‘Travel’ To Your Ancestor’s Town

What’s in a name?

Genealogists hope it’s a lot when they submit an ancestor’s name on the Internet, via a computer.

Today’s column is a part of a continuing series of articles regarding what genealogists can expect to find on the Internet.

To research the Phillips surname on the Internet, for instance, you would access a genealogy-related site and type in the Phillips name. And, voila, a list of sources for further investigation appears on your computer screen.

The list might include genealogists also researching that surname or organizations with related data. Or, if you need assistance in a specific place, say Troup County, Ga., type in that request and you’ll probably contact someone living in Troup County who can help you on-site.

“Source information” is another Internet category. Many primary sources can be found on-line these days - “primary” meaning original records usually found in county courthouses.

The USGENWEB project is just what it says, a national project to link genealogy sites with primary material and research assistance in all 50 states, with indexes, maps, websites of local history experts and scanned images of primary source documents.

Source material can also be found on the websites of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and hundreds of sites hosted by special collections, ethnic and other special-interest groups. Records from around the world are becoming available. Eventually, genealogists might have a worldwide library of genealogical reference books available to our home computers.

Another popular Internet feature is sharing GEDCOM files created with your genealogical software and saved in a format that allows people using different software to see your work. But, when information is shared like this, it’s often undocumented and should be treated as clues and not facts, until proven.

Many Internet sites were not designed for genealogists in particular, but can still be useful for family historians. For example, one can view and print maps of nearly any location in the world, especially U.S. and Canada sites. Detailed historical information on events in which your ancestors participated (e.g. Civil War battles) are available on the Internet. You can “travel” to where your ancestor lived, via commercial travel sites.

As with any public forum, there are good manners to use while browsing the Internet. When you type a message onto the Internet, you are, in effect, speaking to a group, so be both precise and polite.

You may have heard about evil abounding on the Internet. It’s there if you look for it, just as dirty magazines are found among nice magazines at newsstands. If you limit your Internet browsing to recognized genealogy sites, you’ll never be bothered with unsettling material or messages.

The Internet is in its infancy. A few years from now it will have changed considerably. With thousands of people adding to its genealogical resources, we know it will only get better. Now’s as good a time as any to get started.

On my Internet quests, I found a Georgia researcher to help me with Troup County research, a cousin who shares my Phillips-Veasey line, and where Ivy Landing, Ill., once was. I found all this with a little help from friends and happy keyboarding on my own. It was great fun and not scary at all.

, DataTimes MEMO: Donna Potter Phillips welcomes letters from readers. Write to her at The Spokesman-Review, Features Department, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. For a response, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Donna Potter Phillips The Spokesman-Review