SPECIAL BONUS SECTION: How to Find the Smaller, Personal, On-line Surname Databases

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Reynold Charles
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1 SPECIAL BONUS SECTION: How to Find the Smaller, Personal, On-line Surname Databases by Robert Ragan As you have seen in Robert Ragan s Guide to the Best FREE Internet Genealogy Databases and How-to Use Them Step-by-Step, people have submitted billions of names to the free Internet databases. But there is so much more than this out there and it is only a few clicks away. Consider this: Someone has a genealogy software program and they use it to enter tons of their genealogy information (data). They save this data in GEDCOM format because this is the current standard in the genealogy world. There is software a lot of it is free or cheap that can convert a GEDCOM file into HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), or Web pages. So people are using free software to turn their GEDCOM files into Web pages and are putting it up on the Internet like crazy! In other words, people are putting their own smaller, personal, surname databases on-line. In this bonus section you are going to discover how to: Easily find the smaller, personal, surname databases that people are putting on the Internet, targeting the surnames and individuals that you are looking for. Find GEDCOM files that you can download that are on little-known Web pages. For the GEDCOM Challenged Learn more about GEDCOM shareware software to help you view and manage your GEDCOM files. 1

2 NOTE: We re going to use Google, the best search engine on the Internet, to get to these smaller databases and GEDCOM files. If you are one of my students who already has my Search Engine Secrets guide or my PAJAMA Genealogy Research System home study course that has the search engine techniques in the course materials good news. There are new search formulas you are about to see that you will find extremely exciting. If this search engine stuff is new to you, don t worry. Just follow along with the upcoming examples very carefully. Remember, the way that the letters and symbols are spaced DO matter. You will be amazed at what happens. GO TO TYPE +ged2html +ragan in the box and CLICK ON the Google Search button. Note the spacing: +ged2html +ragan Plus sign, no space, ged2html, space, plus sign, no space, ragan The plus symbol forces a key word to be included in the results of a search. In this case, every result that comes back will have both of the key words ged2html and ragan on the Web page. Note: ged2html is one of the popular software programs that converts GEDCOM files to HTML files. 2

Then CLICK the Back button on your Web browser and come back to the Google search results. When I did the +ged2html +ragan search there were over 1700 results.

3 EXAMINE the results. A small line of copy from the Web page (the Web page you will go to if you click on the link) with the key word is displayed. Note how the key words GED2HTML and RAGAN are in bold type. CLICK ON any one of the results and EXAMINE the Web page. Then CLICK the Back button on your Web browser and come back to the Google search results. When I did the +ged2html +ragan search there were over 1700 results. When you do this exercise there may be more or less than this because the Internet is always changing. There is something else you need to note LOOK for results that have the More results from link at the bottom of them. You should see some in the results from the +ged2html +ragan exercise. Find one of these links and click on it. These More results from (fill in the blank with a Web address) will lead you to more results from the same source. 3

IMPORTANT TIP: You will run into Web pages that are no longer there. Sometimes you will even find pages that do not have the surnames you are looking for. This is because the information was changed.

This may be your last chance to get the information, so if it winds up being valuable data save it. CLICK ON the Back button of you Web browser to get back to the +ged2html +ragan Google results.

4 IMPORTANT TIP: You will run into Web pages that are no longer there. Sometimes you will even find pages that do not have the surnames you are looking for. This is because the information was changed. If this happens, click on the Cached link. This will bring up the Web page as it was before it was removed or changed. This may be your last chance to get the information, so if it winds up being valuable data save it. CLICK ON the Back button of you Web browser to get back to the +ged2html +ragan Google results. Then SCROLL to the top of the Web page and LOOK at the Google search form. It still says +ged2html +ragan. Now we want to narrow down our search because who has time to look through 1700 results, right? So we will modify this search. CHANGE the search formula to +ged2html + joseph ragan and CLICK ON the Google Search button. Having the name in quotations forces Google to search for the exact name, or phrase, Joseph Ragan. Note the spacing: +gedhtml + joseph ragan Plus sign, no space, ged2html, space, plus sign, no space, quote, no space, joseph, space, ragan, no space, quote. This narrowed my search down to a half dozen. You may have more or less. EXAMINE the results from the +ged2html + joseph ragan results. What else do you see? 4

