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Help with Database Search Strategies |
All search words are treated as AND search except if preceeded by minus sign for NOT search. (so do not use AND in your search string.) Example: [ fort johnson ] will return all news items that contain both fort and johnson Example: [ -fort johnson] will return news items about Johnson family, but not the fort. Example: [ hall -fort johnson] will return news items about Johnson Hall, but not the Fort. Because the search looks for string patterns, you can find partial matches. Example: [ Ford ] will return "Ford" and "Sanford" and "Playford" and "Bradford" Example: [ patterson ] will return "Pattersonville" and "Patterson" Example [ patterson -ville ] will return the Patterson family without references to "Pattersonville" Note: Do not include brackets [ ] or quotes " " or parenthesis ( ) in your search. Also, do not include words such as AND, OR, NOT. These words could limit the success of your search. |
| Do not use words like New York or abbreviations like NY since most entries about Albany, Amsterdam or Palatine Bridge would not mention the state name. |
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Usually, the more precise you are, the less success you will find. While there may be and
entry for Mrs. Stephen Sanford, the entry may list her by her own first name
or may refer to her as Mrs. Sanford or Stephen Sanford's wife. It may be easier to search for Sanford and then limit your next search based on the results you find. |
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If you search for non-surname information (let's say voting information),
you might seach for words like voted or votes. Since "votes" and "voted" and voting" all begin with vot, you can search for the partial word (vot) to acheive the greatest number of matches. |