25 May, 2024 (Updated 11 July, 2024) by Sherri Mastrangelo
There’s a new blog post series on Start Researching, called “Surname Search”. Each post will feature a quick study of one surname at a time, providing links to resources available related to these surnames - found mostly online, but all available for free.
The goals for these posts include: providing a singular location for researchers to connect with those interested in the same surnames; sharing resources that may be difficult to find; highlighting resources available to all; and preserving aging and decaying internet websites for future researchers.
Currently there are twenty-two surnames studied:
Our goal is to hit 100 by the end of summer!
The categories of these resource links are as follows:
Related surnames or alternate spellings
Notable ancestors
Genealogy websites
Message boards
Social media groups & societies
Photographs
Local historical or genealogical society web clippings
Online news clippings or blog posts
Artifacts
Correspondence & letters
Homes & historical markers
Oral histories
Books (online & in print)
A few categories, like Books (online & in print), may refer to a work that is not available online, with the hopes you are able to find the material in other ways, like at your local library or used book store.
Also, the internet can be a fickle place. Occasionally links may reference sites that are no longer active, such as a family genealogy blog on rootsweb, and may instead include an archived link from the Wayback Machine. As I find these resources I archive them on the WBM as well, helping to preserve these resources for as long as the WBM is active. However, items found on auction sites like eBay may disappear when the listing is sold or removed.
Resource links are provided as a stepping stone to your own individual research, and are not vetted for accuracy or authenticity.
Please also remember that there are many individuals throughout time that share the same name, and possibly the same birth year or other attributes, and it is up to you to determine whether or not it is actually your ancestor. Not every ‘Jane Doe’ is your ‘Jane Doe’.
What these posts are NOT:
No individual database records. No census records, vital records, newspaper records, etc. or links to such, from sites such as Ancestry.com or Findmypast.org.
No links behind pay walls or anything that requires membership (other than an occasional registration with sites like FamilySearch.org to read an online book, for example).
No references to living individuals, to the best of our knowledge, for privacy.
No uploads of your research, family trees, or files (we will link to a public website of your work, however).
No research done within the blog post.
No database of surnames to search at this time.
These posts will also be updated in real time when new information is available.
Which surnames should be featured next?