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[Ancestry Guide] [Search Form Screens] [Census 1790-1930] [WWI Draft] [About Doc] [Request Assistance] [Search]
The following is a Search Guide for using Ancestry.com
and Search Screens &
Parameters for searching
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For the
Beginner -
Family Tree Maker
(FTM 2010)
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Main Advanced Search Screen
at Ancestry.com
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Search Results/Hits/Screens
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View Federal Census Search Screens
1790-1930 -See search parameters and view what
information is available for each census.
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Immigration & Naturalization
Search Fields
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All Main Ancestry.com's Search Screens -
Main -
Birth Marriage
Death - Census -
Immigration/Emigration -
Military -
SSDI -Search
Results/Hits/Finds Screen -
Browse
All Records & More
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List of BMD databases
and list of
Census & Voter databases
Searching Information
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Hits/Finds of a Search and categories
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Soundex - code consists of a letter (always the first letter of the surname)
and three numbers
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Wildcard Searching - very
important with many spelling variations of a name
Blank Form Download
Search by State
United States or
United Kingdom
Europe
Canada
Australia
View
Census Images before and after
Digital Photograph Restoration, Document Enhancement, OCR services
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.
Given names - Behind the Name - the
etymology and history of first names
Back to
Genealogy Assistance Request Lookup
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 to View that Search Screen in a new
window
 Top |
Immigration Search Fields
Top |
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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:
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Number Represents
letters |
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1 .............. B
P F V |
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2 .............. C
S G J K Q X Z |
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3 .............. D
T |
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4 .............. L |
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5 .............. M
N |
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6 .............. R
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In coding your surname, disregard these letters: A, E,
I, O, U, W, Y, and H. |
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Double letters are treated as one letter. |
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On short names, if there are less than three numbers,
add zeroes to the end of the coding. |
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On
long names, once you have three digits, disregard any
additional ones. |
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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. |
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Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes in the Soundex.
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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:
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Use more characters before the wildcard. For example, use
Able* instead of Abl*.
There must be at least 3 characters before any wildcard.
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Specify both a first and last name or a partial first and
last name.
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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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[Ancestry Guide] [Search Form Screens] [Census 1790-1930] [WWI Draft] [About Doc] [Request Assistance] [Search]
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