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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: VictorianDreamer on Saturday 25 October 08 06:52 BST (UK)
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When I first started researching the Family Tree, I looked high and low for information before subscribing to anywhere. We were lucky enough to find loads of it. On ocassion, we'd come across words, places and things that we had a) never heard of, or b) didn't know anything about.
Then I started using Google Books. There is loads upon loads of information about all sorts of topics on there, and although some books only have limited previews, there are books that are available to view or download in their entirity.
(If you go to google.com, then click on the 'more' link at the top of the page, click on Books, then click on Advanced Search, right next to where you put a search in, and you can select Full View Only)
That way you're not dissapointed when searching for something, and then finding it's not available to read, unless you buy the book.
Try typing in the surname you're looking for, with the word genealogy, and just see what comes up. And don't just look at the first page of searches, then close because you couldn't find anything useful. Keep looking!
Ocassionally you'll get a surprising find and feel like you've struck gold.
I've found books that cover origins and history of names, and a few books that have followed over 600 years of particular families.
If you're anything like me, you can get lost for hours just reading up about what life might have been like for our ancestors, what trials and tribulations they went through, clothing, food, industry, etc.
It's an excellent FREE way to find out a lot of good information.
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I completely agree ... (and welcome to Rootschat !)
Googling books has found all sorts of peripheral information for me, as well as one or two snippets I have been able to link in with the ancestors.
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Hi Lydart,
Thanks for the welcome. I can't seem to leave this place ::)
It's amazing how much free info is out there, and pretty much for the taking. I'm big on education and free information for all, and this is just one more way people can find out all sorts.
Victoria
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Thanks for the welcome. I can't seem to leave this place
You're hooked already !! RootsChat is like that !
But there IS life outside of RC remember !
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Welcome to Rootschat VictorianDreamer, you are so right!
I have found stacks of background information on my county, Sussex on google books and it has saved me money by requesting books in the library ::) ::)
I used to go to libraries before I discovered Rootschat ;D
Kerry
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Yeah, but 'real life' has a habit of biting your butt when it's time to get back to it. eg: daughter (who really has moved out of home) looking at me with them big brown eyes and "Mum, I'm hungry" lol
I figure the first couple days is more like navigating, but keep getting stuck when I start reading something, and never really get to navigate all over the place. Got lots to offer in here, just finding a comfy place to set up camp I guess :)
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Thanks for the welcome Kerry.
Glad to see someone else who's found good free information on the net!
I found one book that showed some of the furniture they use to use way back when, and others that explained how they didn't always have knives/forks either. I know sometimes we think our kids eat like that, lol, but can we even imagine how it would have been to not have had any cutlery?
Anyway, enough rambling :P
Victoria
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I didn't know Google book was free,so never tried it,think i will now ;)
Celia
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Let us know how your search went Celia. Would be good to get some feedback from someone that's never used it before :)
Victoria
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I discovered Google books while researching an ancestor who was a missionary in the Congo in the 1880s.
Found lots of information about him, some from snippets, some from complete books online. I even bought a couple of antiquarian books, at reasonable price, that had snippets of information online, but more in the actual book, proved invaluable in my research.
Susan :)
and Welcome to RootsChat Victoria :)
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Thanks for the welcome Susan,
I use it pretty much for anything, but especially for those things of interest from other centuries. I'll ocassionally find myself reading the advertisements in some of the books, from 17th/18th centuries. Not a lot has changed, but some of the more obscure things they sold made me laugh.
It's good to see people who already use google books, and brand new users of google books. It's a resourse that's rich in information, not just for genealogy, but all sorts of topics.
Victoria
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Welcome to Rootschat Victoria.
It was a fellow Rootschatter who put me on to Google Books. I have used it ever since and found so much of interest. Even a court-case involving forebears.
It's highly recommended , as is Rootschat. Enjoy........
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I didn't know Google book was free,so never tried it,think i will now ;)
Celia
?????
You started a thread about Google Books on 16 September that eventually spanned about 4 pages.
