Advice for Genealogy Searches

Your journey exploring your family history may not be as well defined as this path. Any oral history with emotional content is suspect, accomplishments will likely be exaggerated and embarrassing episodes downplayed. These were some of the messages, illustrated by examples from his own family history, with which Terry Findley informed and entertained a large audience in the Auditorium at Library and Archives Canada at last Saturday's British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa monthly meeting.

Many of the cases Terry mentioned had been researched before the records became available in digitized form on Ancestry.com or elsewhere. Now that they are the search can often be completed in a tiny fraction of the time it originally took, if you know how to use the search engine effectively. On ancestry.com, available at some local libraries and Family History Centres, be sure to check out the search tips located at the top right of the search box.