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This article first appeared in the April 1997 issue of the Journal of Online Genealogy
When is a genealogy Web site not merely good but great? This article highlights two very different sites which stand out amongst their peers - each for different reasons.
Try as I might in my researches, I have not yet been able to get my ancestors back to the land. I haven't had the privilege of finding a single sod buster, dirt farmer, or Ag. Lab. in my pedigree. At my local Family History Center, I can't swap stories with my fellow researchers about the ins and outs of using deeds, tax rolls, and probate records. My urban ancestors simply did not leave the same volume of records behind them as their country cousins. Records of land ownership, particularly in the United States, are indispensable to the genealogist once the vital records and census sources have been exhausted.
Some of the most useful online genealogy Web sites are those that teach us how to access and use specific types of records. Land records come in many forms with each record type having its own special intricacies on how to use them effectively. A very valuable web site regarding one specific type of land record is found at Gary Krell's Homestead Records Information Page (http://members.aol.com/gkrell/homestead/home.html). If you're like me and not from farm stock, you may not realize the genealogical value of Homestead records. Homesteading was the legal process of claiming and settling unoccupied lands in the U.S. West and Midwest. Many of our ancestors availed themselves of this public bonanza from 1862 onwards. Gary has developed his site specifically with the state of South Dakota in mind, but the information and procedures he gives on obtaining and using these records are applicable to any of the thirty public domain states where homesteading occurred since Homestead records are Federal, not state, records.
Since Homestead records require some basic understanding of the original land claim process, Gary has provided an excellent Definitions and Additional Information page. Each of the important terms and processes involved in creation of the original Homestead records are clearly defined. In addition, there is a Step-by-Step Procedure page which gives the online genealogist instructions on how to obtain their ancestors' Homestead records. No, these records are not online nor are they obtainable online. However, Gary has removed the mystery of obtaining Homestead records with his clearly laid out instructions.
This site really shines by providing a description of what you can expect to learn from Homestead records. This is where a great site such as Gary's distinguishes itself from the merely good sites. By explaining why Homestead records are useful to genealogists, Gary tells us the all important "why" you'd want these records and not just the "how" of obtaining them. As a final attention to detail, a link is provided to an online example of Homestead documents provided by the National Archives & Records Administration (http://www.nara.gov/nara/EXTRA/ingalls.html). Scanned images of 24 original documents pertaining to one Homestead claim are available for viewing online. These particular documents are examples from the DeSmet, South Dakota homestead of the family of Laura Ingalls. She authored the Little House on the Prairie series of books. If you're ever in DeSmet, you'll want to visit the Ingalls house "in town" which is still standing and has been turned into a museum. When I visited the museum there, I learned a lot about the cold pioneer life on the northern Plains.
Another category of useful sites for online genealogy are those which help us sharpen the tools we use for online research. Online genealogists rely on the power of the written word to describe the information we seek. Usually, we write queries either for posting on electronic mailing lists or for placement on Web sites which host queries for specific localities or surnames. How successful these queries are depends on how well they are written. A well written query grabs the attention of the reader, establishes the known facts, and gets to the point of the sought-after information quickly.
Poorly written queries, on the other hand, rarely produce successful results. Leaving the reader confused as to their purpose, they're often ignored. We've all seen badly done queries. Poorly written queries are like the weather - everyone complains about it but no one ever does anything about it. Gary Lee Phillips, host of the St. Clair County, Michigan GenWeb site has done something about it.
This Gary [Why do webmasters named Gary have such great sites?] has developed a wonderful Sample Queries Page which highlights the differences between clear and unclear queries (http://users.rootsweb.com/~mistclai/sample-queries.html). While intended as an aid for those placing queries on the St. Clair County Queries page, Gary's excellent site can help us all in writing successful queries for mailing lists, newsgroups, or for Web sites which accept queries. As Gary puts it, he is "stealing shamelessly" from Bill Mills' example queries for the soc.genealogy.surnames newsgroup to humorously show how NOT to compose a query. Each bad example is reviewed to highlight why it is poorly written. Every poorly written example has a corresponding link to an improved example of the same query. These before and after examples are an excellent way to show us how to write effective queries. This is a terrific instruction manual for all online genealogists on how best to compose queries. After all, queries are one of our major tools for online genealogy.
On a side note, many online genealogists use signature files in their e-mails. These little text files append themselves to the e-mail messages you send out and they can tell all of your e-mail recipients what surnames you're researching. Some genealogists include thought-provoking quotes or humorous phrases in their signature files. I've seen literally thousands of these signature files but there is one in particular I can't stop laughing about. It's from Terri Jensen of TJ's Genealogy Page (http://www.vii.com/~jensenet/terri.html). Anyone who has found original documents showing that their ancestors could not read or write will immediately recognize it. Terri signs off her e-mails with:
her Terri x Jensen mark
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