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Thanks for the welcome Emmeline,
Good to see it's been so helpful to you. I'm determined to convert the masses ;)
As for RootsChat, I gather most are finding this. Throughout the day, I'll get distracted reading one topic, and of course that leads to another etc. How many times have I had to close a dozen windows I've got open for RootsChat though! Was up to 6 just before I posted this :-\
Victoria
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Erato,
I just read the first page of replies in the thread you're referring to, and it might be in further, but maybe no one explained exactly how to get free full view books to Celia? Maybe that's what she meant, rather than not knowing about Google books altogether.
Victoria
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Hi VictorianDreamer,and a warm welcome.Im still 'new' here myself,but like you I have felt very much at home here as most of the folk are nothing less than amazingly friendly and helpful.I didnt know about google books either,although I have similarly found amazing stuff using the Image tag.
Thanks for the heads up.Im off there right now to see what I can find :P
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Thanks for the welcome Tabbitha,
Good luck with your search, I can pretty much guarantee you'll find something of interest.
Let us all know how you go! :)
Victoria
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Welcome Victoria,
The books are wonderful, aren't they - I've got lots of ones I've come across on my favourites list.
I usually just find them when I do a googlesearch, so I'm very grateful that you've told me about this short cut :)
I really hope you find lots of friends, and information on rootschat. So much to learn and admire. Have you looked at the photograph restoration boards yet, Victoria?
Enjoy!
Paulene :)
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Thanks for the welcome Paulene,
Another hint I should have given at the start was: if something in particular comes up that you're looking for, and it may show up several times in a book, do a search on the right hand side BEFORE you download it, and make a note (keep all the books in one folder, and one notepad/text file saved to the same folder, with reference to the book/pages), because once you download it, as I understand it, you can't search it for particular words. I always download them, because for some reason, I can't find books that I have found in there previously.
I've checked out each of the boards, including the photographic restoration one. Excellent work done by all involved (ticking over in my mind which photos I have already that may need a 'fix up' ;))
I'm amazed by the sheer volume of information in one spot, that's FREE, and the work done by those who offer it. Don't know how I didn't find this site years ago, as it was only by accident I ended up here now. Maybe I skipped over it because it had the word Chat in it. Not a big fan of chat rooms, so who knows. Either way, here now, love what I've found, and have set up a permanent camp in the corner :P
Congratulations to those who founded, and work hard at making this place what it is :)
Victoria
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Found a possible ancestor imprisoned for a poaching incident - and another who had a prize winnign poultry in the "Poultry journal" or something like that
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drodgers34,
You just never know what you'll find, or where you'll find it! :)
Victoria
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Thanks for the welcome Tabbitha,
Good luck with your search, I can pretty much guarantee you'll find something of interest.
Let us all know how you go! :)
Victoria
I found this
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Tabbitha,
Excellent! Hope it gives you more information to follow up on. Good find!
Victoria
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I was told about google books yesterday, Im sure I had used it once before and did not pay enough attention to the wealth of information that it yields.
More googling for me yeah! ;D
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Hi Floozy,
Good to hear. Hope you find lots :)
Victoria
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I didn't know Google book was free,so never tried it,think i will now
Celia
??
You started a thread about Google Books on 16 September that eventually spanned about 4 pages.
Did I? I don't remember doing that,mind you i don't remember doing a lot of things in September.Will see if i can find it.
I had a poke round google books last night but only got the the classic ones by famous authors.
Celia
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Hi everyone,
I had a look last night, intending just to have a quick look, but so much came up that I ended up going to bed in the early hours!
Found that this about my great grandfather x3 :
Adams 16th May 1859
1215 Edward Adams of the Stanton Ironworks, in the County of Derby, Furnace Manager, for an invention for - "The employment of machinery for drawing or extracting the gas, flames, or smoke from furnaces, and forcing the same into them or, into the cupola to be used as blast or fuel for melting iron or mines of any description"
I knew that he was a furnace manager, but didn't realise he'd invented anything!
This book is a wonderful resource for names:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&id=lRSWUY3p3GwC&dq=cronological+index+of+patents+applied+for&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=Q6V9vm1MZa&sig=U3n8zMxLDrLeMJaWPUpSst6EEe0&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
Thank you once again, Victoria :)
Paulene :)
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Brilliant Paulene andso lucky!
