Try these tips when researching names online

Due to the increase of personal requests I’ve received in the last couple of weeks, I am assuming that everyone is over with reorganizing their closets and looking for another project to attempt. Family history/genealogy will keep your mind off COVID-19 as you sit at home.

SWNGS library is designated as a Family Search library. That means that we have full access to all records that are housed under the www.familysearch.org moniker. We are one of two such designated libraries in Nebraska, which to me is pretty impressive.

You do not have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to do your own search online and the searches are free! I do recommend that you join the group even though you can search without doing so because as a member the available records are expanded. If you find that there is a record available but not accessible, feel free to contact SWNGS and ask if the record is available with our designated library.

When searching you are extremely lucky if you have a complicated surname! One of my recent requests concerned a Joseph Smith. I have Smith’s in my family, they are a bugger to research and here’s why. Where did your “Smith” come from? England: Smith, Smyth, Smythe. Germany: Schmid, Schmick, Schmidt, Schmitz. Norway, Sweden, Africa, Etc.: Smid, DeSmed, Smit, Smed. Imagine that you are standing in a declarations line to be admitted into the United States, you cannot read or write, and you don’t speak English well, what is the records clerk going to put down? Smith, no doubt.

Then to even further complicate matters, your “Smith” is entered into a census by an enumerator and someone in your new household actually can speak and write the English language plus communicate with you. Does at that point your “Smith” turn back into Schmick or Smed? I’m sure you are following what that kind of surname does to research.

Given names aren’t much better. Joseph can be Joe, Josef, Giuseppe, Jozef or in the worse scenario, Joseph is a middle name, but the records are under his first name! My Smith should be easy, his first name was Ferdinand but that’s now how it works. Ferdinand was a popular (unbelievably) name during the time he was born and has both German and Spanish origins.

My point here is that during a search if you are given the option of expanding the search to “similar or sounds like” and you’ve hit a brick wall searching plain old “Smith”, do so. Hopefully, you will be able to narrow that search by adding locations, dates (birth or death), spouse or children information. Even with dates you need to give a leeway of a couple of years due to the fact that census records only return an approximate age or birth year. When those results pop up and you have to start sorting out the Joseph Smiths that don’t fit your ancestor, you will not even think about COVID-19 for hours!

This Saturday, January 9, 2021, SWNGS is holding their first monthly meeting of the year. Starting at 1 PM, if you aren’t comfortable attending in person the meeting will also be available on Zoom if you provide us with your name and email so that we can send an invitation to join the Zoom meeting. We are located in the Temple Building, Rooms 2-7 on the second floor. There is an elevator available and the meeting is open to the public.