5 Some of these results have the More results from link at the bottom of them. So there are actually MORE than these few that you see. Working with GED2HTML created Web Pages: PICK one of the SURNAMES that you are researching and CHOOSE an individual from that group so that you have a FIRST NAME. I am going to pick the Wainwright surname and James Wainwright as my individual from that group. GO TO the Google search engine at and TYPE IN +ged2html +yoursurname and CLICK ON the Google Search button. Note: yoursurname is whatever surname you chose. In this exercise, I would type in +ged2html +wainwright (This works just like the example shown on page 2 of this bonus section). EXAMINE the results. Unless you have an unusual surname you will see a large amount of results and will need to narrow down your search. SCROLL to the top of the Web page. CHANGE the search formula to +ged2html + firstname yoursurname and CLICK ON the Google Search button. In this exercise, I would type in +ged2html + james wainwright (This works just like the example shown on page 4 of this bonus section). EXAMINE those results. 5

6 I hope that you are finding some interesting things. If you didn t, try using another individual s first name from the surname you chose. Remember that all of the results you ve been looking at are Web pages that were created by the GED2HTML software. This means they are structured a certain way. I have found that you have to scroll up and down the page a lot when you are looking at them, which can be time consuming. Here is a great tip to get right to the list of surnames that are in ANY GED2HTML database. This will work on any GED2HTML Web page that you will find during your own searches: LOOK for the INDEX link and CLICK ON it. 6

TIP: The INDEX link will be in several places on any GED2HTML Web page. You can click on it anywhere on the page and it will work the same way. Then LOOK for the SURNAMES link and CLICK ON it.

In this example there was only one WAINWRIGHT in the Index of Persons, but you never know It could have included James Wainwright and dozens of others of Wainwrights.

7 TIP: The INDEX link will be in several places on any GED2HTML Web page. You can click on it anywhere on the page and it will work the same way. Then LOOK for the SURNAMES link and CLICK ON it. This will take you to an index of all the surnames in that on-line database. All you have to do is click on any of the surnames and it will bring up an Index of Persons. In this example there was only one WAINWRIGHT in the Index of Persons, but you never know It could have included James Wainwright and dozens of others of Wainwrights. This is the quick way to get to the list of all of the people with any surname in GED2HTML Web pages. Just look for the INDEX link, click on the SURNAMES link, find the surname (which is a link) that led you to that GED2HTML Web page in the first place and click on it. This will bring up the Index of Persons for that surname. REVIEW the exercises starting on page 2 of this bonus section and try doing searches on the surnames you are researching. You will be using the Google search engine and searching through Web pages created with the GED2HTML software. Don t forget the extra tips you ve discovered. 7

GED2HTML was one of the first GED to Web conversion software programs to hit the genealogy world after the Internet craze in the mid-nineties. That is why it is so widely used.

8 GED2HTML was one of the first GED to Web conversion software programs to hit the genealogy world after the Internet craze in the mid-nineties. That is why it is so widely used. But there are several others. This means that even more GEDCOM files were converted to Web pages. We just have to know how to find them. It is easy. The search approach works the same way: GO TO the Google Search Engine at TYPE IN +ged4web +ragan and CLICK ON the Google Search button. GED4WEB is another GED to Web software program just not as popular as GED2HTML. I can tell because I only had over 200 results. But who knows what treasure may be in these results. Wait a minute. Some of these results have the More results from link at the bottom of them, so there are a lot more than 200 results here. You get the idea. This search has to be narrowed down. 8

