Google Images and search tips for adoptees

Photo: Andrew Miller/For The Times of Trenton

Carla Hill, 44, poses for a portrait at her desk at Foundation Academy Charter School in Trenton on April 20, 2012 with a scrapbook her birth mother Linda Person gave to her last year. Hill found out at 23 she was adopted and has been looking for birth family for years when a Google images search last year helped her finally find her family.
This is one of the great tips I found recently. Here is the link to her story: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/04/search_and_social_media_bring.html

And as I posted prior, use Google Alerts with your birth info http://splitfeathers.blogspot.com/2012/03/adoptee-use-this-search-method.html

People decide to trace their genealogies for many reasons, adoptees searching for biological relatives and ancestors... A group called the Missing Connection is something I recommend you do with other adoptees you've met in your state. Here is one based in New York State and another in Virginia.

Genealogy group forming in Lowville

By STEVE VIRKLER , TIMES STAFF WRITER, TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012CLE OPTIONS

LOWVILLE, NY — A group for genealogy buffs is forming in connection with an organization created two decades ago in Watertown, New York. The Missing Connection will hold meetings from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at the Lowville Free Library, 5387 Dayan St.

"There is just so much information out there,” said Katharine B. Manning, who is heading the local group. Forms and reference information will be available, and guest speakers and field trips to a cemetery may be planned. There is no charge for joining the group. Manning said she got involved with genealogical searches while seeking information on the biological parents of her father, who was adopted. “I had all this information, and it just blossomed from there,” she said.

Now, with the help of Internet site www.ancestry.com and other services, she has traced her lineage back 23 generations to the 1200s. People decide to trace their genealogies for many reasons, from searching for biological relatives among adoptees to simply looking for any prominent ancestors, Ms. Manning said.
Networking among genealogists is helpful, as different people may be able to suggest alternative search methods, she said.
Ms. Manning said she has reserved dates for April, May and June and plans to assess the interest in continuing the group after that three-month trial period.  For more information, contact Ms. Manning at 376-1630 or look for “The Missing Connection — Lowville Group” Facebook page.

“We just want to give people resources where they can search their family trees,” said Susan J. Palma, who formed The Mission Connection in 1992 in Watertown. Palma, then Susan Boyce, started the group to help reunite adoptees with their biological parents and siblings, assisting with roughly 100 reunions during its eight years in the north country, she said.
Now living in northern Virginia, Mrs. Palma recently restarted the group there. While still available to assist with adoptive-specific searches, she decided to broaden the revamped group’s focus on genealogy in general.
“We just hit it off instantly,” Mrs. Palma said.
According to its website, The Missing Connection’s mission is to promote genealogy, provide help and educational aid to researchers and preserve the heritage, history and genealogy of families who settled in the area.
For more information, visit http://www.themissingconnection.org.

Adoptees have to be creative when they search! These tips are great useful ideas!... Trace