free genealogy search tools page
below are some links and some specialized search boxes - free tools - that i find useful when i'm doing genealogy searches
try them for yourself:
in the search form boxes, simply replace my search terms with your own.
all i've done is collect different advanced search methods into one convenient page for myself.
menu - quick jump
to a particular kind of search:
- ♥ worldconnect
- ♥ us genweb
- ♥ rootsweb search
- ♥ genealogy-flavored google search - general
- ♥ by country
- ♥ by site
- ♥ by excluding a site
- ♥ similar site to a known one
- ♥ surname
- ♥ google directory (genealogy slant)
- ♥news group postings
- ♥ definitions
- ♥ calculate dates
- ♥ current new items
- ♥ pictures or images
- ♥ united states local
- ♥ street map (u.s.)
- ♥ phone listings
- ♥ reverse phone lookups
- ♥ translation
the tried & true genealogy freebies:
-
the worldconnect project at rootsweb is always full of new leads and hints to elusive family members
access the totally free database here
- search the USGenWeb archives digital library (national, all free) here
- use rootsweb's own site-wide search engine (free search and results) here
and then there was GOOGLE...
[all search boxes below return results compliments of GOOGLE]
below is a genealogy-flavored box for generalized genealogy searches:
i'm in love with all the advanced search features google offers. without them, it's especially tricky for me to search for my elusive giles family without having to wade through hundreds of irrelevant hits for
google explains how to set up and conduct your own special searches here and here
the search boxes below are simply advanced google searches.
as they appear now, some of the boxes demonstrate keywords i might choose to conduct that particular search. my choices are intended as samples only. as you will for every search you conduct here, simply click in the search box to enter your own keywords, surnames, locations, etc. or to access a drop-down menu of options.
- you can begin by widening (or narrowing) your search
to a specific country, if you'd like
- look in a particular site or try excluding a particular site
- look for similar sites to one you've found useful
- look for websites centering around a particular surname
- look for current names in google's
directory - uses a genealogy focus
- try looking in news group postings
- define a genealogy or history term
- calculate ages or dates with google
hint: if you use a minus sign, you may also find this search useful for date ranges which will normally show up in the results beneath the calculator's calculation
- look in the current news
hint: to find current newspaper obituaries by surname, try entering a state as your "keyword" here
if you like your results, try google's news alerts via e-mail feature
- try looking for family pictures, so you can write & ask about it hint - never link directly to someone else's online image for your own page.... that is stealing someone else's bandwidth
- try narrowing your search to a particular
place
(united states local)
- try
looking at a current street map
hint: the address in the box belonged to william morgan & cora pickens (ellis) giles
hint: use the zoom out option to get a better idea of the area as a whole
- look
in u.s. phone book listings to see if possible family members
may still
reside in your ancestors' area
- have
an address and want more information? try a reverse
lookup
- try this if you need
help translating some text
hint: if you translate your received translations back into the original language and then back again, you might clarify
terms or jargon that might be throwing off or skewing the translation
-
enter a web page url to translate an
entire web page
from