Genealogy Chat

See below in a mo

I've just signed up to Ancestry, but I'm finding it very user-unfriendly. I put in as much info as I can, and then the search engine just seems to ignore it. My ancestors all come from Suffolk or London, so I really don't care about Birmingham or Manchester, or wherever! But if I try to use the exact search rather than the ranked one, I don't get any returns at all. I've tried to find William Skeet, born 1829 in Saxmundham in the 1891 Census, but he's not coming up. I know he's there, becuase some kind person found him for me before I got Ancestry myself, but I can't seem to get to it. What am I doing wrong?!

Debbie Probably because he isn't indexed in the way that you are searching for him. Maybe his place of birth is not put as Saxmundham or is out by a year. nell

But why does it return people who clearly don't meet my search criteria? I put in a birth year of 1828, plus or minus 2, but it still returns people born in 1874! I'm finding it really frustrating!

Is it Chertsey 1828? I don't know the geography of that part of the country - sorry! Was he an ironmonger?

if it is doing that, then you are doing something wrong! people say ( i'm not so sure myself) that i am good at finding people on census. My rule of thumb is 'less is more' and imagination is everything. Nell has just aked me to look for a 'Blinky' one of hers - driving her mad! it took about 5 mins to find him -( hope it is the right one) and only used 2 criteria- was loking at 1881 wales census and entered BROAD = surname birthplace = Cornwall and up he popped! Give me an example of what you are trying to look for,the criteria you used and the results you got and see if i can help you. Jess

I can find a William Skeet b1828 but birthplace given as Chertsey, Surrey. thats on 1891.

Could you ask your 'friend' what piece, folio and page it was?

Ok, thanks Jess. I'm looking for William Skeet, born 1828 in Saxmundham, Plomesgate, Suffolk. He was a carpenter, living with his wife Mary Ann (born 1848, Alderton, Woodbridge, Suffolk), and 5 sons, ages 13 to 1, all born in Alderton, and that's where they were living at the time. I put the following info into the search engine: William Skeet 1828 (+/- 2) Residence: Suffolk Birthplace: Suffolk Of the first 10 returns, 2 are residents of Suffolk, and of the first 50, none are the right one. Please help me!

He isn't listed a Skeets born saxmundham either. maybe he was mistranscribed

Criteria ; Skeet birthplace Alderton NOTHING ELSE = Skeet, Alice M abt 1865 Alderton, Suffolk, England Wife Alderton Suffolk Skeet, Cecil W B abt 1890 Alderton, Suffolk, England Son Alderton Suffolk Skeet, Eliza abt 1831 Alderton, Suffolk, England Wife Felixstowe Suffolk Skeet, George W abt 1885 Alderton, Suffolk, England Son Alderton Suffolk Skeet, Richard N abt 1888 Alderton, Suffolk, England Son Alderton Suffolk

You are putting in too much information. Always use the exact search box. Just put in the name, just County of birth in the 'keywords box', and 'England' in the country (if you think he will be in England and not Wales) I find I get better results that way. Kath. x

Thanks Jess - those are 3 of William's grandsons, and his daughter-in-law. The thing is, I know he's there, because someone else found him a while back. I just don't have the knack!

I've just been using it and it has gone down. Jess, any ideas how to find Hezekiah Harvey in 1861? He was born in Nailsea, c. 1842 inSomerset but went to Wales at some point. Can't find him in England or Wales . I thought it was quite an unusual name, but have had no joy. any ideas- sorry to hijack this thread!!!

Debbie, when you say you are getting ''matches'' that appear to ignore the search criteria - are you using ''Ranked Search'' or ''Exact Search''? If you go to the first search screen and then click on one of the census links at the bottom left, the next screen that comes up will be blue or yellow depending on which of the Searches is set as a default. Personally, I do not understand the results when hubby has tampered with the 'puter and I find myself on ''Ranked Search'!! If you click the tab at the top and go over to Exact Search you may find things easier?? Jess is quite right - less is more. You need to add as little info as possible to the search, but at the same time enough so as not to get millions of results. Really, this just takes practice. Some things to note: Not everyone has a county of birth entered, esp if they come from a big place. Nearly all my rellies born in Birmingham do not have Warwickshire recorded anywhere! If rellies came from London, they will not list the same birthplace twice across the various census records. Only enter the first few letters of names/places if you cannot find the person straight off. The indexing was often done by people who don't have English as a first language, so they are quite happy with all sorts of funny spellings, not just typos! Just keep practising and you will get the hang of it! Merry

You can of course use that info to get to the right place geographically, and then trawl thru page by page of the images

Ah well....thanks for your help everyone. This isn't the first time I've been frustrated by Ancestry - must do better! Wish me luck...

I've found him! He has been seriously mistranscribed, as William SKEEN (rather than SKEET) and his birth place was Daxmunsham, rather than Saxmundham, but he's there! Hooray!

lol I just made the effort to actually READ your original post!!!! Ha! Will try to do better in the future lol Merry

Someone else has pointed out that it sounds as if you are putting in too much information. Stick to the EXACT match and only use 'RANKED SEARCH' and SOUNDEX if all else fails. You are lucky and having a fairly unusual surname to search for. I would just enter the surname on its own and see how many matches you get for the whole of England. It might be a manageable number to look through and you might find some of the family in unexpected parts of the country. Don't put an exact date of birth, I usually start with +/- 2 years but often search over wider limits. Search on the county rather than town. My family are form Bolton if they entered Halliwell (a district of Bolton) rather than Bolton then a search on Bolton might not find them. Look for any unusual first names in the family and search on them i.e. you have more chance of finding a Aloysius than a John! I often search on something like 'first name' + 'place of birth' or 'very approximate date of birth'. Think of obvious mistranscriptions so if possible only search on the first few letters of the surname with a wildcard. Unfortunately Ancestry will not let you search on less than three letters and a wildcard. Don't forget there is also Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Wales. Go up a level from '1891 England Census' to 'UK Census Collection' and that will search all the censuses on Ancestry and show you if any matches in these other countries. Find them in another censuses and see what variations in quoted places and dates of birth. MB