Genealogy Chat

The wildcard * key is also useful eg when you are searching for a name and not sure how it is spelt.....

eg Jan* would cover Janet, Jane, etc

Sometimes transcribers have had such a problem deciphering a surname, that it eventually ends up quite different.

Searching for a lost Sarah, last known to be in London ( previous census) but born in a little Sussex village, I searched for all Sarahs born in that village.
A very odd-looking surname popped up amongst the hits...... but it had tall letters and short letters in the right places. Instead of starting with Bel.....it started Sch.... ...so I investigated.
I'd found Sarah.

Gwyn

thank you very much for that info
will try all of what you suggest
thank you
regards
david

I agree with InspectorGreenPen. I find it easier to use "exact" search and find I get results much quicker that way.

Kath. x

First of all you need to have some sort of a plan as to what it is you want to find. As with all genealogy it is best to start with what you know and work backwards. Later on as you get more adept it is possible to work forwards too.

Interestingly I almost always use the 'exact' search for censuses as otherwise you get too many results. this option of the Ancestry Search Engine isn't implemented that well as it seems to ignore some of the filters you have set and brings back far too much.

That said, as one of the biggest problems with censuses is miss spellings, to get around this I use the wildcard option + exact rather than Ancestry's poor attempt to look for alternative spellings.

For example ? will mean any single letter in that position, * means zero or more letters. So, I have the name Thornley which is sometimes spelled as Thornly, Thorneley, Thornelow, Thornlow etc. Searching for Thron*l* is a good way for capturing a number of variations on one go.

Once I have found someone on the census, my next port of call is to the BMD's to confirm what I have found. Even if I don't decide to order the cert at this point I still record the GRO reference. Also, it is also a good idea to corroborate as much as you can with alternative sources..

A lot depends on how much you already know, but as Jan says, don't be too specific at first, If you get too many results then narrow down a bit and try again.

If you get stuck, then post a query on here. There is always someone looking in who will be prepared to help.

hi sue
thank you for your time & the info
i will do that
thank you
regards
david

hi david public memberes trees just go into search drop down will display click on public members. then type in what you want

jan
thank you for your time thank you for that info
i will try that
regards
david

David, the first thing about ancestry is not to put too much at first. Start with someone you know if possible. Enter name and year of birth, just search and see what you get. Avoid anything too specific then narrow it down. Only tick "exact" box if you are 100% sure, and make sure you give a good range of birth years if you do so. Avoid being too exact about place of birth, start off with a county.
To look at public trees click on "search" then scoll down.
You'll soon get the hang of it believe me!
Jan

hi
i have just joined ancestry i am struggling to be able to be succesful with my searches ie census records {what do i need to enter for them}births marr deaths {what do i enter] parish records ,
also how do i find public trees on ancestry
appreciate any info
thank you