Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

How to write a great query

By Judy Fowler Kilgore
Genealogy Columnist

Judy Fowler Kilgore is the religion editor and genealogy columnist for The Citizen. She regrets that time does not permit her to do personal family research for others. She may be reached at jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

Whether you are doing your genealogy on the Internet, or doing it the old fashioned way (keeping information in notebooks and on family group sheets), you will eventually have to write a query seeking help with your research. If you try to go it alone, it will take you forever and you may never find some of your ancestors.

On the Internet, we post queries on message boards and in e-mails to lists (surnames and regions), seeking connections to members of our families. Before the Internet, these same queries were submitted to genealogy magazines and other publications (and many still are).

What is a query? It is a request for information on your family, giving pertinent information so that others may contact you if they are connected or have information to share. This column, in some ways, is a giant query, although I require that you give more information so we can publish a little bio on your family.

Most queries submitted to lists, message boards and to genealogy publications are short, sweet and to the point. Although Internet message board and list queries are free, those in genealogy magazines usually are not. It is, in essence, a classified ad. So you must select your words carefully with your pocketbook in mind. But, if you don’t say the right things, you will not get an answer to either.

Some people balk at writing queries because they don’t know what to say or are self-conscious about their writing, spelling and grammatical skills. You don’t have to worry about that here because I edit and “clean” everything up before I publish it. If you send a query via e-mail, you can use spell-check. If you are submitting it to a magazine, proofread it at least three times. A proofreading trick is to start at the bottom and read backwards. That way, you're reading words and not sentences.

So, just what makes a good query? How can you get the most bang for your buck? Include as much information as you can get into your message when it comes to names, dates and locations. Those three things are of primary importance when writing a query. Add to that a way to contact you, and you have the ingredients for a great query.

When people ask me about submitting a news release to the paper (I get them all the time from religious organizations since I’m the religion editor), I tell them the basic thing to remember is “who, what, where, when and why.” That is a good rule for queries also.

The “who” and the “what” are the names of your ancestors. They always go in all capital letters. Not the whole message, just the surnames. That way the names will “pop” out of the query and grab the attention of the reader. Do not, under any circumstances, write the entire message in all caps. On the Internet, writing in all caps is akin to shouting. And you certainly don’t want to turn anyone off with your query. When printed in a magazine, all caps are annoying and hard to read.

Next you want to give the location (where) of the ancestor or family in question. If you don’t know exactly where they were in the time frame you need, tell where they were before or after. The location should include the county and state, and may include the town or city if known. There is a big difference between Laurens Co., S.C., and Laurens Co., GA. And many states have counties with the same names. All official records are kept at the county seat, so the county is most important if you have that information.

The next thing is the time frame (when). This means the years of birth, death, and marriage, and any other dates you can give regarding your ancestor’s activities. If you don’t know an exact date, estimate it. The most common abbreviations are “abt.” (about) and “ca.” (circa). Leaving out the date might lead to confusion between people of the same name who lived in different generations.

You want to also give a “why” which might include your connection to the family or the fact that you are researching for another person.

And, last, give your name, address (including zip code if you are submitting to a magazine), and phone number if you don’t mind getting phone calls. On the Internet, you might give your e-mail address, although most are included with the message (at the top). I usually just sign mine, “Judy Fowler Kilgore, Newnan, GA.”

Using as an example the information in last week’s column where I was seeking information on the Stamps and Johnson families, a query would say:

“Seeking information on the STAMPS and JOHNSON families in Georgia, late 1700s and early 1800s. Tempy STAMPS m. Noel JOHNSON 31, Aug. 1802 in Oglethorpe Co., GA. Appear in 1840 Gwinnett Co., GA census. Not there in 1850. Tempy thought to be daughter of Thomas STAMPS and Rhoda WITT. Noel though to be the son of William JOHNSON and Anna DYER. Children may be Joel (b. abt. 1803), Mary (b. abt. 1809), James (b. abt. 1810) and John (no info). Some family members went to Coweta and Carroll counties in GA. Tempy and Noel thought to be my 4th great grandparents. Any information appreciated ...” And I would sign my name.

Had I not put the dates and locations, I might have been flooded with useless information. On the other hand, some people wouldn’t bother to answer at all, since I left out crucial information that might connect to their families.

It really isn’t that hard if you think about it. But you would be amazed at the ambiguous and useless queries that cross the Internet every day.

Okay. You know the basics. Now go out there and dazzle them with your skill at query writing. Make me proud. After all, I am an old school teacher and teachers like to be proud of their students.

Ready, set ... go find those folks!

I welcome your letters about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!