12 billion genealogy records right now.
Thanks for any info.
Nell Rose I fine out that this very interesting I new some of this but a little I miss and good luck on your tree. Let’s eliminate results from ancestry to narrow the information.
Enter AROUND(1) between terms to do this.