Play (Err . . . Experiment) with Search Parameters
This is an excellent way to locate additional relatives who could easily be overlooked when searches are always conducted on specific names.

For example, I searched the Social Security Death Index for a Neills whose last residence was in Hancock County, Illinois. The surname was Neill, and I used the advanced options of state (Illinois) and county (Hancock). This was more effective than searching by individual first name. The search only resulted in four matches: my grandparents and two cousins of my grandfather. In contrast, a search of the entire state resulted in a few more distant relatives whose first names I recognized, but there were almost too many hits for me to manually sift through. This statewide search also resulted in numerous matches that were not family members, including several individuals with the surname Mc Neill.

A more effective search technique would be to enter those counties bordering Hancock County, Illinois in the county search box. [It is important to remember that some individuals might have died in nursing homes at a distance from their home, and the last residence is occasionally misleading for that reason.]

Statewide searches work best with less common names. Searching for the surname Rampley with a Social Security Number issued in Illinois resulted in 18 hits, all of which were relatives of mine. The scary part was that I could look at all but three of the names and tell how they were related.

I even played around on first names, entering in that information and nothing else. This is how I learned that my great-grandfather Mimka Habben was the only person in the database with that first name. And there were only three others with the more "traditional" spelling of Mimke in the database.

Locations in the Ancestry World Tree
Another of my favorite places to search by location is the Ancestry World Tree. Of course, Chicago and St. Louis will not work for this type of search. But searching for a few of the small towns where I have ancestors resulted in several new leads for shirttail relations I had simply not had time to search for individually.

The towns I entered were small enough that a state was not necessary. If it is necessary to enter the state name, you may have to perform multiple searches based on the possible abbreviations of the state's name.

For example, if I search for Carthage, Hancock, Illinois, it could appear the following ways in the Ancestry World Tree:

1) Carthage, Illinois
2) Carthage, Ill
3) Carthage, IL
4) Carthage, Hancock, Illinois
5) Carthage, Hancock, Ill
6) Carthage, Hancock, IL
7) Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois
8) Carthage, Hancock County, Ill
9) Carthage, Hancock County, IL
10) Carthage, Hancock Co., Illinois
11) Carthage, Hancock Co., Ill
12) Carthage, Hancock Co., IL

I searched three times based upon the first three entries. I didn't use any commas in the search because the word Carthage and the word Illinois were entered to complete the first search. This caught variations 1, 4, 7, and 10. Searching for "Carthage Ill"—without the quotes—located 2, 5, 8, and 11. Searching for "Carthage Il"—again without the quotes—located 3, 6, 9, and 12.

Listing the items you want to search for and then determining how to search for them can help you overlook possible variants.

Other Search Refinements
Use the other search boxes to refine your search in more effective ways. The surname of the spouse or the first name of the parents might assist you in narrowing your search so that you can more easily view the hits that are returned.

Are You in the Ancestry World Tree?
You might be . . . and it might be worth doing a search to find out.

Don't Always Follow Directions
I performed a search for Tioga, Illinois in Ancestry.com's newspapers and periodicals database by simply entering the words Tioga and Illinois in the name box. It worked like a charm. I did not turn up any relatives, but I did find hits that matched my search terms. Entering the word Basco in the box and looking first at obituaries from Illinois newspapers turned up an obituary for a shirttail relative who was born in Basco, Illinois in 1897! This type of search is not effective for all databases, but it is useful for those that contain the text of articles and similar material.

What Is in the Database?
Do a search for Smith and "play around" with the results. Virtually all databases have a Smith or two in them. When I am unfamiliar with the information contained in any database, I do a search for a common name. Then I look at the results and try to get ideas on how to create more effective searches. This is important because not all the databases contain the same information.

Can You Find It Another Way?
Another excellent practice is to determine if you can search two different ways to find the same thing.

A search for Goldenstein in the Oregon Death Index resulted in several matches, one of which was:

Name: Goldenstein, Siebelt R
County: Washington
Death Date: 14 0 1962
Certificate: 14171
Spouse: Pauline
Age: 71

I decided to see if I could search for "Siebelt Washington" and get the same result. Sure enough, I did.

A search for "Siebelt Pauline" also produced the same hit. I suspected that not all records had a spouse listed, so I searched for Smith and viewed the results. Sure enough, there were entries without a spouse.

For the Smith surname of Smith, I entered "Smith 1957" to obtain a listing of all Smiths who died in 1957. I could also enter "Smith Klamath" to obtain a listing of those who died in Klamath County. Entering "Smith Klamath 1957" produced all the entries that contained all three of these terms. However, when I viewed the results of this search, I noticed that some entries had a birth date listed, and some of the people in the results were born in 1957 instead of having died in that year. I hadn't viewed enough results from previous 1957 searches to notice this, but not all entries have a birth date.

A search for "Klamath County" turned up no results. Why? Because the name of the county was all that was contained in the county field (without the word county on the end). How did I know this? By looking at the results I got when searching for other names and by noticing that the word county never appeared after the name of the county.

Check the Obituaries
I spent a few hours the other evening reviewing the information on my maternal grandmother's relatives. The vast majority of information on her paternal family comes from an estate settlement in the 1950s and from a family history of the same era. Both are rich in names and relationships—but they contain almost zero dates. The estate settlement provided information on her paternal grandmother's family and provided residence information for those living at the time of the estate settlement. The family history did not even provide this information. However, both records indicated who was living in the 1950s. So I went to the obituary section of Ancestry.com and started typing in the names of those who could have reasonably died during the time period covered by the obituaries. I found two relatives who died within the last year of the time period. Granted, they were in the Social Security Death Index, but the obituaries provided me with other details that allowed me to make the connection to my family and obtain new leads.

The obituaries were especially helpful in those cases where I had no geographic information. I could use the names of parents, spouse, and children to help determine if the person in the obituary was the relative I thought he or she was.

I Got Nothing!
The information you seek may not be in the database. But then again, you might not be searching correctly. To reiterate, I would try searching for a common name, entering it only AND NOTHING ELSE. Analyze the results. See if you can perform other searches to locate the entries you already found in the database. If you can't, you are not searching correctly or are misunderstanding something. Consider posting your search problems to the boards at FamilyHistory.com.

Applicable Elsewhere?
Many of the search techniques discussed here are also helpful at other online database sites besides Ancestry.com. Use the techniques to make better use of your research time, and be certain to pass your tips along to the editor or to me for possible use in future issues of the Ancestry Daily News.

Michael John Neill, is the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical Institute of Mid America (GIMA) held annually in Springfield, Illinois, and is also on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. Michael is the Web columnist for the FGS FORUM and is on the editorial board of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly. He conducts seminars and lectures on a wide variety of genealogical and computer topics and contributes to several genealogical publications, including Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. You can e-mail him at mneill@asc.csc.cc.il.us or visit his Web site.

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