Just Beginning, Try a Collective Listing of Sources



Person Researching on a ComputerYou may have been given by a relative a partial family tree with a few names and dates and you would really like to make that tree grow. You just might need one general search site to help you weed through the countless web sites available. At ‘Live Roots’ they have created a specialized search engine to all online sites with an easy click to access each one.

To begin a search, ‘Live Roots‘ has you place a surname in the search box. Results will be in ‘Surname Results’ and ‘Resource Results’ categories. Using the example of the name ‘Eisenhower’ there were three web sites for Eisenhower under the Surname Results. Then there were fifteen subscription sites where the name Eisenhower was founded. A preview and some information for each was provided, but you have the option with that extra data of subscribing to the service.

This section also has the transcribed ephemera collection. Here are, in digital form, funeral cards, business cards and World War II ration books, all of great interest if one of your surnames is linked to the collection. The Resource Results had nine matches to Eisenhower, some with a free trial to paid subscription sites and other items free to view.

It is not just surnames that can be searched on this massive index. Placing the City of Detroit would not produce surname results, but it did show 270 matches relating to Detroit. Of special interest was a 1939 football team photo from Eastern High School in Detroit located at the FamilyOldPhotos.com site. There were city directories for Detroit, Michigan located on the Footnote site and Distant Cousins Genealogy Index. A 1906 membership list for the Detroit Bar Association on the Family Tree Connection site was also found.

Live Roots as a giant search engine of just genealogical material is worth checking out whether you are just starting or have some experience. Sometimes it can be just that one name or place and finding where to look that can really assist the family historian.

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