After spending some time earlier this week reviewing blog stats (something I rarely do) I became somewhat frustrated. Why do people who land on this blog because of a search for a specific ancestor leave without saying a word? In addition to the comments feature, a link to my e-mail address is right there in the sidebar along with a link to my website which has links to my e-mail address all over the place. It's not like I'm hard to find (although I have now moved those links a little higher up on the page just in case that was a problem).
I'm not talking about the people who searched for Celia Owens, Eliza Hopkins, Finney Genealogy, the Goodloe's of Spotsylvania County or even Albert Elvie Hankins. Granted I have matches for them but maybe not the person they wanted.
I'm talking about really specific searches like these:
1) "Troup County 1850 Census Lewis Bennett" and "Lewis H Bennett marriage to Teresa Garrett." There is no doubt they were looking for my 3rd great-grandparents, Lewis H. and Teresa (maiden name unproven but possibly Garrett) Bennett of Troup County, Georgia.
2) "Dorothy Waller or Dorothy * Waller or Waller, Dorothy genealogy or ancestry 1754" and "Thomas Allen Goodloe or Thomas Allen * Goodloe or Goodloe, Thomas Allen 1754 1812." They had to be looking for my 5th great-grandparents, Thomas Allen Goodloe and Dorothy Waller. Thomas was born in 1754; his will was written in 1812 and probated in 1813.
3) "John Covey WarJack Howard." My 2nd great-grandfather was John Covey Howard and his father was John "War Jack" Howard. Some say War Jack's middle name was also Covey but even though I'm not so sure about that, there's little doubt he is the person they wanted.
4) "Henry Goodloe + Kemp." Almost certainly they were looking for my 6th great-grandparents, Henry Goodloe and Frances Diana Kemp. Or possibly they were looking for their grandson, Henry Lewis Goodloe who named his oldest son Thomas Kemp Goodloe. Even though this search happened on a different day, they might have been the same person searching for Henry and Frances' son, Thomas Allen Goodloe. If so, they made 3 searches that landed them here.
5) "Emma Taylor Hopkins, Loyall KY." That is my grandmother for crying out loud!
Does this happen to other bloggers? Does anyone have suggestions for enticing people to make contact? (I know, probably a good suggestion would be don't rant about them in a post but I really am just confused.)
