google searches tip

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jj206

google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 04 mar 2007 10:56:05

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing family tree searches for a year now.
I started young thankfully. (38) Anyway, one of my
ways of searching is with http://www.google.com But today I
realized I am not searching as best I can. I normally
have been searching for relatives by using first name first.
(I use quotes.)

"Joshia Miller"

But today I looked at a family tree website and noticed
that the last name was listed first.

"Miller, Joshia"

So now I am slowly going through my 1,007 people in my
family tree using the reverse of what I was normally doing.

Anyway, just thought I would share that in case others
did not think of it.

good luck,

Jonathan

Steve Hayes

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 04 mar 2007 12:26:03

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:56:05 -0800, jj206
<jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing family tree searches for a year now.
I started young thankfully. (38) Anyway, one of my
ways of searching is with http://www.google.com But today I
realized I am not searching as best I can. I normally
have been searching for relatives by using first name first.
(I use quotes.)

"Joshia Miller"

But today I looked at a family tree website and noticed
that the last name was listed first.

"Miller, Joshia"

So now I am slowly going through my 1,007 people in my
family tree using the reverse of what I was normally doing.

If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.


--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Hugh Watkins

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 04 mar 2007 15:58:08

Steve Hayes wrote:

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:56:05 -0800, jj206
jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote:


Hi Everyone,

I have been doing family tree searches for a year now.
I started young thankfully. (38) Anyway, one of my
ways of searching is with http://www.google.com But today I
realized I am not searching as best I can. I normally
have been searching for relatives by using first name first.
(I use quotes.)

"Joshia Miller"

But today I looked at a family tree website and noticed
that the last name was listed first.

"Miller, Joshia"

So now I am slowly going through my 1,007 people in my
family tree using the reverse of what I was normally doing.


If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.


read the advanced search tips on google

http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/refinesearch.html


useful to us

1855..1865

Numrange search

Feel like a number? Numrange searches for results containing numbers in
a given range. Just add two numbers, separated by two periods, with no
spaces, into the search box along with your search terms. You can use
Numrange to set ranges for everything from dates ( Willie Mays
1950..1960) to weights ( 5000..10000 kg truck). But be sure to specify a
unit of measurement or some other indicator of what the number range
represents.

Hugh W




--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

jj206

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 04 mar 2007 23:04:37

Steve Hayes wrote:
On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:56:05 -0800, jj206
jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I have been doing family tree searches for a year now.
I started young thankfully. (38) Anyway, one of my
ways of searching is with http://www.google.com But today I
realized I am not searching as best I can. I normally
have been searching for relatives by using first name first.
(I use quotes.)

"Joshia Miller"

But today I looked at a family tree website and noticed
that the last name was listed first.

"Miller, Joshia"

So now I am slowly going through my 1,007 people in my
family tree using the reverse of what I was normally doing.

If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.

Not likely.

Jonathan

Jim Elbrecht

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Jim Elbrecht » 05 mar 2007 13:23:18

Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-
If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.

But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000


A trick I've used on occasion with some of my less common names is to
search for a couple related surnames, and throw in the word genealogy.

Search; Miller Elbrecht genealogy = 54 hits

[cool! Miller isn't one of my names-- but 'elbrecht & genealogy'
led me to a link to an Elbrecht cousin's new site- and a gravestone
transcription of an aunt's 1st husband! --- and about 20 of my old
queries & posts.]

Note that there are a growing number of sites that don't give search
engines the right to index them. None of the big ones come to mind
offhand, but I remember thinking there should be someone of one of my
surnames on a site- and the site's own search engine revealed them-
but Google, Yahoo & Jeeves[?] didn't find them.

Jim

Steve Hayes

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 05 mar 2007 21:49:47

On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:23:18 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote:

Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-
If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.

But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000

Nevertheless, the most relevant hits will generally be on the first few pages.


--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

jj206

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 06 mar 2007 11:05:41

Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:23:18 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote:

Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-
If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.
But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000

Nevertheless, the most relevant hits will generally be on the first few pages.

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

Jonathan

Henry Brownlee

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Henry Brownlee » 06 mar 2007 16:40:10

"jj206" <jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote in message
news:1173175527.569531@bubbleator.drizzle.com...
SNIP

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia
not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

Jonathan

Looks like Joshia is in itself a misspelling of Josiah. Try looking
for that.

