More Maps and Search Tools - Ireland, Massachusetts, Alberta
Custom search engines are now available here at GenealogyExplore.com for three more locations — Massachusetts, Ireland, and the province of Alberta in Canada.
These custom search tools search across the Web, focusing in on genealogy and family history resources that pertain to a particular country, state or province. Give these search tools a try; we think you’ll be pleased with the relevance of the search results.
In addition, maps annotated with links to research resources are also now available for Alberta, Ireland, and Massachusetts.
Check our Search Tools and Maps sections for lists of the currently available resources.
Maps Added to GenealogyExplore.com
With a compass as this site’s icon, it seemed logical for us here at GenealogyExplore.com to launch some map resources to aid family history researchers. So, that’s precisely what we’ve done.
The growing collection of maps here at GenealogyExplore.com offers family history researchers a resource for finding the towns where their ancestors lived, looking for landmarks that are significant in their families’ history, and for doing many other location-oriented research tasks. The maps are also annotated with links to research tools and resources.
New Genealogy Search Tools - Illinois, Germany, British Columbia
Three new custom genealogy search engines have been added to our collection of custom search tools here are GenealogyExplore.com. The custom search engines — for Illinois, Germany, and British Columbia — are focused on searching genealogy and family history research resources across the Web. These custom search tools are designed to improve the relevance of the search results.
Try our new custom genealogy search tools:
Using Google’s Tools for Your Genealogy Research - Part 3, Annotated Maps
Google’s Maps feature has been a part of the Google search repertoire for awhile now. The availability of this maps feature is surely helpful to family history researchers, as they identify the locations that have relevance to current and past generations of their families.
A more recent addition to the services available through Google is My Maps., a feature with great utility for family history researchers. As explained in the My Maps user guide, this feature enables Google account holders to create maps that are annotated with custom placemarks, text, links, images and videos. The creator of the map can designate the map as a “public” map which can be accessed by others via Google search, or as an “unlisted” map which is available to those to whom the map’s creator provides the map URL.
Using Google’s Tools for Your Genealogy Research - Part 2, iGoogle and More
In a previous post, I discussed signing up for a Google account, and the value of using Gmail as a tool for organizing, collecting and sharing your family history research. Here are some more useful services that are available to Google account holders.
iGoogle, and Google Gadgets: One of the chief benefits of a Google account is the iGoogle start page. By selecting from an array of available modules, or “Google gadgets,” a family history researcher can customize the content of the iGoogle start page to meet the needs of an online researcher. Need a place to jot a few notes about your family history research? There are various “sticky note” gadgets available. Need to compile a research “to-do” list? There are gadgets available for that, too. Calendars, dictionaries, translation tools, your Google bookmarks, RSS feeds, your Gmail account, and more, are all available from your iGoogle start page.
Google Notebook: Another useful feature for researchers is Google Notebook, a tool for clipping and annotating information, links and images from the Web. The Notebook feature is available as a browser extension for Firefox and for Internet Explorer 6. The Notebook feature can also be placed on your iGoogle start page, with the use of a Google gadget. Learn more about Google Notebook here.
Using Google’s Tools for Your Genealogy Research - Part 1, Gmail
The Internet, and the information available online, are wonderful resources for family historians. To make effective use of those abundant online resources, however, family history researchers need tools for gathering information, organizing their collected research, making notes, and retrieving notes and information. We have some suggestions for using the resources made available by Google to assist you in those research tasks.
A variety of useful services are available through a Google account, which Google describes as a “unified sign-in system” that provides access to many free Google products. The first step to making use of these services is to set up a Google account. The sign-up process essentially involves providing an email address, and selecting a password.
Once you’ve established a Google account, you’re ready to try out the available services. In a series of posts, I’m going to be discussing the Google account services that are particularly useful for doing genealogy research, and for compiling and sharing family history.
Our starting point today is Gmail. The value of a Gmail (Google’s email service) to family history researchers lies, first, in the ability to use Google search to search through all emails in the account. This search capability makes it possibile to easily retrieve email conversations.
Genealogy Search - Denmark
We’ve added a custom search engine for Denmark to our collection of search tools.
Denmark Genealogy Search is a custom search tool that searches all across the Web, but centers on sites that are relevant to Danish genealogy and family history.
Give Denmark Genealogy Search a try. Your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.
Genealogy Search Tool for Ontario, Canada
Our list of custom search tools continues to grow with the addition of custom search engine for the province of Ontario in Canada.
The Ontario Genealogy Search engine searches the entire Web, but focuses on sites with a particular relevance to Ontario genealogy and family history.
Genealogy Books - Out of Print, Hard-To-Find
In a previous post, I noted that online research is a useful way to find books published by genealogical and historical societies. Some websites and blogs also make available collections of out of print books that they have unearthed.
One site, Genealogy Books Online, offers a fee-based subscription service to family history researchers. Subscribers may read the collection of genealogy books, family histories, and biographies online. The site’s blog provides information on additions to the collection.
Also available to family history researchers are online collections, such as the works available at Gutenberg.org, of books in the public domain.
Arizona Genealogy Custom Search Engine Is Now Available
Family history researchers should look upon search engines such as Google and Yahoo as their friends, as a valuable tool for uncovering available information about ancestry and genealogy. It is important, though, to be able to search efficiently and productively, and to use the search engines in a way that produces results that are relevant to your research.
There are many ways of fine-tuning the search process — for example, careful choice of search terms, and refining search terms as you proceed with your research. Search engines such as Google also have advanced search options, which allow researchers to limit the search to an exact phrase, to limit the search results to a particular date range, and so on. Read more