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  1. #1
    thecouch
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    Default Finding a needle in a 'Google' search!

    Good morning all,

    Just thought I'd share what I think is a pretty neat success story. Each day I do little bit of 'Google' searching for some of the many family names I am researching - unfortunately most days I don't have too much success. Yesterday I thought I'd 'google' the name of my great grandmother's sister - Sidney Mary Veech. I had done searches for her in the past and had come up with very little. Well to my surprise, up comes a very recent item (posted Apr 2010) of an antique dealer selling the actual marriage certificate of Sidney Mary Veech and John Nelson Henry...my great-grandmother's sister! The amazing part of this story is that they were married October 30, 1888 - so it makes the certificate over a 120 years old! Truly a needle in a haystack situation in my mind. By all accounts, the certificate is in very good shape and I should receive it in a couple of days by post.

    Hopefully this small success story helps to encourage a family historian to not just search for a family member once but often - you just never know what may pop up on any given day!

    I am in my 'happy place' today!!

    Cheers,
    thecouch

  2. #2
    A fountain of knowledge pejay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    lincoln, lincolnshire
    Posts
    356

    Default

    Hello thecouch - congratulations are in order, yes it is an inspiration for all of us, when we come across those brickwalls etc, I think I will just go and google for 5mins
    pejay

  3. #3
    holliegavin
    Guest

    Default

    Wow what a fantastic story!

  4. #4
    v.wells
    Guest

    Default

    Wow, thecouch! Who would have thought you'd find a marriage cert for sale ! Great stuff and an inspiration to us all, not to give up!

  5. #5
    thecouch
    Guest

    Default

    Vanessa you're right! Who knew? I would never have guessed in a million years something like an original marriage certificate would surface - especially of one so old! In any case, I am eager to have it in my possession and to share with other extended family members. A really neat footnote to this story is that the person with whom I am dealing was just selling it for a friend and this friend could very well have some more family documents from the same place from where the marriage certificate came. So stay tuned...this success story could get even better.

    Cheers,
    Caroline

  6. #6
    Lizzy9
    Guest

    Default

    After reading this thread I decided to chance my luck, and wowee!!!!!!!!!!!! would you believe I found a site with a photo of my gggrandfather's sister and some of her descendants', I couldn't believe it! Absolutely amazing, I quickly sent an email with link to the site, to the said lady's 3 x grandau in New Zealand, who will be gobsmacked.

    Thank you so much thecouch for sharing your success story, and congratulations on your find. Well done.


  7. #7
    thecouch
    Guest

    Smile

    Gobsmacked indeed!!! (what a great word!)

    That's so cool for you Lizzy9!! Congratulations on your find! Doesn't it feel great! Hearing your search success makes me feel really good that I shared my small success!

    Good on you and thanks for sharing your success!


  8. #8
    Dalensue
    Guest

    Default

    Thank you for sharing these stories; they are brilliant!
    Earlier this year, I found some wonderful articles in "The Gentleman's Magazine" from the 1820's which mentioned the marriage of my 3rd Great Grandfather, the only son of....my 4th GGF! Then, a law book from the USA mentioned a court case in which my 5th & 6th GGparents were involved!

    I now Google as an integral part of my research and have learned to narrow searches using search strings. For example, if I am searching for Matthew Stanfield Dalby of Derbyshire, I might search:

    "Matthew Stanfield Dalby" +Derbyshire
    or
    "Stanfield Dalby" +Derby

    Anyway, good luck with your own research and thanks again for sharing this inspirational story.

  9. #9
    thecouch
    Guest

    Default

    Hey Delensue,

    What would we do without Google for researching? I'm just not really sure. It has certainly made the world a much smaller place in terms of doing research. Your further Google search string suggestions are great and I will try them immediately. Do you have any other suggested string search combinations (not sure if this is the right way to describe things)? Also, when you do the search, do you include the "+" sign in the Google Search 'space'?

    Thanks in advance for any further search suggestions.

    c.

  10. #10
    Dalensue
    Guest

    Default

    Hi

    Thank you for your kindness. We see the search engines as just another tool for finding ancestors. It makes a BIG difference....sometimes!
    Yes, we do include the plus sign. It will force the search engine to look for the exact name and only show sites that include the additional information requested.

    You can also use "-" sign to exclude results. So, for example:

    "Samuel Crisp" +convict -solicitor

    will not show the results for a solicitor of the same name that might come up when searching for one of our convict ancestors.

    I hope that this is helpful.

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