I'm off to search on a few of my names. I only ever really used it for places but you never know I could be lucky too :)
Kerry
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Good luck, Kerry :)
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Celia,
I have the same problem with mine. I get either Agatha Christie, or James Christie, the auctioneer. To stop that from happening, it depends on their name. In my case, I DO want James Christie's, as they run through the family, but I don't want Agatha Christie, as we don't have any Agatha's at all, so, when I type in my search, I'd type it like this:
Christie -auctioneer -Agatha
Any links with those two words with the minus signs before them, shouldn't come up, which should then leave closer to home searches. In your case, put your family name and -author. Good luck 'hunting' :)
Victoria
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Paulene,
Another excellent find. (Can't blame me for keeping you up though :P)
Victoria
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Kerry,
Hope you find loads, or at least one or two surprises.
Victoria
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All of you free book fanatics (that includes me) should take a look at Project Gutenburg as well, especially if you want background details - furniture, food, dress, political etc. etc.
Watch out though - you'll soon fill up your hard disk ;D
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Its here ...
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page?fb_page_id=6195089915&
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Thank you, Lydart :)
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Kerry,
Hope you find loads, or at least one or two surprises.
Victoria
So far none, but then how many mentions did Ag Labs get in books ::)
Although I do have a hard copy of a book that mentions how my great x 4 grandfather got his unusual name Gaius Diana. ;D
Kerry
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Kerry,
You know you can't drop a name like that, without explaining it! lol
Gotta hear this one :P
Victoria
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Absolutely! Gaius, I know, was a not too popular Caesar. But Diana.... :o
Do tell! :)
meles
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I think she did once before, but I can't remember the story ... so yes, tell us again please !
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At the risk of being told of for copyright laws I shall copy and paste from MY website http://www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk/html/nahomi_vincent.html ;D ;D ::) ::)
I recently came across a book called 'A Detective in Sussex' written by Donald Maxwell (Published by The Bodly Head in 1932) that described a story about how Gaius Diana got his name. I am sure this story is somewhat embellished but I like to think there is a grain of truth in it:
"The curious use of the name Diana as a man's Christian name happened in this wise. Old Mr Winchester, the father of this worthy, was in a state of great anxiety and restlessness for within a few hours, so said the good doctor, his wife would present him with a son or daughter. He was obsessed with the idea that he must think instantly of a name, but the difficulty was the uncertainty of the sex. He might be wasting his time choosing girl's names if it should be a boy and likewise a great waste of energy choosing boy's names if it should be a girl.
He firmly believed that the Bible was verbally inspired and was meant to be a guide for every eventuality. He would consult it in his dilemma and both name and sex could be determined at once. With trembling hands he carried the great volume to the table and in the solemn and fitful illumination of a candle opened the Book at random. The leaves fell apart and turned over slowly until they stopped towards the latter end of the tome. With impartial deliberateness he put his finger down upon a verse and it fell upon these words in the Acts of the Apostles. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled with confusion; and having caught Gaius and ...." This short passage was enough; one name for a girl and one for a boy.
A boy was born and he was baptised Gaius Diana. A mild remonstrance on the part of one or two friends did nothing more than bring forth the assertion that the Bible could not be wrong. Mr Winchester scorned any tinkering with Holy Writ or he could have compromised on Ephesians. Ephesians Winchester would have sounded very well for a boy and for a girl it could have been shortened into Effie."
I think this story is an absolute gem and one of the best stories found so far in my research, I just have this picture in my mind of Old Mr Winchester (James) sat at his desk, long white beard etc and it really brought him to life for me, particularly as we children often used to use the same method to get answers to questions like 'who will I marry' ;D ;D ;D
Kerry
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I can only wish that my parents took that care when naming me, instead of giving me the initials VD! :-[ lol
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Lovely story, Kerry :)
Victoria - what can I say! ::) At least it hasn't dampened your spirit :)
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Victoria - ditto Willow ;D but at least Victoria is a beautiful name :D
Kerry
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willow154,
It would take an ocean to dampen this spirit :)
Kerry,
Thanks :)
Victoria
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A great story about Gaius !
Thank you ...