October 20, 2009
The steady flow of newspapers, records and documents going online on GenealogyBank gives family historians a lot to search and comb through.
These newspapers and documents were published over the past 3 centuries – so sometimes it takes a little detective work to find our ancestors.
Here are a few tips:
1. First search for the person by name. Put in the person’s last name and first name. Examine the results and see if you are able to quickly spot your relative. I had a person write me and ask why he couldn’t find his relative Gayla Marie Jackson. By repeating the search & using only the first name: Gayla and last name: Jackson – her obituary came right up. TIP: Limit your search to only the first name and the surname.
1. First search for the person by name. Put in the person’s last name and first name. Examine the results and see if you are able to quickly spot your relative. I had a person write me and ask why he couldn’t find his relative Gayla Marie Jackson. By repeating the search & using only the first name: Gayla and last name: Jackson – her obituary came right up. TIP: Limit your search to only the first name and the surname.
2. If you don’t find a person after the first or second attempt – step back and search on just the surname and slowly add additional facts.
I recently helped a person with the surname: Suárez.
Clearly that is a common surname and will produce too many hits – over 27,000 articles and records. So repeat the search and limit by the year of death. I did that for Suárez 1934 and was able to quickly spot his relatives. Funeral del joven Ricardo Suárez – Prensa (TX) 25 Aug 1940.
We have very few genealogists that write us saying that they cannot find their relatives but we are here to help. If you’re not finding your relatives – alert me right away at: gbfeedback@genealogybank.com. Let me see what I can do to help you uncover your relatives and document your family tree.
We want you to have success in documenting your family and wish you all the best in using GenealogyBank.
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