New search engine

A couple of months ago I wrote about the limitations of Google as a search engine for family history and genealogy. and noted that for some searches Altavista produced far more relevant results.

Now there is a new search engine, called Cuil, and after a quick look it seems quite good, and worth trying if you are researching genealogy and family history.

One of the problems with Google is that their search algorithm is based on the number of links, and so they show you the most popular sites first, rather than the most relevant to what you are looking for. So the site with the information you need may be several pages down the list.

Cuil, on the other hand, promises to concentrate on relevance, and after a couple of test searches they seem to deliver what they promise. One problem I did find, though, is that Cuil doesn’t like too many keywords, so you need to choose your keywords with care.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth a try, and should be a useful addition to your search tools.

Marty Growdon participates in AIDS Lifecycle 7

I don’t know if this Marty Growdon is related to us, or which branch of the Growdon family he belongs to, but maybe someone will know.

Marty Growdon participates in AIDS Lifecycle 7
July 22, 2008. Originally, Westwood resident Marty Growdon committed to participate in AIDS Lifecycle 7 for a week of cycling along the California Coast with his son, Mark, the first week of June. However, when his son was injured while training and had to drop out, Growdon decided to ride alone.

Although he didn�t have a riding buddy, it was not a lonely endeavor. The seven-day, 545- mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles had 2,500 participants and 500 support staff. According to the event mission statement, its purpose in part is to raise money to support HIV/AIDS services, increase awareness and knowledge of the disease and provide a positive experience for people affected and infected with HIV.

Surge of interest in Wiki pages

There’s been a sudden surge of interest in our family history Wiki pages, with over 70 visitors last Monday, according to the statistics., most of them from South Africa and the USA.

I’m not quite sure what brought that on, but so far there haven’t been been any contributions of information from anyone other than me. I wish a few other people would at least add a sentence or two here and there. It’s really quite easy to do, and there’s more information on how to do it here.

We recently got an e-mail from Caitlin Green, so I added a page of information about the Green family, which has spread to just about every continent from Quebec, which is the first place we’ve managed to trace it to, though it probably to there from somewhere else.

Stooke family on Wiki spaces

I’ve started adding some information about the Stooke family on our Wikispaces pages.

My great grandmother was Mary Barber Stooke who married William Allen Hayes, and they lived first in Bedminster, near Bristol, and later at Axbridge in Somerset, where they kept the Red Lion Hotel. Mary Barber Stooke’s father Thomas Stooke came from Chudleigh in Devon, and most of the earlier generations came lived in the Teign Valley in Devon.