Mocavo

There's a brand new genealogy search engine up - Mocavo. For those who don't know what it is yet, it's a search engine that targets "genealogy websites", like Find-a-Grave and genealogy message boards and the like.

I've seen mixed reactions about it. Some people LOVE it, some people HATE it. I haven't really seen anyone on the fence yet.

My thoughts:

I like it because it helped me find an ancestor I've been searching for for the past couple of months - Flora's daughter, Zelpha. I typed in "Zelpha" and "Mangrum", hoping to hit a marriage record - instead I hit her half brother's Find-a-Grave page (a Mangrum - someone I never knew existed) where she was listed as the next of kin - and it had her married name (Copelin) plus current residence location - Indiana. From there I was able to research with her new name and find her death record. After that, I was able to find several other of Zelpha's half siblings, which let me find her father's first wife who was somehow related to her husband's 3rd-4th (depending on the source) husband. It brought out a whole new path for me.

Yes, it's quite possible the path will lead to finding some inbreeding 4 generations back, but I'm open to it.

I know that not all searches show up on the site yet. That's the biggest complaint I've heard. It isn't "expansive enough" yet. The site is approximately a day and a half old. It's still in its infancy and they are still adding websites, blogs, and other sites that we use all the time to help in our research. It's going to take time before it is all inclusive. You can help it by suggesting a website to add to the search engine.

I have added it to my list of websites to check when I get a new name to research. Who knows, I could be pleasantly surprised again!