Google Tips for Genealogy: Spelling

When you use Google you are searching an index of web pages found on the Internet. Keep in mind who publishes those web pages: fellow genealogists, cousins . . .human beings. Are human beings consistent with spelling? Nope. Do human beings make mistakes? You bet. Does every human being use his or her spell-checker? I wish.

Variant Spellings, Misspellings, and Typos:

When searching on names we have learned (or are learning) to look for all variant spellings of given names, surnames, and place names. For example, when looking for Anderson you should also look for Andersen, Andersson, Anderssen, and possibly just Anders, etc. The same goes for keywords or phrases that you might use in a search. So, when looking for one word/phrase also look for misspellings or typos for that word, such as:

• genealogy --> geneology, geneaology, genology
• ancestry --> ancestory
• family history --> family histroy
• cemetery --> cemetary

Other Languages:

Remember to use words and phrases from languages other than your own, particularly those from the country of origin for your ancestors. If you are looking for your Swedish ancestor use Swedish words in your searches. For example, use translation software or tools like the FamilySearch word lists to locate the Swedish words for birth (födda, födde, född, födelse), burial (begravning), wife (hustru, maka), etc.

Build Your Queries:

You need to build a series of possible search queries based on various spellings, words, and phrases. The queries can be stored in a document on your computer and used over and over again each time you sit down to Google your ancestors. Just copy and paste them when you are ready to search. So, using my previous (simple) Peter Johnson example, I would start to build a series of several queries like this:

• genealogy peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• geneology peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• geneaology peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• genology peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• "family history" peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• "family histroy" peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• "family tree" peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• ancestry peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• ancestory peter johnson iowa sweden
  
• genealogy peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• geneology peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• geneaology peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• genology peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• "family history" peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• "family histroy" peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• "family tree" peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• ancestry peter johnsen iowa sweden
  
• ancestory peter johnsen iowa sweden

As you can see above it would be possible to come up with dozens of variant queries to try out based on combinations of misspellings, typos, and more.