Google Books and your ancestors

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:57 am

Here's another Googlebooks idea which I was just playing with.

Go to Google Books. Enter: genealogy + your surname (ie. genealogy Munro) and search. See what you get. Oh my, what a lot of publications on Munro families!

These range from official docuements mentioning Munros to individual's research on their families. Never hurts to see what someone else is doing. It might even end up being a cousin!

You can narrow the results by adding Scotland or another placename after the surname.

Carol

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:12 am

Thanks Carol,

I like that one. My Welsh names would probably be a waste of time and some of my others are adjectives but I have some that are definitely worth checking out.

Alan.

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:28 am

Currie wrote:My Welsh names would probably be a waste of time

Yes, try googling genealogy + price

But thanks, Carol, that's a good idea for our surnames that are not otherwise words in some language!
All the best,
Sarah

wini · Post by **wini** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:49 am

Thanks Carol,

Maybe I will find the my Munros and your Munros do have a connection

wini

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:46 pm

Good morning, everyone!

Alan: I searched genealogy Welsh and came up with Gruffudd Ap Cyman. You might find more than you thought!

Sarah: genealogy price brought 4090 results

Wini: I think that even if you and I divided up the Munros, it would still take us a year to wade through them!

Off to get my second cup of coffee.

Carol

Post by **paddyscar** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:36 pm

Another way to vary your results on any of the search engines, is to go to its foreign sites. If you search Munro one name study on Yahoo UK & Ireland, you get a different display than when you search the same thing on Yahoo Canada. That's not to say you won't get the same 669,000 hits, but that they will probably displayed in a different order.

This was on the first page on Yahoo Canada, but not on Yahoo UK & Ireland
http://www.clanmunroassociation.ca/memberinfo.htm

http://ca.wrs.yahoo.com will give you the international sites, or you can just search the country and the search engine name

Frances

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:12 am

Frances,

It's interesting that the different sites can bring such different results. I went to Yahoo this time and searched genealogy Clerihew and got 572 results. On Google, I got 1500 plus. In both cases, by adding the word "genealogy" I was able to narrow down the results to something workable and I actually found answers on the small family websites to several questions about various Clerihews that the larger sites don't have because they don't have the detailed family notes.

I found one Alexander Clerihew McIntyre who got his middle name from the family minister.

I also found Francis George Smith who was born in NZ but ended up in Scotland and changed his name adding Clerihew. It turns out that his parents died in NZ and he returned to Scotland to be raised by his mother's sister who was married to a Clerihew. When he reached adulthood, he adopted Clerihew as his last name--and inherited a large chunk of money and property! I originally found the legal notice for his name change in the London Times Archives and have been wondering about it ever since.

I'm adding your tip to my tricks to try folder. And here I thought making up a family tree was just a matter of looking up a few certificates....

Carol

ninatoo · Post by **ninatoo** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:10 am

I know it's not books, but I don't think some of those above are either....have a look at this search engine (I have posted it before):

http://www.genealogy-search-help.com/index.html

Nina

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:02 am

Hi Nina,

Missed it before. Thanks for posting it again. Doesn't have to be a book to be a good lead. Legal notices, family websites etc. are just fine with me!

I'll take anything that's a clue!

I tried it out with Clerihew in all their forms. It's interesting because when I google genealogy Clerihew, I get large numbers of results, many of which are irrelevant to me. When I used this form, I didn't get any results until near the very end, then I got a few, one of which was new. It looked like someone had posted the entire 1861 census, but just for Tullynessle. I need to go back and try to find out how he did that because it was nice to be able to look at all of the Clerihew neighbors and their farm names instead of just the few who lived right next door. I recognized several of the names from farther out as people who might have married into the family or been witnesses on various certificates.

Another tip to put into my folder!

Carol

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:01 pm

Nina,

Your tip turned into a gem! See my post Some Aberdeenshire Records and MIs.

I had to do some backing up on the address of the website I found when I was using your google genealogy search engine, but I managed to get to the website containing the census for Tullynessle. Turns out it has more census records and MIs for two cemeteries and it's free!

Carol