[Genealogy] What I Learned, Trips, and More

Wed Jan 28 12:24:49 CST 2026

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28 January 2026
Genealogy Update
** What I Learned Researching My Ostfriesens
** Upcoming Trips
** Webinars--Full-Text Search--And More

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What I Learned Researching My Ostfriesens
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By ancestry, I’m one-half Ostfriesen. My maternal forebears all hailed from
that small ethnic region in northwestern Germany and came to the United
States in the mid-to-late 19th century. Much of my early research focused
on learning more about these ancestors and there were several things I
learned:

   - Names don’t have to be fixed. Many of my Ostfriesen immigrants changed
   their first names (or at least anglicized them) and practiced patronymics
   until the early 19th century. In areas where patronymics are practiced,
   last names are not fixed and a man named Jann Habben has children with the
   last name of Janssen and a father with the first name of Habbe. A man named
   Gerd Hinrichs had a father with the first name of Hinrich and children with
   the last name of Gerdes.
   - Names really don’t have to be fixed. One ancestor took the name of the
   property he bought as his own.
   - People migrate to areas where they know others.
   - People marry within their ethnic community.
   - Immigrants and their children are inclined to hold tight to ethnic
   practices. After that it starts to wane in many cases.
   - People are more likely to interact financially and legally with
   members of their own ethnic community.
   - Researching every record you can locate on a family will tell you more
   than you ever realized you did not know and may even correct some errors.
   - You are not as ethnically pure as you thought you were. I’m just a
   little shy of 1/2 Ostfriesen as several of my 16th century Ostfriesens were
   actually from other areas of Germany–or even, heaven forbid, France!
   - A failure to understand the language and culture of our ancestors can
   cause us to misunderstand and misinterpret some of their actions.
   - People often have multiple relationships with the same person–they may
   be related biologically in one way (or more), by marriage, and by a shared
   historical common geographic origin.
   - Our ancestors weren’t perfect.

Many of those lessons are applicable to ancestors from any
location–immigrants or not. They’ve helped me research my Irish immigrants
during about the same period and other Germans a few decades earlier. A
significant number of these issues are ones I encounter as I research my
families who settled in Virginia in the late 17th century and migrated to
the western part of that state over a hundred year period. People aren’t as
different as we sometimes think.

My Ostfriesens are near and dear to my heart. The first names sound strange
to some yet they sound perfectly normal to me (Focke, Heipke, and Altje
immediately come to mind as falling in that “strange to you but normal to
me” category). I always try and say them (including Ubbe, Tjode, Gerd,
Trientje, Focke, Bruns, Habben, Ufkes, Mimka, etc.) the way I would hear my
maternal grandparents and Mother say them in the only real remnant of their
ancestor’s Platt language that remained with them-even if many people don’t
say the names the “old way” any more. There’s some sense of tradition and
comfort in that and a little bit of a connection with my Mother and my
Grandparents in doing so.

My research has expanded quite a bit beyond my Ostfriesens, but I’m glad it
started with them. That experience taught me quite a bit.
----------------------------
Join me on a Research Trip
----------------------------

   - Midwest Genealogy Center-Independence, Missouri, May 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/>
   - Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, March 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025-library-of-virginia-research-trip-richmond-virginia/>
   - FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, 12-19 August 2026–details
   just announced
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2022-family-history-library-salt-lake-city-trip/>
   - Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, September 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/acpl2022/>

-----------------------------

January 2026 Full-Text Search at FamilySearch Webinar

Intro price ENDING--regularly $37.50--save $30

-----------------------------

We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching
at *FamilySearch*--reflecting changes made to the site since this was
recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this
functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout
complete with forms to help you find more people.

If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation--email me at
mjnrootdig at gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10.
Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026

Your purchase includes:

   - *A 90 minute (or more presentation)* you can view as often as you want.
   - *Detailed handout* with charts and forms to help organize your
   searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and
   customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new
   document.

We’ll be including and discussing:

*Determining what is in Full-Text Search—*what you can access at home and
what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access.

*Seeing How AI Transcriptions are different*—they aren’t like the
transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach.

*Remembering that Full-Text means every word*—approaches need to differ as
we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more.

*Asking Who* is in the record? We aren’t just searching for the main person
like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who
could be mentioned in a record.

*Determining How to search?* There are a variety of ways to search and
filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best
strategy.

*Creating search strategies*—how full-text search changes your approach and
why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective.

*Determining what you found* The interface does not always make this clear.
We will show you how to get beyond the confusion and help you get enough
detail for a citation.

*Creating effective problem-solving approaches*—what to do when you cannot
find something you want.

*Demonstrating practical examples*—completely new people and families from
our previous presentations.

Available for immediate download for $30
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=246272&method_id=268990>.
Complete handout included and additional forms.

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Common Names When Using Full-Text Search?

-------------------

Having difficulties with common names when using the full-text search at
FamilySearch? Take a look at our presentation on this very topic.

Common Name webinar:

https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/

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--  ------------------------------------
Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day

http://www.genealogytipoftheday.comnames-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/
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