9 LOOK at the above example from a GED4WEB Web page. Note John Charles Ragan. The surname, Ragan, is listed FIRST. If you used the +ged4web + john ragan search formula it would not work because the Google search is looking for the exact phrase John Ragan. Not only that, in this case the middle name is Charles. W ith GED4WEB, the surname goes FIRST so the search formula would be: +ged4web + yoursurname firstname For example: +ged4web + ragan joseph Or you could add a middle name: +ged4web + yoursurname firstname middlename As this example shows: +ged4web + ragan joseph david TRY this and do some GED4WEB searches using surnames that you are interested in. Use the above search formulas. To get to the list of surnames from GED4WEB Web pages, LOOK for th e Back to Main Page link and CLICK ON it. 9

Then LOOK for the List of Surnames link and CLICK ON it. You will scroll down to wherever your surname is and click on it.

In this example there were seven people with the surname Ragan. After clicking on the link the seven are listed.

Do a search, find a GED4WEB page with a surname you are interested in, look for the Back to Main Page link and click on it, look for the List of Surnames

10 Then LOOK for the List of Surnames link and CLICK ON it. You will scroll down to wherever your surname is and click on it. The list of surnames will show a number by each surname that tells how many people are in the database with that name. In this example there were seven people with the surname Ragan. After clicking on the link the seven are listed. This is how all of the GED4WEB Web pages you will find on-line work. Do a search, find a GED4WEB page with a surname you are interested in, look for the Back to Main Page link and click on it, look for the List of Surnames link and click on it, then find your surname and click on it and you will have your list of surnames. Each GED2HTML and GED4WEB Web page you find is your doorway to one of the Internet s smaller surname databases. The same is true for the other GEDCOM to HTML Web pages that were put on-line by our fellow genealogy researchers. Let s look at some of the others 10

11 GO TO the Google Search Engine at TYPE IN +gedpage +ragan and CLICK ON the Google Search button and EXAMINE any of the results. GEDPAGE has a nice clean format. Most of the results you see will look like a family group sheet. Sometimes you will click in to an index page from one of the search results. You will search using the easy search formulas: +gedpage +yoursurname +gedpage + firstname yoursurname +gedpage + firstname middlename yoursurname Examples: +gedpage +wainwright +gedpage + james wainwright +gedpage + james allen wainwright TIP: When you are looking at a GEDPAGE Web page, look for the SURNAMES link and click on it. This will bring you to the list of surnames in that database. From there you can click on your surname and easily get to the list of people you are looking for. From the Google search engine TYPE IN +ged2www +ragan and CLICK ON the Google Search button and EXAMINE any of the results. GED2WWW is like a cross between GED2HTML and GED4WEB. You should have no problem getting to the list of surnames because it works just like the exercise you saw on pages 9-10 of this bonus guide. You will search using the easy search formulas but note that the SURNAME is listed FIRST (like with GED4WEB). +gedpage +yoursurname +gedpage + yoursurname firstname +gedpage + yoursurname firstname middlename Here are some lesser-know GEDCOM conversion software tools that you can also use in searches: GEDHTREE, GED2WEB and SPARROWHAWK. 11

12 Here s how to find GEDCOM files that you can download that are on little-known Web pages: From the Google search engine TYPE IN +ragan +gedcom +download and CLICK ON the Google Search button. CLICK ON the result that says, Download the Entire Regan GEDCOM File and LOOK at that Web page. I show you this example from Michael W. Ragan with sadness because he passed away a few years ago. He was the moderator of the RAGAN-ROOTS list. He was a very nice guy. I never met him, but I did interview him by for my Treasure Maps newsletter. He rallied other Ragan researchers together and put together a large Ragan/Reagan/Regan GEDCOM file. You can still download it online. LOOK at the bottom of the Web page for the HERE link. All you have to do is click on this link to download the GEDCOM file. CLICK ON the Back button on your Web browser to go back to the Google search results. If you look at some of these other results you will see that there are OTHER Web pages where you can download this same Ragan GEDCOM file. It is a huge file and it has found a home on other Web pages. This was a best case situation. Let s try another search. 12

