Google Search

Originally posted in 2010

It is amazing what can be found online. With a simple Google Search of your family surname and the location in which they lived, you can have many, many pages of information show up. All of this information can lead you somewhere, right? I find that it compares to having a television service. You’ve got all of those channels, maybe hundreds, but there is nothing on.

Sometimes I’ve gotten lucky with my genealogy internet searches. I’ve found plenty of message boards out there including Ancestry’s and others. I didn’t realize that Ancestry’s message board would feed into a search engine but it does. The various message boards are a great way to network. I have found several outside of Ancestry and posted information.

Additionally, there is so much heraldry information on the web about individual surnames. I have accumulated plenty of information about Flanagan and McLaughlin enabling me to write my own general heraldry with the family crest about each name. Sometimes the heraldry information can lead you to some genealogy for your own family. It hasn’t quite worked out that way for me yet. I still give it credit.

I was able to find Shaffrey’s online in County Meath, Ireland. I emailed one person but they have very little about their family tree. Shaffrey is a rather uncommon Irish surname. It is found primarily in County Meath, Ireland, in the area of Kells, Moynalty, and Dunshaughlin. My search for that line has come to a slow crawl. I’m still working on that family line but internet searches have not turned up much lately. I do think that if I can specifically find my Maxwell line in Shancarnan, County Meath, which is also near Moynalty, that I will find some Shaffrey’s.

The search goes on. Everyday more and more information is placed on the internet. I will keep plugging away.