Online surname search strategies
A practical approach to searching record databases for a name that will not turn up.
Most family-history websites let you search by name, place and date. A search that finds nothing is usually a search that was too narrow. Here is an approach that works across the main sites.
1. Start broad, then narrow
Enter the surname and a decade, not an exact year. Add place only when there are too many hits. If results are huge, add a first name or a spouse before you add an exact date.
2. Try variants
Use the spelling variants from the spellings guide. Many sites offer "sounds like" or "similar" options, and some accept wildcards: ? for one letter and * for several.
3. Search for relatives instead
If you cannot find a person, look for a sibling, a parent or a neighbour. Households are indexed under the head of the family, and the person you want may be sitting in the record under a misread name.
4. Use the right record for the question
US federal censuses, from 1790, are public after 72 years; the 1950 census is open and searchable. Birth, marriage and death records vary by state and country. Passenger lists, naturalisation papers and military records each tell you different things, including where in the old country someone came from.
5. Keep a log
Write down what you searched, where, and with what spelling. It saves repeating dead ends and lets you spot patterns, such as a name that is always misread the same way.
6. Check against the original
Indexes contain mistakes. Look at the image of the record. Compare ages, places and neighbours before you accept a match.