My friend, Dan Lynch, says that Google can be a genealogist’s best friend – or something close to that anyway. Dan spoke at the recently completed Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, held here in Provo this weekend. Following is a teaser from an article by Sharon Haddock, published in the March 13, 2009 edition of Mormon Times.
PROVO, Utah – Serious genealogists have a friend in Google, but they need to know how to navigate a results page.
According to Daniel M. Lynch, one of the presenters at the Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, Google can be a powerful genealogy tool, but it does nothing until it’s given information.
“I really feel Google was created for us (genealogists),” said Lynch, who has written a book, “Unlock the Hidden Power of Google,” and developed a free Web site dedicated to telling others how best to do research using Google.
“I use Google because I’m a genealogist. I don’t have a lot of time and I’m selfish,” Lynch said. “My goal is to teach you to spend five minutes searching and get 10-12 meaningful results.”
Lynch explained that researchers often make simple mistakes that complicate and increase the number of results they may get, such as failing to exclude common words and places that have nothing to do with the ancestor being researched.