Researching Genealogy on the Internet

Yet another great resource from the Internet is genealogy research information. In the past, we wrote things down and had to take pencils and papers to the libraries, cemeteries, historical museums, family members, and governmental agencies. That was the old way, which was slow, time consuming, and expensive.

A lot of these same resources can be contacted or accessed over the Internet. Much of the information is free, with a handful of sites charging for services. If you are lucky, you have someone in the family who did all the work already. They have an extensive album with all the genealogical information at your fingertips. However, most of us are not that lucky, and many of us need to be that person in the family that finally stops talking about it and actually does it.

The Internet has many resources and educational sites regarding genealogy. However, most do not list techniques for your Internet searches. While doing my personal family genealogy, I discovered some secrets that significantly increased the yield of searches. I would like to share that excitement with you, and a few other things. Serendipity was my friend as I kept thinking of other ways to do searches and find information. The search engine tips are of course applicable to any topic. So one day I decided to start my families' genealogical research. Like most people from Hawaii, I am of mixed ethnicity (Hawaiian, Filipino, German, Irish, Portuguese, and English). I decided to start with my Hawaiian side of the family, and was pleasantly surprised with the results. The emphasis of this paper is doing searches, but I also comment on a few other aspects of genealogy and share my personal exciting discoveries of my ancestors or relatives.

This article is not an all-inclusive "How To Do" genealogy resource. But it should help a lot and supplement other sources of information in a very practical way. The goal is to make it easier for other people to investigate their family history.