Find Others Searching your Family Tree
-by Kathi Reid
Researcher Directory Search Engines
One of the more exciting experiences for a genealogist is to find some one else researching the same family. Not only is there the joy of being introduced on-line to a new cousin, but there is the added benefit of being able to pool your genealogical research. Sometimes that cousin may hold the key to your most elusive problem or a hold just a very small piece needed to finish a perplexing puzzle. They may have family pictures, stories, bibles or letters to share or have completed some research on a line that you haven't yet begun. And not only can you pool past research, now it is possible to share future research.
But how do you find these elusive and unknown cousins who hold such possibilities and give a sense of family connection? Well, there are six search engines created for the sole purpose of connecting genealogists working on the same family tree and they are available at
Researchers. These search engines are supported by some of the largest and most respected genealogy sites on the web - Ancestry, Rootsweb, and others, and all are free. These search engines have over one million surnames submitted by over 100,000 genealogists. Each of these search engines has a unique database, so your best chance of finding another researcher is to search them all.
Start with the furthest back ancestor that you know and do this for each surname. When you get the results from these search engines, you will have a list of potential matches. Go down the list and eliminate any that do not match your ancestor's geographic location and the dates at that location. The remaining entries are your potential cousins. Drop a note to each researcher stating where you found their name, along with a little about your ancestor with location and dates, and ask if there could be a match. Your results will probably have a lot to do with how rare or common the surname you enter is, how many generations back you are searching and just plain luck. Does this work? You bet! I have found unknown 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th cousins, and other cousins where we have not yet figured out the relationship - all using this method.
When you have searched all the engines, don't forget to submit your own surnames to each database so you can be found at a later date. Every day more people are using the internet to begin their genealogical quest. Let that new online cousin find you by making sure your name is available on these researcher databases.
Research Directories Add your surnames to these researcher directories.
© Copyright 1997 - 2009 by Kathi Reid -- All Rights Reserved. This article may not be copied, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written permission from the author.
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