Re: Navigating the IGI

["aajay1073" <aajay1073@...>]

Emilie,

Yes, it takes a lot of manipulating of surnames to find people.  
There was a previous post regarding all the tricks.  Check out 
message #155 from about two years ago for part of them.  I personally 
like the "exact spelling" check box.  It has lead me to many break 
throughs...

Good luck on your search,
Angie Godina

--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Emilie Garcia" <auntyemfaustus@h...> 
wrote:
> Recently I sat down after a long time away from browsing the 
FamilySearchcom's IGI database, and after many years of searching, I 
found three more generations back on my father's side who were from 
Tepetongo, Zacatecas, and all in one sitting.  I had tried looking 
for these people for years, but had no luck, and they were there all 
the time. I guess the other day their spirits were with me (I do 
beseech them to show themselves), and they wanted to be found.  It is 
funny that sometimes I can find people in the IGI, for myself and 
others, and sometimes I can't.  
> 
> Shortly after learning my way around the IGI, I started really 
digging up stuff.  By trial and error, and thinking out of the box, I 
discovered ways to locate my Mexican ancestors in the IGI.  I guess 
by studying the naming customs in Mexico and the way the transcribers 
think, I developed a sense of how they may be listed.  I think it is 
George Ryskamp that has an article somewhere that I recently read on 
how to navigate the IGI for ancestors in Mexico, and the process is 
pretty much what I developed for myself, but he couldn't list every 
clue in detail.  As usual, I had to learn the hard way before I found 
his article.   
> 
> I don't know how to explain my system, but it works most of the 
time.  How I have lapses sometimes is something I can't explain.  I 
have to be in the right frame of mind, I guess; I just get a feeling 
that this is the time I will find something.  Maybe the brain needs 
to refresh itself or something.  My husband sometimes asks me why I 
stay so late on the computer some days, and the other day I told him 
that I was on a roll on the IGI and couldn't quit since I was 
searching a thread that contained thousands of people, making me go 
from one page to the next, and if I dropped the thread, I would not 
be able to go back to that series in the IGI since I could not 
reconstruct how I found it in the first place.  Sometimes I go 
through lists of thousands to find one ancestor, but it is worth it, 
since the film number and place found leads me to other generations 
and places, etc. That is how I was able to help Helyn years ago and 
recently when she couldn't find someone in the IGI that I was able to 
find with my system.
> 
> One thing I can explain is that I found that there seemed to be a 
naming tradition in Mexico where people were given the name of a 
grandparent or great-uncle, etc.  Then people married into the same 
families over and over through the generations.  Then too, men 
married several times and their children used the surnames of their 
step-mothers.  Also, for some reason, I realized that some letters 
are interchangeable in surnames.  Also, most people had several first 
names not known to me so the IGI will not at first find them under 
the only names by which they were later known.  For instance, I just 
found my Suriano ancestors.  Their name is sometimes spelled Zuriano, 
Soriano, and Sariano.   
> 
> The one person I knew about was Teodosa Flores (my great-great-
grandmother, the mother of my great-grandmother Rafaela Tinajero), 
but I noticed that sometimes she was listed as Teodosia or Theodosia 
Felix and sometimes Suriano.  I wondered where the Felix  and Suriano 
came in, and recently I found her parents, Jose Maria Flores and 
Guadalupe Suriano.  Aha!  That led me to Guadalupe Suriano's parents, 
Marcelo Suriano and Ma. Francisca Munos, and to Marcelo's parents, 
Paulin Suriano and Regina (surname not listed).  I am anxious to send 
for these films and see where they lead me. Those last are my ggggg-
grandparents who lived in the early 1700's!  I believe that Jose 
Maria Flores had a second wife surnamed Felix and his children from 
the first marriage used her surname also.   
> 
> Other people I have found lately are my Olague ancestors.  Pedro 
Olague was Rafaela's husband, his parents were Santiago Olague and 
Eduviges Suriano, Santiago's parents were Jose Balentin Olague and 
Maria Josefa de Lucio.  Eduviges' parents were Julian Suriano ad 
Rafaela Quijas.  The surnames Suriano and De Lucio sound Italian to 
me.  Quijas is a name I have never heard before.  Anyone have those 
names in their tree?  I could not find Edubiges for the longest time, 
and come to find out, she is in the IGI as Maria Eduvije Sariano!  
Who knew?   
> 
> So, try reading the article (I think it is by George Ryskamp) on 
searching the IGI for Mexicans.  It might help you, but then again, 
like me, you might have to learn it the hard way like I did, by trial 
and error, using your intuition. Use all the known paternal and 
maternal surnames together, paternal surname first together with 
maternal surname, in different combinations and possible spellings.  
And be patient.  You sometimes stumble on a thread that contains 
thousands of names, but the "Find on this Page" function takes you to 
the locale quickly on each page so you don't have to look at each and 
every one if they are not in your geographical search area.  (Using 
advanced search for a geographical area doesn't always find things 
and it is best not to use "exact spelling"  except when using two 
surnames together).  However, the IGI only brings up the first 5000 
names in a series when using just one surname and not 
specifying "exact spelling".  There are no shortcuts, really.  When 
you reach that number there is a message that comes up informing you 
that the database is unable to download more names than that.   
GRRRR.  Just when I was about to find that elusive Jose *  Garcia *, 
(ha, ha).  I wish the IGI could handle wild cards, but I guess it 
can't, can it?  I know Ancestry.com databases can handle wild cards, 
no?
> 
> Emilie Garcia
> Port Orchard, WA.------Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer 
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