Over the past 25-plus years, Google has grown from a simple search engine to the most visited website in the world. Since its beginnings in 1998, the company has created and acquired products and tools you probably use daily.
If you are embarking on a trip, you don’t leave home without consulting the Google Maps app on your smartphone, and you use Google Translate for foreign-language records and websites, archive photo memories in Google Photos, and so on.
Most of Google’s tools are free and work on your computer and mobile devices. They’ll help you stay organized, virtually travel to ancestors’ neighborhoods, and locate essential information about history and records, and that’s just the beginning!
1. Search
Google’s search engine is, of course, its bread and butter. Typing in an ancestor’s name—or a surname and a place, or an ethnic group and a place—can lead to obituaries, background information, and other unexpected discoveries.
Try different combinations of a last name or a person’s name alone or with another term, such as a place. Matches on a Google search can include website pages, images, books,Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com,you might even get matches in online databases, such as on Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com or Find a Grave, but you still need to search those individual databases to do a comprehensive search.
2. Gmail
An email account is a quintessential tool for any genealogist today. These days, most genealogy correspondence is conducted via email, and records and photos come as email attachments.
Google’s Gmail has evolved into one of the best email services. Its spam filter keeps junk mail out of your inbox, and its powerful search makes it easy to find messages. To do a simple search, just enter terms in the search box at the top of the screen.
Gmail’s translation feature makes it possible to carry on an email exchange with someone who writes in a different language. Gmail’s labels allow you to organize your messages. Labels act like folders, but you can easily apply multiple labels to a message.
3. Google Docs
If you’d like to create a research plan or write a letter to request records or to a relative who doesn’t use email, you might turn to a word-processing program like Microsoft Word. However, the free Google Docs app offers much of the same functionality as Word, plus several other advantages.
You can access, create, and edit your documents from your phone, tablet, or computer. Then, invite others to view, download, and collaborate on a document—sending a file as an email attachment is unnecessary.
Also, you don’t have to worry about backing up your documents since they’re online. Google Docs lacks some of Word’s features (for instance, it can create footnotes, but it requires an add-on for endnotes). But it’s adequate for most word-processing tasks.
4. Google Sheets
Think of Sheets as a free alternative to Microsoft Excel. It’s excellent for genealogists who like to use spreadsheets to create a research log and organize data (such as DNA matches). Just like its Docs app, Sheets lets you access your spreadsheets from any device and share them with others without having to type out an email.
5. Photos
Google’s Photos app lets you do basic photo editing, such as adjusting contrast, color, cropping, and rotating images.
Instead of tags, Photos rely on facial recognition. Photos’ powerful search works well and even recognizes animals and objects, such as a dog, a beach, or flowers—a shortcut when you’re adding descriptions to your pictures.
6. Maps
Maps can help you pinpoint where your ancestors lived and where their records might be. Google Maps shows an aerial view of the whole world and street maps of many cities and towns. The maps usually highlight populated places, roads, physical features, and landmarks. Search on the name of a township or county, and you’ll see current boundaries. Download the Google Maps app on your smartphone to help get to cemeteries and libraries.
Maps can help you identify churches and cemeteries with gravestones and records about your ancestors.
Google Maps draws on current maps and business listings, so small cemeteries no longer in use and churches that have closed might not appear.
7. Google Earth
Using satellite imagery and aerial photography, Google Earth lets you explore the globe. Just enter a place or address and “fly” to the location. Use the integrated Street View to see a 360-degree view from the street, made up of photos taken with car-mounted cameras. You can walk down the street where your ancestors lived by clicking and dragging the image.
I prefer to access Street View from Google Maps when exploring a new place because it takes you to the exact address. You might end up at a nearby building when you access Street View from Google Earth.
8. Google Books
Google Books lets you search the text of millions of scanned books, such as family and local histories and city directories. If a book is out of copyright or the publisher has given permission, you can view and download the entire book for free. Otherwise, you might only be able to see an excerpt of text—or nothing at all.
As always, if I can assist you with your research, please contact me at geneal@laurel.lib.ms.us or by phone at 601-428-4313, ext 111; voice mail is available.
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