13 From Google TYPE IN +wainwright +gedcom +download and CLICK ON the Google Search button. LOOK for the result that says, Robert WAINWRIGHT/Della TARVER Tarver Gen: Dan Neal GEDCOM and CLICK ON it. If you get confused at what you find, you are supposed to be. I ll explain why in a minute. LOOK at the very bottom of the Web page and locate the link that says, gedcoms and click on it. This takes you to a Web page where you can download several different GEDCOM files. This is mainly a TARVER surname Web site. The Wainwright name happened to tie into it. I will have to check my notes to see if any Tarvers tie into my Wainwright line to see if this is worth pursuing. Just to see how it looks, CLICK ON some of these links. 13

14 This Web site is set up very nice. They make it easy to download GEDCOM files. At first glance it seemed confusing because there was so much to look at on that Web site. You will be using Google to search for GEDCOM files. You will run into some dead ends. Because you used +download and +gedcom those key words will be on the Web page but that page could wind up being: An index of the names from a GEDCOM file (which is a good thing). A message from a genealogy forum that talks about a downloaded GEDCOM file. A genealogy Web site that mentions GEDCOM files. A Web site that has valuable information on your surname that mentions the term Gedcom. You have just used the +yoursurname +gedcom +download search formula. Also try these: +yoursurname +gedcom +index +yoursurname +gedcom +database These should bring you some interesting results. One of the reasons search formulas that have GEDCOM as one of the key words work so well is that GEDCOM is very unique to the genealogy world specifically the Internet where there are so many GEDCOM files that you can access and actually create from the free Internet databases and download from personal smaller databases. 14

15 For those of you who are GEDCOM Challenged Here s hope: If have a computer and are doing genealogy you should have a genealogy software program. It makes your life a lot easier. It will also create and import GEDCOM files. Which genealogy software should you use? That question could start a riot at a genealogy conference. It is up to you. Some genealogists use several different programs. When you import a GEDCOM file you can take a GEDCOM file that you saved from the Internet and import (or put it) into your existing genealogy data or you can use your genealogy program just to view what is in the GEDCOM files. Either way, you need to look at the manual that came with your software. But there is another kind of software that is made just to work with GEDCOM files that you should take a look at. It is called shareware so you can try before you buy. GO TO TYPE gedcom in the Search box and CLICK ON the Go button. This will bring up a list of genealogy-type shareware. LOOK at the descriptions of the software and note the dates. Some of it is old. Note the OS: (operating system) line and make sure it is compatible with your computer. 15

16 If you are interested in any of the software all you have to do is look to the right and click on the Download now link. If you are not familiar with downloading you might want to have a friend or family member help you. Note: Most of the files that you download are in a compressed ZIP format. You need special software called PKZIP or WinZip to uncompress it. You can also download this software from the Web site. I downloaded GEDCOM Explorer 2.1. Here is a screen shot of it looking at a small Ragan GEDCOM file I download. It will display the information from the GEDCOM file in pedigree charts, family group sheets, etc. You will also see the program Family Tree Legends as a download option on This is software that Cliff Shaw (the creator of GenCircles) developed. I reviewed it and it looks great. Don t be afraid of GEDCOM files any longer. You have seen how easy it is to find them on the Internet. I want you to be able to save them and view them whenever you want. Learn to use your genealogy software to view and manage GEDCOM files. Or download one of the GEDCOM shareware programs. REVIEW this bonus section and try all of the exercises. 16

This guide is going to show you where some of the Internet s very best free databases are and how to use them, step-by-step. Here is why I wrote it:

Dear Fellow Researcher, This guide is going to show you where some of the Internet s very best free databases are and how to use them, step-by-step. Here is why I wrote it: Have you noticed that every