From the December,
1997 PC Alamode: |
| Wouldn't it be nice if we could all agree on one place to list the
surnames we were researching? Then, we could go there to see if anyone
else had already found that missing ancestor.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. There are over 50 sites on the World Wide Web that would like to become the "one" place everyone would look. Each one has a unique mix of surnames so you need to look at them all to cover all the bases. The one you miss may be the one that is the vital link in your genealogy. On the Web, these are sometimes called searchable databases. They are computers that hold millions of names. They are connected to a single page on the Internet where you can go and type in a name. The computers will then search their files and display a page or more of matches for you to view. Depending on the site, you can get different kinds of information if there is a match. Some will just give you the name and address of the researcher for you to contact by e-mail or snail mail. It is then up to you to persuade your newfound cousin to share information. Others will allow you to look at lists and charts of a portion of the information right on the Web. You can then go right to work and see if you can confirm the other person's research. You can submit the surnames you are researching to most of these searchable databases. Some even allow you to send a file with all of your ancestors and their descendants. A few have search engine programs (spiders) that look around at homepages on the World Wide Web and index the names they find. I have listed a number of searchable databases at one of my pages on the Web. You can go to http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7576/apr26.html and find some of the searchable database links to search. The one with the most names is Broderbund's Family Tree Maker's Family Finder Index. It claims to have over 147 million people indexed. They say this is "20% of the people who have ever lived in the US".. When you search for a surname you will find hundreds maybe even thousands of that name. You can even find thousands of a common name like John Jones or William Smith. If you do find your ancestor's name the Family Tree Maker folks will offer to sell you the Genealogy CD-ROM with the information on it for about $40.00 (After all this is a commercial site). If you know your way around in computer genealogy, you know that you can go to a library to find the CD-ROM, and look at it for free. For a list of the genealogy CD-ROMs at the San Antonio Public Library and the Austin State Archives Genealogy library see my page: When you do a search for a surname at the Internet Family Finder site you get a list of Web addressees (URLs) that you can click on and go to someone's genealogy homepage that has information on that particular surname. My favorite site is GenServ. It is run by San Antonioian Cliff Manis. Cliff asks you to send him your names as the first requirement to use his site. Since it is an exchange, if you don't contribute your names you can't look at the ones he has collected. (Although you can search to find out if he has any of the surnames you are interested in.) He has recently gone over 10 Million names in the GenServ database. When you find a name at the GenServ site you can look at parts of the pedigree and find out information about the person. You can also find the name of the submitter of the information so you can contact them and get more information from them directly. One of the features about GenServ is that you can use it even if you are not connected to the World Wide Web. You are able to send an e-mail message to get instructions, and then send e-mail messages in the correct format that will automatically return an e-mail message to you with the information. Cliff started GenServ as a free service to help genealogists do their research. It has grown so large that, although he uses a lot of volunteers to help him, he has to make a small charge just to pay for the computers and connection to the Web. First though, you must send in your genealogy in a format called GEDCOM that most computer genealogy programs will make automatically for you. You will get a couple of months free access to the e-mail queries of the database just for sending in your information. After that, you will have to pay $12 a year ($1 a month) or $6 a year (50› a month) if you are over 60 or a student. The fee is required before you can use GenServ's Web access page. There are many other searchable genealogy databases. Check out my favorites at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7576/apr26.html or see Cyndi's list at: http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/database.htm for many more. The Alamo PC Organization's Genealogy Special Interest Group (SIG) discusses some of these sites every first Wednesday of the month at our meeting at 7PM at USAA towers. (See page for directions). To view some of the notes that we use in our classes, go to my web page at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7576 and click on "Other Links" near the bottom of the page. Bob Harris has been a genealogists for 15 years and a computer programmer for 39 years. He is currently a co-leader of the ALamo PC Genealogy Special Interest Group. |