GLOBETROTTING

The online availability of historical records has completely changed the way genealogists conduct research. Gone are the days when we needed to travel across the country to a dusty old archive, flip through a huge index, stroll up and down long aisles, and rifle through countless drawers of folders to find what we’re looking for.

Instead, we now have genealogy websites that bring hundreds of years of records into our homes, computers and smart devices. With 16 billion historical records and counting, one of them, MyHeritage <www.myheritage.com>, is a digital gold mine of family history—instantly accessible from anywhere.

But records are only useful if you can find them, and so websites rely on powerful search engines. These make digital archives valuable tools for sifting through staggering numbers of records. Without them, we’d be endlessly scrolling through cyberspace.

In this article, we’ll show you how to search MyHeritage effectively, so you can pinpoint the records most relevant to your research. With just a few search terms, the click of a button, and these tips and tricks, you’ll get your (virtual) hands on records that will help