Family history researchers usually do a 'happy dance' when we discover a clue that leads us to that exact village or city where our ancestors once lived before "crossing the pond." And rightfully so - knowing exactly where great-grandma was born opens up so many doors as we try to research generations further and further back in time. And, once we find those special places in our family's history, we immediately feel a desire to go there - to see the buildings our ancestors may have lived in, to walk down a street they walked down everyday of their lives. But, let's face it, traveling thousands of miles is oftentimes not possible. Not to worry: Internet to the rescue! Below, I've listed some Internet resources and tools I have used to "see" these villages that are so far away. Give them a try, if you haven't already!
1.) Google it! Try seeing what an 'old-fashioned' Google search will get you if you type in the name of your ancestor's village. Nowadays, even some of the smallest European towns and villages have websites of their own. This is exactly how I found this website about my great-grandmother's village of Skrudzina, which is located in southern Poland. Using the Google Translate feature on my toolbar, I've been able to learn a little about the village's history from the site. Even if your ancestral village does not have its own website, there is a decent chance something from Wikipedia will pop up in your Google search. Also, when doing your Google Search, don't forget to click on the 'Images' button at the top of the search bar. Doing so will often return images of the town itself.
2.) Google Maps The Street View feature of Google Maps is a wonderful way of simulating a walk down the street of an old family neighborhood or town, as it looks in the present day. The Street View feature is still not available in all locations, but their coverage is getting better and better. I was surprised when I recently looked up my maternal grandmother's birthplace and found that there is indeed Street View available for Iselle, Italy, a very small town on the Swiss-Italian border. Isn't this a gorgeous view? I just love seeing all of the mountains in the background. (Click on photo to see the image directly from Street View.)
1.) Google it! Try seeing what an 'old-fashioned' Google search will get you if you type in the name of your ancestor's village. Nowadays, even some of the smallest European towns and villages have websites of their own. This is exactly how I found this website about my great-grandmother's village of Skrudzina, which is located in southern Poland. Using the Google Translate feature on my toolbar, I've been able to learn a little about the village's history from the site. Even if your ancestral village does not have its own website, there is a decent chance something from Wikipedia will pop up in your Google search. Also, when doing your Google Search, don't forget to click on the 'Images' button at the top of the search bar. Doing so will often return images of the town itself.
2.) Google Maps The Street View feature of Google Maps is a wonderful way of simulating a walk down the street of an old family neighborhood or town, as it looks in the present day. The Street View feature is still not available in all locations, but their coverage is getting better and better. I was surprised when I recently looked up my maternal grandmother's birthplace and found that there is indeed Street View available for Iselle, Italy, a very small town on the Swiss-Italian border. Isn't this a gorgeous view? I just love seeing all of the mountains in the background. (Click on photo to see the image directly from Street View.)
Google Street View in Iselle, Italy.
3.) Google Earth If you haven't yet downloaded Google Earth, do it...now. Like, stop reading my blog post and do it. The aerial details of the satellite images are scary-amazing - vegetation, land use, and urban development can all be deduced from looking at these images. Links to user photos posted via Panoramio are posted right on the satellite image, so all you have to do is click on the photo icons and the user-submitted photos pop up right there. Below is a screen shot of one of my husband's ancestral towns, Coesfeld, Germany. There are many, many photos available for viewing! And when I click on an icon, there is the photo! (That, by the way, is a photo of the church where my husband's ancestors were baptized and married; the present structure was built post-WWII because the previous building was destroyed by bombings.) The ability to view satellite imagery and photos is just one of the many great features in Google Earth that can be applied to genealogy; I highly recommend watching this video about Google Earth for Genealogy by Lisa Louise Cooke.
Google Earth Satellite View of Coesfeld, Germany.
After Clicking on a Photo Icon. Jakobikirche in Coesfeld.
4.) 360cities.net I recently discovered this website and really cannot express to you how much I love it. On this website, you can find 360 degree panorama photos for locations all over the world. Right now, it is the larger cities that have more "coverage," but their database is growing all the time as users continue to add to it. This, like Google Earth and Google Street View, is great for seeing what locations look like in the present day. Below is a screen shot of a panorama from a rooftop in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, where my great-grandfather was born. The detail of the photos is just wonderful and, of course, I can rotate it all the way around if I choose. There is also this cool street map utility on the left side that shows you exactly what your field of view is in this image. The map also can be zoomed in or out and closed and opened at your convenience. (Panorama shown below by Martin Kacvinsky.)
Rooftop in Palermo from 360cities.net
5.) WhatWasThere I have blogged about this website before, so I'll direct you to that post for the details about this site's features. WhatWasThere helps users upload historical photos and overlay them onto the Street View feature of Google Maps. Site users then have the ability to fade in and out between the old photos and the present-day street view. This site is a lot like 360cities in that the places YOU are interested in may or may not have photos associated with them. But, also like 360cities, their photo database is continually growing, so it's worth checking back often.
6.) Postcards. Old vintage postcards are GREAT for looking into the past. In the world of postcards, those that show scenes of villages, countrysides, city streets, buildings, etc. are referred to as 'topographical.' eBay is, by far, my favorite place to find postcards of places. I especially love that eBay is international and that purchasing items through international sellers is relatively easy using PayPal. Through eBay, I've been able to find and purchase the three postcards shown below. two of them depict ancestral villages as they were almost 100 years ago. When looking for postcards, don't forget to search for postcards of old buildings that may have special meaning to your family. That postcard of the hospital in the center is where one of my great-grandmothers died in 1919. She was only 29 years old and my grandfather was only four when she passed away, so nobody in our family knows anything about her, other than that she was a Polish immigrant. This postcard gives a little more substance to her story. (The building itself was torn down decades ago.)
 Iselle, Italy, birthplace of my maternal grandmother |  Cleveland's St. Alexis Hospital |  Réchésy, France, one of my husband's ancestral villages. |
7.) Facebook. Type in the name of a town or village in the Facebook search bar at the top, and see what comes up. Just like with traditional websites, many of even the smallest towns have their own Facebook pages. Recently, I even found a personal Facebook blog all about one of my husband's ancestral villages, Hannonville-Sous-Les-Côtes in France. The page manager posts some lovely photos of the village and surrounding countrysides on a regular basis - I truly feel like I have been there. And, thanks to the fact that she knows some English, we've also been able to 'talk' a little bit about genealogy and family surnames, too!
8.) Books. Yes, I said it. Books are still a great way to learn about ancestral places. Genealogists can spend hours in libraries and archives trying to dig out information about specific people in their family trees, but what about the places where those people came from? Sometimes locating information about a small town will mean combing through a book about a larger administrative district or state. OR sometimes you may get lucky and find a book or pamphlet that is specifically about your town of interest. I was recently able to find (on eBay again) a book about Lauterecken, Germany, one of my husband's other ancestral villages. It is being shipped straight from Germany, so I have not received it yet, but I'm excited to learn more about the town and to see what types of images are included in the book.
©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
8.) Books. Yes, I said it. Books are still a great way to learn about ancestral places. Genealogists can spend hours in libraries and archives trying to dig out information about specific people in their family trees, but what about the places where those people came from? Sometimes locating information about a small town will mean combing through a book about a larger administrative district or state. OR sometimes you may get lucky and find a book or pamphlet that is specifically about your town of interest. I was recently able to find (on eBay again) a book about Lauterecken, Germany, one of my husband's other ancestral villages. It is being shipped straight from Germany, so I have not received it yet, but I'm excited to learn more about the town and to see what types of images are included in the book.
©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