--
Henry F. Brownlee
Hunting Forebears

Steve Hayes

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 06 mar 2007 20:06:17

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 02:05:41 -0800, jj206
<jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote:

Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:23:18 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote:

Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-
If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.
But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000

Nevertheless, the most relevant hits will generally be on the first few pages.

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

It wouldn't matter if his name was Rumpelstiltskin, the [principle is the
same.


--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

jj206

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 06 mar 2007 23:52:01

Henry Brownlee wrote:
"jj206" <jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote in message
news:1173175527.569531@bubbleator.drizzle.com...
SNIP

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia
not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

Jonathan

Looks like Joshia is in itself a misspelling of Josiah. Try looking
for that.

Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is wrong.
I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I mean, I
found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it was a
very rare name. But it looks like those 14 websites are all typos or
just people copying and pasting other people's typos. Thanks for
clearing that up, Henry. Good news ! (^:

cheers,

Jonathan

clifto

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av clifto » 07 mar 2007 00:29:08

jj206 wrote:
Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is wrong.
I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I mean, I
found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it was a
very rare name.

I have several people in my database whose first names are almost always
spelled wrong on documents and even in other people's data. I have one
person whose name is wrong on every single public document available,
if you believe the spelling of her name on her funeral card, which was
provided by her immediate family. (The family stands by the spelling,
and the people who did the public documents aren't jumping out of the
woodwork to claim otherwise.) I can stick out my chest and proclaim
that I have the true correct spelling for all the world to hear, but
it doesn't help me find the public documents about her.

But it looks like those 14 websites are all typos or
just people copying and pasting other people's typos.

I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.
Having only fourteen web sites copy the same erroneous data is small
potatoes.

You're not required to accept Henry's suggestion that available documents
may show Josiah instead of Joshia. Feel free to miss out on such data
all you like. As for me, I take some pretty extraordinary measures to
work around potential misspellings.

--
Martians drive SUVs! <http://oregonmag.com/MarsWarm307.html>

Celia Mitschelen

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Celia Mitschelen » 07 mar 2007 00:55:38

"clifto" <clifto@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:53a1c4-fcq.ln1@remote.clifto.com...
jj206 wrote:
I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.

Since when has the census been considered an authoritative reference???

Celia

Henry Brownlee

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Henry Brownlee » 07 mar 2007 05:12:51

"jj206" <jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote in message
news:1173221503.873110@bubbleator.drizzle.com...

Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is
wrong.
I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I mean, I
found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it was a
very rare name. But it looks like those 14 websites are all typos
or
just people copying and pasting other people's typos. Thanks for
clearing that up, Henry. Good news ! (^:

cheers,

Jonathan

You're welcome. BTW, I could give you some instances where family
bibles were indeed wrong, but it seems it would be just a waste of
effort.

Henry F. Brownlee
Hunting Forebears

Huntersglenn

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Huntersglenn » 07 mar 2007 05:58:49

Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:23:18 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote:


Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-

If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.

But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000


Nevertheless, the most relevant hits will generally be on the first few pages.

Not always. I used the name of one of my husband's ancestors, William
Eisberg, and had when searching without quotes had 37,800 hits. After
looking at the first 10 pages, I gave up, because there's nothing there
on him. Now, putting quotes around his name gave me 17 hits, and the
ancestor is in the first 3 (not our web site, but the information is
from my husband's research).

Cathy

Huntersglenn

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Huntersglenn » 07 mar 2007 06:01:05

clifto wrote:


I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.
Having only fourteen web sites copy the same erroneous data is small
potatoes.


I'd accept the family Bible spelling over the census spelling any day of
the week. Enumerators have been known to get creative in ways that
confuse me, whereas the mother and father generally are pretty sure
about what they name(d) their children. The spelling might not be what
a court clerk or enumerator would use, but I'd find it more valid and
'true' than what is on the official documents.

