We've all had that feeling. We have a new lead! Investigating our lead will be easy thanks to a new database or a CD-ROM that has indexed the records that will prove our theory. They just HAVE to be there. We do a search and suddenly the bottom falls out—our hopes are sent careening as we see the dreaded "0 Hits." How can this be? They have to be there. We have entered all the information we have. We have double-checked the facts. Everything adds up. What gives?
Maybe we are entering too much information. Databases are picky things. They only pull up results for exactly what we put in.
It may be that something as simple as a variation of the given name is holding us back.
Searching for CHARLES ADAMS in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI)? There are also nine entries for CHAS ADAMS, thirty-six entries for CHARLEY ADAMS, 230 entries for CHARLIE ADAMS, and one CHUCK ADAMS. Not to mention the 297 entries for the initial C ADAMS and fourteen more for the initial C (various middle names) ADAMS. If your search includes CHARLES in the field for given name, you are missing out on 587 other possibilities.
If you have entered a date of birth or date of death in the search, you may also be hindering the results. For example, out of the 297 entries for C ADAMS, eighteen of the first twenty only list the month of January and the year in the field for the death date. If you enter the entire date you are ruling out entries that only have January listed, not to mention any entries that may be listed with the wrong date.
Locations can be tricky too. If you do an advanced search and enter the last known residence, you may also be eliminating the results you seek. Of the first twenty results for C ADAMS, thirteen do not list the last residence at all, and two entries only list the zip code. If the field is blank, it will not be included in results for a particular state.
Likewise, if only the zip code is listed, even if that zip code references an area that is in the state you are searching for, it will not pull it up in the results unless it sees the two-letter abbreviation for that state in the field. So if you selected Missouri as the last place of residence for C ADAMS, it will not bring up the entry for C ADAMS that lists the last place of residence as 63824, even though 63824 is the zip code for Blodgett, Missouri.
Now granted, with a surname like ADAMS, you are certainly not going to want to wade through the 108,133 ADAMS listed in the current edition of the SSDI, but if you experiment with different search criteria and not try to enter it all at once, you might hit on the right combination. You may want to keep track of the various combinations you search for on a pad of paper. Start with just the surname and rotate the other pieces of information that you have in and out of the database.
Try the search using the Soundex feature too. This can help you to catch those misspelled surnames.
If you want to narrow your search down a bit more, try including only the year of death or the year of birth, rather than the exact date. A search for just ADAMS yields 119,347 hits, but by adding 1962 as the year of death, this number is reduced to 484. Adding the month of August will take it down to ninety. This search will still include those entries that list only the month of August and year 1962, and not the exact date, as well as those that do have the date listed, even if that date is off by a few days.
If you are searching a database at Ancestry.com that does not have advanced searching capabilities, first read the description page so you can see exactly what it includes. Then do a search using only a surname. If your surname does not come up and you think it should, try a search for a common surname like SMITH. This will allow you to see the fields that are available in the database. Once you have a feel for what is included, you will be able to tailor your searches accordingly.
For example, the Texas Marriage database (subscriber database—will be free until May 14, 2000). The description tells us that it currently only includes data from the counties of Hunt, Comanche, Frio, Rains, and Somervell and what years are available for each county. A search for SMITH gives up 475 results. We can now see that the fields in this database include: Given Name, Surname, Given Name Spouse, Surname Spouse, Marriage Date, County, and State.
Here's something interesting—the first page of results shows that five of the ten given names for the grooms are just initials, as well as for two of the brides. If we were searching for a full given name, we could be missing someone, so it would be better to leave out a given name.
If we were really searching for SMITH and don't want to wade through 475 hits, we still have some other options to narrow it down. If we know the county, we might try searching for SMITH COMANCHE. This narrows our findings to 101 hits. Or if we know the bride's maiden name was WARD, we can search for SMITH WARD, which turns up the following:
S. B. SMITH, J. P. WARD, 29 Jun 1882, Frio, TX
W. W. WARD, R. A. SMITH, 28 Apr 1885, Frio, TX
P. C. SMITH, EVA WARD, 01 Nov 1899, Rain, TX
REUBIN SMITH, LOU WARD, 22 Jan 1880, Hunt, TX
Again here, we see here the use of initial in place of a given name.
By playing around with the criteria we enter, and becoming familiar with the database in question, we may find that our ancestors really are included in a database or CD. It just takes a little creative thinking.
Other Possible Reasons for Not Finding Someone in SSDI
The individual did not have a Social Security card. Especially before 1951, it is entirely possible that your ancestor did not have a Social Security number at all. The self-employed, farmers, military, government employees, some professional groups (doctors, lawyers), did not receive coverage until the 1950s and 60s. Certain members of the family may have never had the need to enroll in Social Security (retired individuals, housewives, etc.).
The individual had a Social Security card, but his/her death was not reported to the Social Security Administration. The SSDI is not exhaustive. It only contains those deaths reported to the SSA.
The individual is in the file, but original data was reported or recorded incorrectly.
Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. Juliana has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. She works from her home in Indiana, where she lives with her husband and their four-year-old daughter. She is searching for ancestors from Ireland, England, France, Germany, Poland, and Hungary/Slovakia. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at editor@ancestry-inc.com, but regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
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