Writings in the Sand

Re-google-tation

It was about 8 or 9 years ago that I decided to try genealogical research. I didn’t want to pay for any service, so all my research would have to be through information that was free on the internet. Google was my research assistant. I didn’t realize it then, but that was the perfect time to do this research as many of the sites that were giving out vital statistics and such for free, have now shuttered their search functions and charge for any release of information.

I was lucky also that nearly all my mother’s paternal ancestry was already recorded and kept on a website that was completely free to search. The Island Registry contains detailed family trees on many families that immigrated to Prince Edward Island, Canada. Without that giant first step, I might have not pursued further.

There was a story told in my mother’s family of a situation involving a murder. This happened in the 19th century, so no one who knew what really happened was still living. The story the family circulated amongst themselves made the murderer out to be quite a noble creature, and the murder a tragedy, but not a real crime.

I was surprised, therefore, when I accessed the local papers of the time on Google and read some very salacious details that the family had never disclosed (though, I don’t believe my mother knew of these facts). Unfortunately, I did not print these out and Google has since been stopped from publishing them for free.

This week, I was searching the internet, trying to find those newspaper articles again when I happened upon a Facebook page devoted to crime with a post about this very murder. Through the post, I have made contact with cousins I didn’t know existed.

Sometimes it is worthwhile to google something that you’ve searched for dozens of times before. The internet is always changing and new information is being added all the time. I found much more than I was looking for.