It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to: ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message.

Have a great day!
Juliana

Google Toolbar
Patty Delmott

There was a lot of good search information in “What Do You Do When You Go Online?” by Paula Stuart-Warren.


There is also a Google Toolbar you can download (http://toolbar.google.com/) and install on your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer...). That way you can be at any web page and begin a search from the Google toolbar without typing www.google.com or going to another browser window to search.

A very nice feature of the toolbar is "Search Site." If I am visiting the Colorado Civil War Casualties Index, I might want to know if there are any Herrick names anywhere on their site. By entering the name "Herrick" in the Google toolbar and clicking "Search Site," I am searching www.colorado.gov for any occurrence of Herrick. However, this may not work as well if you are on a large site like RootsWeb.com searching for a common name.

Also on the Google Toolbar, if I have "Herrick" for my search criteria and click the picture frame icon, I search the internet for all pictures that have "Herrick" in the name.

Google Print
Christine Perham

You might want to try this new service of Google for obscure references to ancestors. I put in “perham maine” just to see what would turn up. Buried amid the documents that referenced Governor Sidney Perham and geographical notations for the town of Perham in northern Maine, it showed me a footnote in the book Revolution Downeast: The War of Independence in Maine, by James Leamon. This footnote referred to the Petition of Mary Perham to the General Court of Newcastle in June 1779. I had flipped through the book previously for general information, but her name did not appear in the chapter text. I would never have read the footnotes at the back of the book, and therefore had missed this connection to an ancestress who was asking the town for help to support her six children while her husband was away with the Continental Army. Having the direct reference to know where to go in the archives for the original words is a real gift. You can’t print out the page, but it is an incentive to acquire the book, and it opens up whole new avenues of research.

Digital Device Accessory Kit
Frank Raymond

This is to follow up on two previous comments on camera batteries. For those who are lucky enough to use AA or AAA batteries in their cameras, Duracell makes "Digital Device Accessory Kit" which consists of a 30 minute charger, 4 AA batteries, 4 AAA batteries, and a car adaptor which sells through Costco for about $20. It works on 110 volt AC or 12 volt DC power. It is great for trips. It should be available though other outlets as well and other vendors make similar products.

Try the Village Hall
Melanie Fagan

I had been trying to find information about local history for my Chicago suburb without much luck. The local library had nothing except some Chicago history books. I happened to be at the village hall to pick up some forms and asked the girl at the counter if she new anything about the area’s history. It just so happened that they had published a small book a few years ago for a significant anniversary. I was able to buy a copy for $5. The south suburbs often get overlooked in bigger "local" histories that focus on Chicago. This one book was a neat find! So if the area you're trying to get information on is often overshadowed by a nearby "big city," check with the village hall.