How to Find Information about your female ancestors, by Marilyn Toole (Linsenhunt@aol.com)

First, you need to know their names. You can get those from working with the U.S. censuses, taken every ten years. They are available from Ancestry. (www.ancestry.com)

If they died after 1956 there may be info on the online Social Security Death Index. To find them, Google SSDI, (free)

See what the MORMONS have on your family records. Go to www.familysearch.org, click on LIBRARY, then LIBRARY catalog. Type in either a family name (surname box) or Place Search (never put in the word COUNTY).

For example, type in

Chester

Pennsylvania

then click on Pennsylvania, Chester and see what they have.

Write down the number of the films you want, take them to Broomall, and give them to them with a check.

They will call you when the films arrive. You make not take them out of the building.

Then let Google go to work for you. Google their names first, (all combinations, including nicknames and initials). You may find your cousins have put your family trees on the web.

Google the local newspapers. Several sites have them online or you can order them from inter-library loan.

Google the town name (different results than below) Find out if it was ever called anything else.

Then try Google Book Search (go to google.com, MORE, scroll down to BOOKS.) Type in every combination of words, such as:

"Hastings, NE history"

"Early NE industry"

"Pioneer life in NE"

(Put words in quotes to keep them together) and so forth. Use your imagination.

You should check this every 6 months as thousands of new books are being scanned in every day.

Then try Google images to find old photos. (Google: images) Again, try every combination of words.

To copy an image, RIGHT CLICK on it, copy it into your photo editing software.

Check out www.rootsweb.org (also free) click on US Genweb, then your state, then the county. Each county has a site with tons of info on them.

Contact the local Genealogical Society and tell them whom you are looking for. (Again, GOOGLE)

There is a list on the resources pages of the Main Line Genealogy Club's site at www.mainlineroots.org. We meet the 2nd Thurs. of every month at Easttown Library in Berwyn at 1 pm.

Get the word out in your family that you are looking for stories, photos, data, trees, information.

Insure their confidentiality. NEVER put information about LIVING people on the web. Therefore, don't send your data to anyone unless you have their word that they will respect that. Thank those who have helped you.

Put a request on Ebay to find photos, ephemera about your family an/or their home town.