- the 1940 U.S. Census is coming available April 2, 2012
The following is a Search Guide for using Ancestry.com
and Search Screens &
Parameters for searching as a visual tool of those with Membership
to Ancestry.com - See what Subscribed Researcher Members use to access over
30,000 databases.
Watch and learn, see the
people and hear the philosophy behind Ancestry.com - over 2 Million
Images scanned weekly, over 4 Billion records, Image Processing
Technology, utilizing 3000 Search Servers tying information to your
Family, over 800 variations of the given name Katherine/Catherine
Ancestry wanting to Connect Your Family.
Given names - Behind the Name - the
etymology and history of first names
The
SurnameThesaurus
has 146,144,187 entries
for
2,978,220 distinct Surnames -
The NameThesaurus uses
NameX
technology to identify name variants with significantly higher
Precision and Recall than Soundex or Metaphone.
Surname Database - Index of researched surnames - "Name Origin
Research"
From this initial Advance Search screen shows the basic search
information needed to begin. You can see there are 2 choices
for Spelling, Exact and Soundex. Where did they live, All Countries listed to the
left, Year range in that Country and once selected county/state
options will be available. The first image is Exact Matches
Only, the second search image is without using Exact Matches, which
returns a broader find.
Click
on the different Sections to View the Main Search Screens in a new window
Using just the surname of Washington, All Countries, the screens to follow reflect this search
Matches/Finds, the amount of hits
per item of each Record Type found. Then depending on the
record I am wanting to locate, I will click on the appropriate link
and then refine the search
Not all record databases will be listed as shown below from an
initial search. Sometimes being specific in selecting a record
type or refining the search will show others.
Click
on the different Sections / Record Collections to View that Search Screen in a
separate
window
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Immigration Search Fields
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Soundex
The Soundex code consists
of a letter (always the first letter of the surname) and
three numbers. Numbers are assigned according to the following
Soundex coding guide:
Number Represents
letters
1 .............. B
P F V
2 .............. C
S G J K Q X Z
3 .............. D
T
4 .............. L
5 .............. M
N
6 .............. R
In coding your surname, disregard these letters: A, E,
I, O, U, W, Y, and H.
Double letters are treated as one letter.
On short names, if there are less than three numbers,
add zeroes to the end of the coding.
On
long names, once you have three digits, disregard any
additional ones.
If your surname has a prefix such as van, Van, Von, D',
de, De, dela, Di, du, or Le, code it both with and
without the prefix because it might be listed under
either code.
Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes in the Soundex.
Your surname may have different letters that are
side-by-side but have the same number on the Soundex
coding guide. For example, in the surname Jackson,
2 is the number for C, K and S. In such cases, these
letters are treated as one letter. Jackson is Soundexed
as J250, not J222.
Wildcards are
special symbols which are used in place of letters or numbers. They
can be used to match distinct but similar words. An asterisk "*"
replaces zero or more characters, and a question mark "?" replaces
exactly one character. For example, a search for "fran*" will return
matches on words like "Fran,” “Franny,” or “Frank.” A search for "Johns?n"
matches "Johnson" and "Johnsen," but not "Johnston."
Here are some suggestions on how you can better use wildcards to
complete your search:
Use more characters before the wildcard. For example, use
Able* instead of Abl*.
There must be at least 3 characters before any wildcard.
Specify both a first and last name or a partial first and
last name.
Try using the single-character wildcard "?" rather than the
multiple-character wildcard "*".
(e.g., using "Hans?n" matches both "Hansen" and "Hanson" rather
than using "Hans*").
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Same Day Research
Genealogy Assistance &
Research - Save Time & Money -
Census - Passenger List - US Passport Applications 1795-1925 - WWI & WWII Draft Card Look-Ups or other
Genealogy Assistance. 18 plus years experience.
Click
on the different Sections to View the Main Search Screens in a new window
In coding your surname, disregard these letters: A, E,
I, O, U, W, Y, and H.