The ERB / LARKINS Database can be accessed in three different formats at five different locations: Which Database Format Should I Use?
SURNAMES 1 is on this Geocities site. [Last updated 16 Mar 2000.] Its pages are in the familiar GED2HTML format, alphabetically searchable through a multi-level index. It has a full set of tags (including immigration, census, and occupation -- among others) and source notes for each one. But the pages may be somewhat slow to load when GeoCities is busy, the list of over 500 sources must be reloaded each time you want to read any one of them, and there are only a few notes. It has the advantage of being on this site, but it lacks some of the extra search and download features available at Surnames 2.SURNAMES 2 is on another site at Rootsweb. [Last updated 16 Mar 2000.] It has the same Gedcom information that is on this site, but in a different and superior format made possible by the new Rootsweb software. It has a search engine that allows you to search by name and location. Each individual has a separate data page with individually-linked ascendency and decendency charts that make it unusually easy to navigate the site, move up and down the generations, and uncover unexpected links. And notes and sources are on the same page as the individual they belong to. Because every name is interactive, the outline of descendents there is much more powerful than the comparable outline on this site. There are some banner ads, but they are relatively unobtrusive and don't have to be clicked off. As an experiment, this site currently includes extensive background notes and speculations. (Genealogy in the raw.) But it is gedcom-only and has none of the photos, maps, tables, lists, links, and other extras present here.
SURNAMES 3 is on still another site at My-ged.com/erb. [Last updated 16 Mar 2000.] It has all the same people, but shown in the simpler my-ged.com format with only the basic Birth, Marriage, Death, and Burial tags. It has links to ancestors and children, but no notes or sources. The pages load quickly, and the page-top banner adds are relatively unobtrusive. On the other hand, the alphabetical index is by surname only. And with more than 1,000 Erbs listed, this forces you to click through 20 index pages (50 names at a time) to get to first names at the end of the alphabet. Fortunately, you can avoid this problem by using the global search engine that searches all the My-gedom databases -- including mine. (Look for the "Search" link at the top of every page.) This is also a gedcom-only site, without any extras. This is the site that is included in GENDEX.
GENDEX. A fourth strategy is to go off-site to the GENDEX database which also has all the individuals in the ERB / LARKINS database (in the my-ged.com format) -- along with all the individuals from a large number of other databases. You can use their multi-level alphabetical index to get at the individuals on my site and at the same time see still more Erbs contributed by other databases. For example, my database has no living persons, and has incomplete coverage of both the Erbs who emmigrated from Germany instead of Switzerland, and the later Erbs who settled in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa. (I'll get there eventually.) Every name at GENDEX has a link to that person's page at the contributing database. Entirely apart from my material, this is one of the larger and more useful databases on the internet.
ROOTSWEB. A fifth strategy (comparable to the fourth) is to go off-site to the new Rootsweb World Connect database and use their "Global Search" feature to access all the individuals in the ERB / LARKINS rootsweb database plus all the individuals from a large number of other databases. This site is growing at a rapid pace and is already larger than Gendex. Some of the databases there overlap the ones at Gendex, but each site has other databases that are unique. The World Connect site is especially valuable for its capacity to generate interactive lists of ancestors and descendants for every individual. And where individual databases allow it (mine does), it also offers instant downloads of gedcom files of the ancestors or descendants of each individual.
Here are links to the five ways of accessing the ERB / LARKINS Database:
SURNAMES 1 on this site In addition to the sources and tags that appear in Surnames 1, 2 and 3, there is other information available which does not appear on any of these sites -- additional tags not supported by Ged2HTML or Rootsweb software and, in many cases, extensive notes. Plus there is always new material that has been collected but not yet uploaded to the net. To find out if there is extra information about the people you're interested in, please send email to John Larkins.
SURNAMES 2 at the Rootsweb site
SURNAMES 3 at the my-gedcom site
GENDEX
ROOTSWEB
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© John Larkins 1999-2000 Last updated: 16 Mar 2000