As for your other point, I quite agree. There's nothing more irritating
than seeing the same inaccurate information repeated over and over
because a researcher didn't check re-check, or ignored corrections sent
by the original researcher, or in the case of family books, the author
didn't bother to look at the original documents. I've got an ancestress
who was left out when one author/researcher was naming off the children
listed in her father's will, and the author of a later book just
accepted that. The will was quite easy to find in the courthouse, and
her name is very clearly there, but anyone using those two books (and
who later references them in their own work without looking at the
original documents) is always going to overlook the woman.

Cathy

clifto

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av clifto » 07 mar 2007 08:39:37

Huntersglenn wrote:
clifto wrote:
I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.
Having only fourteen web sites copy the same erroneous data is small
potatoes.

I'd accept the family Bible spelling over the census spelling any day of
the week. Enumerators have been known to get creative in ways that
confuse me, whereas the mother and father generally are pretty sure
about what they name(d) their children. The spelling might not be what
a court clerk or enumerator would use, but I'd find it more valid and
'true' than what is on the official documents.

Same for me and the funeral card. The people who gave the information
given on that card knew a whole lot more about the decedent than anyone
doing paperwork on her.

As for your other point, I quite agree. There's nothing more irritating
than seeing the same inaccurate information repeated over and over
because a researcher didn't check re-check, or ignored corrections sent
by the original researcher, or in the case of family books, the author
didn't bother to look at the original documents.

I started my work with a lot of information from other people's work.
But in every case and for every single person in my database, I have
tried (and nearly always succeeded) in finding at least one documentary
source from which to verify (and/or correct) the information I got from
others' work. I am at least slightly suspicious of any data I haven't
found documented through some other means.

--
Martians drive SUVs! <http://oregonmag.com/MarsWarm307.html>

clifto

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av clifto » 07 mar 2007 09:15:27

Celia Mitschelen wrote:
"clifto" <clifto@gmail.com> wrote...
I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.

Since when has the census been considered an authoritative reference???

Addie is said to have died in 1903, her children being raised from there
by her sister Mary. Alphonsine supposedly moved to Texas.

1920 census shows Addie in Texas with her husband and children. Mary is
found back in Louisiana with kids whose names are identical to the names
of Alphonsine's kids and whose ages are all consistent with being
Alphonsine's kids; Alphonsine is not in evidence and her husband is
listed as widowed.

It's enough to please me until something better comes along.

--
Martians drive SUVs! <http://oregonmag.com/MarsWarm307.html>

Steve Hayes

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 07 mar 2007 11:16:06

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:58:49 -0500, Huntersglenn <huntersglenn@cox.net> wrote:

Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:23:18 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote:


Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

-snip-

If you type joshua miller without the quotes it will find both.

But it will also find every page with Joshua Smith, the miller- and a
million other false hits.

Search; "Joshua Miller" = 96,500hits
search; "Miller, Josh" = 26, 800
Search ; miller joshua = 1,420,000


Nevertheless, the most relevant hits will generally be on the first few pages.

Not always. I used the name of one of my husband's ancestors, William
Eisberg, and had when searching without quotes had 37,800 hits. After
looking at the first 10 pages, I gave up, because there's nothing there
on him. Now, putting quotes around his name gave me 17 hits, and the
ancestor is in the first 3 (not our web site, but the information is
from my husband's research).

I've generally found that if you enter two or more search terms, the first
results displayed show them adjacent or in proximity, who the ones further
down have them separated. But it dfepnds on how common each of the names are,
and one can use different search strategies.

For example, my great grandfather was William Allen Hayes. If I type William
Allen Hayes, with no quotes, he comes up on the third entry, where is is
listed as Hayes, William Allen -- like this:

Untitled Document
After his death, his law partner William Allen Hayes (1783-1851) took over his
practice. Hayes was born in North Yarmouth, according to the 1880 "History of
....
http://www.obhs.net/HayesHouse.html - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

William Allen (governor) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other persons named William Allen, see William Allen ... William Allen is
one of Ohio's statues donated to the National Statuary Collection. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Allen_(governor) - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
Genealogy Data

Hayes, Percy Wynn Birth : 4 AUG 1874 Bedminster, Somerset Death : 6 MAY 1948
Paulpietersburg, Natal Gender: Male Parents:. Father: Hayes, William Allen ...
http://www.geocities.com/athens/7734/dat34.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages
F


THat's out of about 1540000 possible entries

If you look at page 10, they key words are more widely separated. So the most
relevant results still tend to be at the top.


