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Google advice

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Chris from Kent

Chris from Kent Report 17 Oct 2007 11:01

The google thread is so long now that I thought my question may get lost.
I have the surnames Holland and Spain.
Whenever I google these names without first names I get anything to do with the country.
Deptford - Spain
Folkestone - Spain
Deptford/Greenwich - Holland
Any help to make my life easier
Thanks
Chris

MarleneB

MarleneB Report 17 Oct 2007 11:11

this site might help

http://www.hollandfamilyhistory.co.uk/

imp

imp Report 17 Oct 2007 11:54

I know exactly what you mean I have the surname 'Good' in my tree..I usually put "Good Surname" but that is hit and miss - even things like 'Good Family in Lincoln' bring up all sorts of twaddle..as in 'they were a good family..............

Gail.

Julie

Julie Report 17 Oct 2007 12:06

Hi Chris

If you try say..Holland surname genealogy

you get a lot come up..I have the surname Fountain in my tree

Julie

KathleenBell

KathleenBell Report 17 Oct 2007 12:11

I find that if you google in this way you get better results:-

Holland+surname

Kath. x

Chris from Kent

Chris from Kent Report 17 Oct 2007 12:39

Thanks guys,
I have been trying out all your suggestions.
The Hollandfamilyhistory site is very interesting but in 1811 my lot were still living in Greenwich.
But its worth keeping in mind.
I have tried Holland surname genealogy (also tried putting uk after) but still likes to give me country info.
Holland+surname - probably a better way but still similar results as above. I have also tried Spain.
I can only imagine the problems you have with Good and Fountain.
I do just find it so difficult working out how to tell google that I want the surname and not the country.

MaryfromItaly

MaryfromItaly Report 17 Oct 2007 13:35

One thing that may help a bit is to add site:uk after your search term.

That way you'll only get UK sites, not American, Canadian or Australian ones.

However, it will exclude .com sites, which may sometimes contain useful information.

If you happen to know the occupation, you could try a search like:


Holland Deptford lighterman site:uk

You can also exclude certain words, e.g.:


Holland Deptford lighterman -Dutch site:uk

won't give you any pages with the word "Dutch" in them.

Apart from that, the best way is going to be to add the Christian name and put the whole name in inverted commas, e.g.:

"John Holland" Deptford

MaryfromItaly

MaryfromItaly Report 17 Oct 2007 13:44

By the way, don't forget to try Google Book Search, which can be useful:

http://books.google.com/