Tips for searching

NB When searching, try to remember alternative or phonetic spellings of surnames and names. Many surnames were incorrectly written by ministers in birth and marriage records.  This can will help narrow down your search results and ensure you get positive results. If you don’t find the full name you are searching for try searching for just the surname only.

Remember Nick names or Alias names

If any of your relatives had nick names try and use them in the first name field such as Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Eliza, Betty or Bess. Some surnames have al

so changed over the years so it is a good idea when looking for your Smith ancestors

to look for Smythe or Smit. Depending on where your family originated many people anglicized their surnames. This was a fairly common practice for persons emigrating from Russia, Germany or Poland.

When the first name is a surname

Another tip is to put the surname in the first name field. Some government officials or even ministers would incorrectly write down someone’s name who was Richard Michaels as Michael Richards.

By default our search engine will display all the results from our data collections by relevancy. Records that are 100% relevant to what you asked for will display first and the least relevant will be last. Note that the data collection you select remains highlighted until you select a different option.

Tips for searching

NB When searching remember to try alternative or phonetic spellings of surnames and names. Sometimes the most common surname were entered into records by the authorities. This can help you with your search results immensely. If you don’t  get the desired results try searching for just the surname and nothing else.

To begin another search, repeat the process and find more of those missing relatives. online blackjack