Google Your Ancestors

It may seem like a waste of time for those with a precise research plan or at best a "shot in the dark," but I have come across some jewels of information in my family history research simply by using Google.

You don't need to know some secret bit of techological how-to to use this research tool. Like any other thing you might be looking up on google, you can just type in the google search bar the name of the ancestor you are looking for. This works if the name is very unusual like Zilpha Harvey.

For more common names, something like John Williams, put the name in quotation marks and add a date and location. If you are just trying to find anything on the guy put in the birth date. This prevents your having to week through hits on John William from 1988. If you are looking specifically for an illusive death location or marriage location then put in a date around the time of those events. You can also narrow down the results by putting in a location either with a date or without, if you know one. Your entry would look like ..."William Martin" 1799 South Carolina.

I've also stumbled on to information by just putting in an unusual surname with no first name in an effort to locate early residence of a particular family. For example the entry "Brabham" led me to the "Buford Bridge, Barnwell County, South Carolina" where there are Brabhams still living. I took this desperate measure when I could not pick up the trail of my ggg-grandfather Rueben Brabham who showed up in Dallas County, Alabama in 1820 from some unknown place.

By going to the http://www.usgenweb.org/ and searching for Barnwell County South Carolina, I found that this family settled there in the early 1700's. Further research led to a family tree with Reuben listed and the note "went to Alabama; unknown location."
Content copyrighted 2009 by Susie Williams

Questions or for more information, advise or to share yours contact me at itsfamilyresearch09@gmail.com