Monday, May 2, 2016

Google Books Finds: Including an Article with Four Photos!

I have used Google Books in the past, but after listening to a Genealogy Gems podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke on Friday, I decided to spend some time seeing what I could find. In just minutes, I found an article with four photos! And over the next two hours, I found dozens of 'hits.'

Me with Lisa Louise Cooke in Houston, March 2014
         
Tip: For unusual surnames (like Holthoefer), just search for the surname. For more common names, put the name in quotation marks & add a place name.

Herman J Holthoefer (1863-1950), a druggist/pharmacist, was a nephew of my great, great grandmother, Franciska/Frances (Holthoefer) Adam. I found a three page article about him in the 1919 "Western Druggist: Volume 41." It is titled "Druggist Doubles His Business in Two Years" and includes four images:

Portion of ad for "Holthoefer's Health Salt" from
"Western Druggist: Volume 41" 

  • a photo of Herman (about 55 years old)
  • a photo of a person (probably Herman) in the store
  • a photo of his store window
  • an ad for a medicine he developed, Holthoefer's Health Salts (shown above)
Besides this article, I found:
  • several city directories listing my family members, including a business of one of my great, great grandfathers I didn't know about
  • biographical sketches I'd not seen 
  • an ancestor as a witness on a (potential relative's) will 
  • a transcription of a deed transfer
  • additional information about a fatal car wreck of one of my relatives
  • & more!
Some of these books are available online, but others need to be requested via interlibrary loan. I have a lot more work to do!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

12 comments:

  1. Some really great finds there, Dana, and all adding color to your ancestors' lives.

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    1. Thanks, Dara. I LOVE adding the "stories" to our ancestors' lives! I have another one I plan on writing up today or tomorrow. You never know what you'll find!

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  2. I love Google Books for the reasons you mentioned and it sure paid off for you!

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    1. I found even MORE since then! It's definitely a site I need to spend more time with. Stay tuned! :)

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  3. I'll have to try more google books again. I haven't searched in a while, but it is always smart to go back and repeat searches periodically. You never know what may have been added.

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    1. That's absolutely true! I should have made that more clear... I had searched for Holthoefer before on Google Books & this hadn't come up. It was #2 on the list now, so it was new! #1 was a book I contributed to that was just published in November. :)

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  4. I'll have to try more google books again. I haven't searched in a while, but it is always smart to go back and repeat searches periodically. You never know what may have been added.

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  5. Dana, it's great to see you encouraging family historians to use Google Books. I wrote about my experiences in Google Books: 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy, no.26 (and I wish I was related to the Gertrude HANSON about whom I found the article in 'Life' Magazine!)

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    1. Thanks, Judy! I wasn't aware you could search for magazine articles separately. I'll have to look into that!

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  6. Hooray for your discoveries! I found a book about my ancestor's military unit during the Civil War, not by searching for his name but by searching for his unit commander's name. A wonderful book that I hadn't expected to find. Granted, I didn't go directly to Google Books but by searching the overall Google site. The results said, "Hey, I found a book for you." So cool.

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    1. Nice! And, I, too, often search for the unit's commander's name when searching for information about a regiment. It's a great way to find these men who fought in wars!

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  7. Hooray for your discoveries! I found a book about my ancestor's military unit during the Civil War, not by searching for his name but by searching for his unit commander's name. A wonderful book that I hadn't expected to find. Granted, I didn't go directly to Google Books but by searching the overall Google site. The results said, "Hey, I found a book for you." So cool.

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