--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Gene Y.

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Gene Y. » 07 mar 2007 13:54:07

jj206 wrote:
Henry Brownlee wrote:
"jj206" <jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote in message
news:1173175527.569531@bubbleator.drizzle.com...
SNIP

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia
not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

Jonathan

Looks like Joshia is in itself a misspelling of Josiah. Try looking
for that.

Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is wrong.
I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I mean, I
found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it was a
very rare name. But it looks like those 14 websites are all typos or
just people copying and pasting other people's typos. Thanks for
clearing that up, Henry. Good news ! (^:

cheers,

Jonathan
You are also overlooking "Josiah".


Gene Y.
Researching Young, Zies, Harer & Cox.

Hugh Watkins

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 07 mar 2007 19:09:09

clifto wrote:

jj206 wrote:

Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is wrong.
I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I mean, I
found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it was a
very rare name.


I have several people in my database whose first names are almost always
spelled wrong on documents and even in other people's data. I have one
person whose name is wrong on every single public document available,
if you believe the spelling of her name on her funeral card, which was
provided by her immediate family. (The family stands by the spelling,
and the people who did the public documents aren't jumping out of the
woodwork to claim otherwise.) I can stick out my chest and proclaim
that I have the true correct spelling for all the world to hear, but
it doesn't help me find the public documents about her.


But it looks like those 14 websites are all typos or
just people copying and pasting other people's typos.


I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,
such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.
Having only fourteen web sites copy the same erroneous data is small
potatoes.

You're not required to accept Henry's suggestion that available documents
may show Josiah instead of Joshia. Feel free to miss out on such data
all you like. As for me, I take some pretty extraordinary measures to
work around potential misspellings.


there is no such thing as a "correct" spelling in english

There is no Academy in UK or USA to lay down rules

We only have usage - and let the most popular win :-)

EG
colour or color ?

both are correct

John or Jon or even Jan all from Johannes

in genealogy use the oldest form recorded
maiden names rule OK
and record he variants


Hugh W

--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Hugh Watkins

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 07 mar 2007 20:29:52

Celia Mitschelen wrote:

"clifto" <clifto@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:53a1c4-fcq.ln1@remote.clifto.com...

jj206 wrote:

I have two families that a famous genealogist confused for each other,

such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.


Since when has the census been considered an authoritative reference???

never

it is mostly a secondary source
a copy of copy
or worse if a transcription

think of census data as a road to knowledge
but never as a destination

Hug W

--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

jj206

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 10 mar 2007 11:30:18

Gene Y. wrote:
jj206 wrote:
Henry Brownlee wrote:
"jj206" <jj206@remoooooooooooovethisdrizzle.com> wrote in message
news:1173175527.569531@bubbleator.drizzle.com...
SNIP

Errrr, my point was that the relative I was looking for is Joshia
not
Joshua like you both misspelled. (^:

Jonathan

Looks like Joshia is in itself a misspelling of Josiah. Try looking
for that.

Oh my goodness, sorry Henry, I can't believe the family bible is
wrong. I was wondering why I could not find much info on Joshia ! I
mean, I found 14 google hits with "Joshia Miller" so I just figured it
was a very rare name. But it looks like those 14 websites are all
typos or just people copying and pasting other people's typos. Thanks
for clearing that up, Henry. Good news ! (^:

cheers,

Jonathan
You are also overlooking "Josiah".

Gene Y.
Researching Young, Zies, Harer & Cox.

Thank you Gene for that. Much appreciated.

Jonathan

jj206

Re: google searches tip

Legg inn av jj206 » 10 mar 2007 11:34:53

Hugh Watkins wrote:
Celia Mitschelen wrote:
"clifto" <clifto@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:53a1c4-fcq.ln1@remote.clifto.com...

such that every other web site or source copies the errors. I appear to
be the only person with the correct data, as verified by census pages.

Since when has the census been considered an authoritative reference???

never


I slightly disagree. I have found that the census
is only authoritative to me, if the relative who
I am searching for is also the enumerator for that
district. (^:

Jonathan

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