{"id":597,"date":"2024-12-08T04:45:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2024-12-08T04:45:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:45:36","slug":"the-2-minute-cyndis-list-experiment-that-helped-me-find-my-elusive-ancestor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/08\/the-2-minute-cyndis-list-experiment-that-helped-me-find-my-elusive-ancestor\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2 Minute Cyndi's List Experiment That Helped Me Find My Elusive Ancestor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/picture><\/noscript><\/p>\n

The 2 Minute Cyndi\u2019s List Experiment That Helped Me Find My Elusive Ancestor<\/h1>\n

Last Updated September 22, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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By Marsha Peterson-Maass, author of\u00a0Fundamentals of Genealogy\u00ae: The Most Helpful Tools You\u2019ve Never Used<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re new to genealogy, there\u2019s no denying it, Cyndi\u2019s List is an absolute must! Cyndi Ingle describes her free website as, \u201cA categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.\u201d But I\u2019m afraid that many of us genealogy old timers (who remember when Cyndi\u2019s List was simply a LONG scrolling list), still see it as a mere online directory. Is this how you feel about it? If so, then chances are you\u2019re not using Cyndi\u2019s List to its full potential.<\/p>\n

What if you could transform Cyndi\u2019s List into an even more valuable online research tool than it already is? Below, I\u2019ll share a quick experiment that helped me do just that.\u00a0The truth is, Cyndi\u2019s List might have already discovered what you\u2019re looking for \u2013 along with what you didn\u2019t realize you needed.\u00a0Sounds too good to be true, right? Not necessarily. <\/strong><\/p>\n

While this site is definitely an online directory showing you links (within organized categories, to websites of genealogical interest), if you use it as a research tool it might surprise you by revealing a different research strategy than you\u2019re currently using. In the case of my 2-minute experiment below, it might even lead you to an answer or show you why you were having the research problem in the first place.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> We conducted a short interview with Cyndi in 2015. You can read that here.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cCyndi\u2019s List 2 Minute Experiment\u201d<\/h3>\n

Skeptical? I was too until I tried this little experiment. I challenged myself by saying, \u201cI\u2019m going to use what I\u2019m currently researching (I\u2019m having a problem finding biographical details for the elusive Percy of Tucson) and use Cyndi\u2019s List as a research tool to see whether it can help me get past this problem \u2013 and I\u2019m not spending more than two minutes on this experiment.\u201d Two minutes later I surprisingly proclaimed, \u201cWOW!\u201d<\/p>\n

No joke. (Too bad I can\u2019t be this enthusiastic about the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.)<\/p>\n

Let me explain what I did and why.<\/strong> The problem: I couldn\u2019t find many biographical details for a WWII veteran named Percy who lived in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona until his death there in 1980. I found several military and vital event documents by simply searching my favorite online databases, including his military headstone and an obituary from \u201cThe Arizona Daily Star\u201d (Tucson, Arizona) newspaper.<\/p>\n

In the past, I\u2019ve relied heavily on newspaper sources for biographical detail. I had checked the largest U.S. digital newspapers database to retrieve Percy\u2019s obituary but that\u2019s all the information I could find in that mega source. I began my 2-minute experiment by going to the Cyndi\u2019s List homepage and typing the two words \u201cTucson newspaper\u201d in the Search Box (upper right corner of the homepage).<\/p>\n

\"\u201cTucson<\/picture>

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In the category called, \u201cUnited States \u00bb Arizona \u00bb Counties \u00bb Pima \u00bb Newspapers<\/u>\u201d, it provided links to two databases with searchable digitized Tucson newspapers. The first choice was Ancestry\u2019s \u201cTucson Daily Citizen\u201d digitized newspaper collection, along with a second Tucson newspaper collection.<\/p>\n

It was then that it dawned on me: in searching the largest online newspaper database, I didn\u2019t check to see whether I had conducted \u201creasonably exhaustive research\u201d of ALL local Tucson newspapers<\/em>. (Not doing so is a big no-no, according to Component 1 of the 5-Component Genealogical Proof Standard as developed by the Board for Certification of Genealogists).<\/p>\n

\"Board<\/picture>

Cyndi\u2019s List just gave me the gentle reminder about how important it is to follow accredited methods\u00a0<\/strong>and know the sources a database offers so I can also search elsewhere to achieve \u201creasonably exhaustive research.\u201d That took about 30 seconds (the admission that I had rightly earned an extremely red face happened instantly).<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t done with the experiment. I then clicked the Cyndi\u2019s List link to Ancestry\u2019s \u201cTucson Daily Citizen\u201d newspaper collection and it took me to their searchable webpage of that collection (with no subscription required, YET).\u00a0Unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\"Search<\/picture>

I\u00a0searched Percy\u2019s unusual name and BINGO: 12 indexed newspaper entries popped up, with readable thumbnail images of the newspaper itself (still no subscription required).<\/p>\n

By simply reading these 12 thumbnails listed by their dates of publication, I learned that Percy had made some life choices that led him to state prison. What an experiment!<\/p>\n

\"Ancestry.com\u2019s<\/picture>

So, I found the biographical details, an answer as to why I was having the research problem (I had incorrectly assumed that the initial mega newspaper database I searched included all local newspaper sources), and it was free in just two minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try Using Cyndi\u2019s List as a Research Tool<\/h3>\n

If you want to see the criteria used in Cyndi\u2019s List naming conventions (to help you use the \u201cright\u201d keywords), you can find a description on her FAQ page under \u201cHow Links are Titled and Indexed\u201d, and don\u2019t forget to browse the posts on her Cyndis List Blog\u00a0for more helpful tips.<\/p>\n

Take two minutes and try using Cyndi\u2019s List as a research tool, just to see what happens. What have you got to lose? You might even have immediate success. Did it give you new ideas or get you past a research problem? Did you catch yourself in any faulty assumptions or find a unique local source?<\/p>\n

If you have any success using these ideas, share them below to help other researchers! Me? I\u2019ll be getting after those pesky dishes with the extra time Cyndi\u2019s List helped me to find.<\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/strong> Marsha Peterson-Maass, contributing writer, lecturer, and author of the Fundamentals of Genealogy\u00ae<\/strong> textbook series, including the referenced title, Fundamentals of Genealogy\u00ae: The Most Helpful Tools You\u2019ve Never Used.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You might also like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

More Than 100,000 Free Genealogy Records Can Now Be Found on Internet Archive<\/p>\n

Break Through Your Brick Walls Today Using Facebook: Here\u2019s How<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2 Minute Cyndi\u2019s List Experiment That Helped Me Find My Elusive Ancestor Last Updated September 22, 2020 Ancestry 50% Off Gift Memberships for Black Friday (Gift to Anyone, Even Yourself!) By Marsha Peterson-Maass, author of\u00a0Fundamentals of Genealogy\u00ae: The Most Helpful Tools You\u2019ve Never Used If you\u2019re new to genealogy, there\u2019s no denying it, Cyndi\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-guides","tag-db"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}