GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-01 > 1167673472


From: "Lowe DNA" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Ancestry Census Images ? (wildcard searches)
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 11:44:32 -0600
In-Reply-To: <584875.3962.qm@web88309.mail.re4.yahoo.com>


A tip in using ancestry that might help in searching...

If I am searching for a Joseph Stephens or a Josiah Stevens,
you can use wildcard searching... If you add the first three
letters of every search word followed by an asterisk "*" then
the search is more efficient.

For example, my search is...

Jos* Ste*ens

You can find all the Stephens and Stephens that match this
wildcard search.

Also if you can search by the state and county, the search
naturally is more efficient.

Then you can get around the census takers that were very
bad spellers or spelled Stephens as Stevens and changed
a family name forever.

This might get rid of the month of Hell better than a Tylenol.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:]On Behalf Of John Rhodes
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 11:30 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Ancestry Census Images ?


Thank you Sue, however, I've checked and un-checked that box a thousand
times and still find it takes 30 minutes of frustration to do what I did in
5 seconds before. I basically hate the new system. It simply doesn't work
well. It's too clever by half. How do you say you want the John Smith's
born 1850 and get them in random order from 1500 to 2005? Try to find the
John Smith 1850 in the lot of 2000. You select "2" and wonder which 2 they
use. Use soundex and you get thousands for the past 500 years; use 'exact'
and get nothing. It's useless.

My opinion after a month of hell.

John Rhodes

Sue J <> wrote:
It sounds like you have the little box in the upper left hand side
that says Exact Matches Only with no check mark in it. This is the
page where you type in a name before you start your search. If that
box is not checked, you get their rated searches instead and, to me,
those are worthless.

Sue


-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of John Rhodes
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 7:07 AM


Ancestry has instituted a 'new improved' search system that is the
pits. I had the old system working well and could make it do alot of
tricks.





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