Search Engines and A Surprise Find

10/19/2012

Yesterday evening after the kids went to sleep, I was casually fooling around on FamilySearch.org, trying to find any records from Poland regarding my great-grandparents. I didn't intend to spend much time on it; I was just killing some time before my own bedtime. I didn't find any Polish records, but I did FINALLY find my great-grandfather and his family in the 1930 U.S. Census. I had made several earnest attempts over the past year and a half to find it, with no success. Their last name of 'Kowalski' was transcribed as 'Koralski,' and Ancestry.com had listed 'Korchske' as an alternate possibility, which, of course, was WAY off. I suppose this may have been the first time I used the FamilySearch search engine on this name, and it obviously did a better job of pulling up close matches than the Ancestry search engine did so many times before. It was nice to be able to add a 'missing piece' to one of my family binders before going to sleep.

If you use both FamilySearch and Ancestry regularly, do you find that one search engine performs better than the other for particular situations/topics? I am curious of other peoples' opinions. :-)

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1770; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 227; Image: 285.0; FHL microfilm: 2341504. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

If you use both FamilySearch and Ancestry regularly, do you find that one search engine performs better than the other for particular situations/topics? I am curious of other peoples' opinions. :-)

©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

8 Comments

Tessa

10/20/2012 04:18:03 am

Lovely blog - saw it mentioned this morning and checked it out. Great layout and very interesting posts. Will put this one on my list.

Emily

10/20/2012 06:31:54 am

Thanks so much for checking it out! I appreciate it. I really enjoy doing it for me and my family :)

Jacqi Stevens link

10/20/2012 06:43:23 am

Emily, I've been struggling with research on my Polish lines, too. I often will check FamilySearch.org, even though I've been a subscriber to Ancestry.com for quite a while. I'll also check some other sites and resources, both paid and free. It never hurts when facing off with an obstinate brick wall :)

I found your blog mentioned this morning on GeneaBloggers. I was particularly fascinated with your introduction and the description and quote regarding "Spiraling Chains." Such an important point!

Glad to meet another history buff who is on a mission to find out so much more than just the names and dates!

Emily

10/20/2012 07:33:00 am

Jacqi, thank you for checking out my blog and for your kind words. I know that familysearch is always adding more records and that they do not have many Polish ones online yet, so I'm hoping I will be able to find more once they gradually do that. I have even tried going through old Cleveland newspapers, to see if any of my Polish great-grandparents were ever mentioned, but they were all working class and stayed in the own little neighborhood, so not too newsworthy, I guess.

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith link

10/20/2012 07:31:31 am

Welcome to the GeneaBloggers family. Hope you find the association fruitful; I sure do. I have found it most stimulating, especially some of the Daily Themes.

May you keep sharing your ancestor stories!

Dr. Bill ;-)
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Author of "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories" and family saga novels:
"Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited"
http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/
http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/heritage-tourism-in-springfield-mo/dr-bill-william-l-smith
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/drbilltellsexcitingstories
The Heritage Tourist at In-Depth Genealogist: http://www.indepthgenealogist.com/

Emily

10/20/2012 07:34:57 am

Thank you, Dr. Bill! And thanks for checking out my page! I'm excited to connect with other genealogy buffs like me!

Jim link

10/20/2012 11:06:26 am

Welcome to Geneabloggers.

Regards, Jim
<a href="http://www.hiddengenealogynuggets.com">Hidden Genealogy Nuggets</a>

Michele Lewis link

10/21/2012 07:00:04 am

Welcome to Geneabloggers!

Hugs...
Michele

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Search Engines and A Surprise Find

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