Using Ebay For Genealogy?
In the past week, I decided to get my Christmas shopping done early - before December. Although, I'm still waiting for 'Black Friday' on the 25th I ended up on, probably, the most famous online auction site, Ebay. While trawling around for presents I got slightly distracted and found a way that the site could be used for family history purposes.
This started when I was looked up one of my ancestral surnames, Dibble. Dibble is a local surname to Somerset; especially the West Bagborough area. While scrolling through the results I found a postcard and a newspaper clipping relating to the surname. I also found a lot of memorabilia for the former Manchester City, Luton and Wales international goalkeeper, Andy Dibble. Being distracted even further; I had to find out if I was related to Andy, due to the surname, and I am. It's actually a relatively close relation as he is my third cousin once removed because his Great Great Grandparents were Edwin and Ann Dibble of Bicknoller - who are, also, my Great Great Great Grandparents!
By now, I was fully distracted from Christmas shopping and ended up looking up a few more of my surnames. Obviously the rarer the surname the easier it is to link to a family providing the surname doesn't have another meaning like my Shire family. I found even more postcards linking to the surname so you may get lucky and find a card to, or from, one of your ancestors. That would certainly add context to your family history!
Also, if you are very lucky, Ebay has got some family bibles - which may include family birth dates! So I would recommend you have a look round and you never know you might end up buying a family artefact that may even knock down a brick wall! A tip that I would give for doing these searches is look at the categories and chose which ones are likely to hold an artefact.
If you do find anything why not mention what you have found in the comments for this article?
Published: 17 November 2016
This started when I was looked up one of my ancestral surnames, Dibble. Dibble is a local surname to Somerset; especially the West Bagborough area. While scrolling through the results I found a postcard and a newspaper clipping relating to the surname. I also found a lot of memorabilia for the former Manchester City, Luton and Wales international goalkeeper, Andy Dibble. Being distracted even further; I had to find out if I was related to Andy, due to the surname, and I am. It's actually a relatively close relation as he is my third cousin once removed because his Great Great Grandparents were Edwin and Ann Dibble of Bicknoller - who are, also, my Great Great Great Grandparents!
By now, I was fully distracted from Christmas shopping and ended up looking up a few more of my surnames. Obviously the rarer the surname the easier it is to link to a family providing the surname doesn't have another meaning like my Shire family. I found even more postcards linking to the surname so you may get lucky and find a card to, or from, one of your ancestors. That would certainly add context to your family history!
Also, if you are very lucky, Ebay has got some family bibles - which may include family birth dates! So I would recommend you have a look round and you never know you might end up buying a family artefact that may even knock down a brick wall! A tip that I would give for doing these searches is look at the categories and chose which ones are likely to hold an artefact.
If you do find anything why not mention what you have found in the comments for this article?
Published: 17 November 2016
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