From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter June 20, 2013
One of the greatest genealogy resources available today is the huge
collection of digitized genealogy and family history publications from
the archives of some of the most important family history libraries in
the world. When I travel to various genealogy conferences and societies,
I am often amazed at how many genealogists are unaware of these free
resources. Not only are the books and other publications available free
of charge, you don't even have to pay for gas to visit these libraries!
These digital books are available at:
Google Books
Archive.org
Allen County Public Library
Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library
LDS Church History Library
Family History Library
Houston Public Library - Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
Mid-Continent Public Library - Midwest Genealogy Center
[MOST OF THE COLLECTION can be searched by clicking here]
The menus and the search methods will obviously vary from one site to
another. However, a few minutes spent exploring each site's holdings
could pay big dividends.
I will say that most newcomers search
only for names. In fact, I'll admit that I do the same on my first
search on a new web site and I suspect a lot of other experienced
genealogists do the same. However, after exhausting the search for
names, most experienced genealogists start looking for other search
terms. I always look for locations. Many times, I have been successful
at finding some tidbit about an ancestor by searching for the county or
the town in which he or she lived, even after a search for the person's
name produced no results at all.
One of my more successful
searches came from searching for the name of the small town in which my
great-great-grandparents lived. I knew he was a farmer so I searched for
his name plus the name of the small town in which they lived. I was
rewarded with a scanned digital booklet of only 42 pages, printed in
1842, that listed all the farmers in the county, along with a detailed
description of the farm and even the assessed value of the property. It
listed the total acreage of their property, the number of acres under
cultivation, the number of acres of woodlands, the number of barns and
outbuildings, how many head of cattle, sheep, and swine that they owned,
and even the number of chickens. It also listed the crops they sold. I
learned a lot more about my great-great-grandparents in that small
booklet than I ever found in census records!
When searching old
books and other printed information, you have to be creative. You should
search not only for locations, but also for fraternal organizations,
religious affiliations, veterans' organizations, labor unions, and
anything else you can think of.
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