© Lorine McGinnis Schulze
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml
We
all love Search engines -- "Oh boy, I can type in my ancestor's
name and in 30 seconds I'll know if he's on this site!" Not
so.....
in fact, I reluctantly set up a Search engine on Olive
Tree Genealogy. I hear you gasping "What??? How can I find
my ancestors without a search engine, why wouldn't you want
one on your site??" I didn't want one because researchers
often skip over the data and just type a name or two in a
search engine. When they get no results, they leave, disappointed.
But why did they get no results? Are there really no records
on their ancestor? OR, did they miss them? 90% of the time,
the visitor missed that sought-after ancestor. They also missed
my new (free) databases and my Resource Guides.
Why
does this happen? Partially it's because of how the free databases
are put online for you. I don't change the original records.
They go online exactly as written. If the document records
your ancestor John Aloysius Simpson as "Jno. Simson" that
is how you will find it on Olive Tree Genealogy. I don't change
it to what I think the name is. Most of you will search for
"John Simpson" because you know that is his name! Will you
think to try variant spellings? Will you think to try abbreviations
or alternate names such as Jno., Jonathan, J. J.A.? What if
he were recorded under his middle name instead of his first?
Will you type that into the search engine?
How about the name that I can't read on the original document
- the one I have to record as Si[?]. Will you find that by
using a search engine? I doubt it - but you'd have spotted
it and recognized it as yours IF you browsed the databses
- because then you'd have seen his first name, his age, his
occupation and his place of origin. But you will only spot
that on a browse (hunt) through the site pages.
Remember too that spelling wasn't exact in previous centuries.
It depended upon the education and cultural background of
the person recording that name. It also depended on what they
heard! So Simpson may be written as Simson or Sympson or Symmson
or.....even Samson or Sampson. If I or a volunteer misread
the entry and though that the S was an L, that will really
throw off search engine results!
No search engine is perfect. No transcriber is perfect. Researcher
need to find the best way to use specific search engines (read
the Help instructions, every search engine is different, be
sure you know what the search engine allows for a query and
how you must enter the words) Don't treat Search engines as
the ultimate answer to your quest. They aren't. Use them,
but then take the time to do a thorough browse of the data
on a site. The search engines for Olive Tree Genealogy are
at the bottom of each page - there are two. One searches for
Olive Tree Genealogy Ships Passenger Lists, the other searches
everything else on my site.
© Lorine McGinnis Schulze of The Olive Tree Genealogy at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml Article may be copied as long as identifying information and link to website is left intact
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