Hi has anyone found anything new in the free searching at Ancestry.com? I amsearching several family trees and not very successfully I might add :( I'm glad I didn't pay to search or I'd be awful disapointed. Is there any tips for searching ? Barb _________________________________________________________________ Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office Live! http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/

Tip #1 - try searching individual sources, rather the broad general search. Also, I do exact spelling and try all the different spellings that I can think of that might happen because the recorder couldn't spell, and think how the name might look in the indexer couldn't read the writing. Suddington = Luddington, etc. I use wildcard searches a lot -- Lud*, etc. Tip #2 - on the census, you can search a town or county without putting in any name. It gives you the list of everyone and you can scan through and see if there is a name that might have been misread for the name you are searching. Tip #3 - try searching for first name only In other words, just keep tweaking that search engine anyway you can think of. Now, when you have found all you can off the Internet and don't seem to be coming up with anything new.... locate the nearest Family History Center near you and start ordering microfilm to look at. Go to familysearch.org and start looking in the Family History Catalog. The best searches are Keyword search and locality. Here is where you can start looking up original records of the indexes and transcriptions on line and begin to seriously document your database. Speaking of documentation -- go back over your first few generations and if you don't already have original records to document all your dates and places, start doing that through the microfilms. You will find that doing so will not only document your records, but you will find new information on you ancestors and families. Here's another thing you can do. You have heard of the indexing that the LDS are doing of the films in the granite mountain vault? They are scanning the images and indexers are typing the index which will eventually be link to the image and to put online. You can volunteer to index from your home computer at http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp Karen B. -----Original Message----- From: luddington-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:luddington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Barbara Campbell Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 8:49 PM To: LUDDINGTON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [LUDDINGTON] Searching Ancestry .com Hi has anyone found anything new in the free searching at Ancestry.com? I amsearching several family trees and not very successfully I might add :( I'm glad I didn't pay to search or I'd be awful disapointed. Is there any tips for searching ? Barb _________________________________________________________________ Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office Live! http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LUDDINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message