{"id":4508,"date":"2013-08-28T15:34:03","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T15:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=4508"},"modified":"2023-05-19T11:25:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T15:25:20","slug":"tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-genealogybank-subscription","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-genealogybank-subscription.html","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Get the Most Out of Your GenealogyBank Subscription"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book \u201c<\/em>From the Family Kitchen.<\/em><\/span>\u201d In this guest blog post Gena provides some search tips, and shows some resources available on the GenealogyBank website, to help her readers better understand how to use GenealogyBank with their family history research.<\/em><\/p>\n

What are you doing this weekend? Have any genealogy research plans? How about spending the weekend with GenealogyBank<\/a> and getting to know it better? What can you do to get the most out of your GenealogyBank subscription? Here are a few resources and tips to get you started.<\/p>\n

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Tip 1: Start with the Learning Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s in the Learning Center<\/a> that you can find guidance for using GenealogyBank and researching your family history\u2014there is a tab for it on the top of the GenealogyBank home page. The Learning Center page<\/a> features six different sections, offering you many free resources to better understand how to do family history research\u2014and how GenealogyBank can help you do it.<\/p>\n

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Learn Online<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the \u201cLearn Online\u2014Webinars & Video Tutorials\u201d section, I recommend the video \u201cHow to Search GenealogyBank\u201d to start.<\/p>\n

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GenealogyBank Blog<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can access the GenealogyBank Blog<\/a> from the Learning Center, which offers hundreds of genealogy articles. Once there you can search the blog by keyword. Articles on the blog include tips, \u201chow-tos,\u201d and case studies. Reading the blog will give you many ideas for researching your family history.<\/p>\n

Newsletter Archives<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can also access the extensive archives of the monthly newsletter GenealogyBank News<\/em><\/a> from the Learning Center, providing hundreds more genealogy articles to help you get started tracing your family tree.<\/p>\n

The three sections on the lower half of the Learning Center page<\/a> provide even more resources for family history research.<\/p>\n

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Download Free E-Book<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Be sure to download the free e-book Getting Started Climbing Your Family Tree<\/em><\/a>\u2014this provides a great introduction.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s New?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I also recommend searching on the list of newspapers available under the heading \u201cWhat\u2019s New?<\/a>\u201d to get an idea of what newspapers GenealogyBank has to assist you in your genealogy research. Remember that newspapers are constantly being added to the website on a daily basis, so this list is frequently updated.<\/p>\n

Call Our Family History Consultants<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Learning Center also provides a toll-free phone line to reach a Family History Consultant; these GenealogyBank experts will show you how to better use the site for your family history research.<\/p>\n

Tip 2: Try Our Other Genealogy Databases<\/strong><\/p>\n

GenealogyBank is known for its historical newspaper archives<\/a>, but there is so much more to the website. Besides newspapers you can find the Social Security Death Index<\/a> (SSDI), historical documents<\/a>, historical books<\/a>, and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. Why not take some time this weekend to look over these resources and see which ones should be explored further for your family history research?<\/p>\n

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U.S. Congressional Serial Set<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever use the U.S. Congressional Serial Set\u2014a collection of the official papers and documents of Congress? Not sure how it can help your genealogy research? 19th century gems like land records, pensioners\u2019 lists and military registers can be found in this U.S. government collection.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite finds from this collection is the list that includes the name of my 4th great-grandmother\u2019s husband, who was pardoned by the President for being a \u201cRebel Postmaster\u201d during the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Start your search of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set by using the Historical Documents & Records<\/a> search page.<\/p>\n

Tip 3: How to Become a Search Master<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are three steps to follow to help you become a master at searching for family records in GenealogyBank.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Make a Keyword List<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First, make a list of the keywords you will be searching on, including the names of your ancestors, places they lived, or events they were a part of. Make note of name variations, including the use of initials for the first or middle name, as well as any alternative spellings. When researching women, remember that they may not be listed by their given name, but instead by their husband\u2019s name\u2014as in Mrs. George Smith. Because names can be misspelled, consider using alternative search techniques like wild cards to catch any mentions that you might otherwise miss.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Start Broad, Then Narrow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, cast out a wide net and then narrow your search. Techniques for narrowing your search include things like searching for newspapers in just the state that your ancestor was from, or adding other family members\u2019 names, or the name of an organization. If a name is unusual, consider searching by just the surname and then narrowing your search by adding the given name. Casting a wide net is a good technique if your ancestor had a fairly uncommon name\u2014but in the case of Smith, Jones or Adams, it may just result in a bigger research headache.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Get Search Engine Savvy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Third, make sure that you understand how to best use the GenealogyBank search engine. This will assist you as you consider different search techniques. From the GenealogyBank Help page<\/a> you can learn such things as how to search by collection, how to narrow your results, and advanced search techniques like phrase searching and wild cards.<\/p>\n

Have some free time this weekend? Spend that time getting the most out of your GenealogyBank subscription and find more information to tell the story of your family history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d In this guest blog post Gena provides some search tips, and shows some resources available on the GenealogyBank website, to help her readers better understand how to use GenealogyBank with their family history research. What are you doing this weekend? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[3152,5280,5,5290,422,5302,1129,1658,2233,1656,2719,1661,4796,4797,5197,4801,1692,431,465,2191,5323,4800,4799,4795,1070,5366,2020,27,1084,2043,5426,5430,5436,3717,844,1795,581,4798,5451],"class_list":["post-4508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-adams","tag-book","tag-books","tag-civil","tag-civil-war","tag-death","tag-family","tag-family-history-2","tag-family-research","tag-family-tree","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-genealogybank-2","tag-genealogybank-news","tag-getting-started-climbing-your-family-tree","tag-grandmother","tag-hartley","tag-historical-books","tag-historical-documents","tag-historical-newspapers","tag-history","tag-husband","tag-jeffery-hartley","tag-keywords","tag-learning-center","tag-military","tag-news","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-newspapers","tag-obituaries","tag-recent-obituaries","tag-records","tag-research","tag-search-engine","tag-smith","tag-social-security","tag-social-security-death-index","tag-ssdi","tag-u-s-congressional-serial-set","tag-video"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4508"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91707,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions\/91707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}