Ancestry wildcard searches

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Jim Elbrecht

Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Jim Elbrecht » 19 nov 2006 18:49:12

I'm trying to find Luer SIEMS b. abt1821, or his son, Luer SIEMS b.
abt1846.
[both from passenger list Germany-NY 1873]

I have tried soundex searches- substituting L's and S's- and finally
tried 'born Germany -enumerated in Westchester County, NY-- with no
name.

That gets 1600 hits which I might even try mucking through sometime--
but if I could narrow it down to L* S* I could probably save a lot of
time- and maybe even broaden the search statewide.

But Ancestry's search engine requires 3 letters before a wildcard.

This has been an issue for a while- has someone come up with a
workaround? [and does someone know why blank entries are OK- but L*
S* "returns too many hits"]

Jim

Liz_in_Calgary

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Liz_in_Calgary » 19 nov 2006 19:07:02

I have had some luck using the first name only. I think I
may have found my Henry in Cincinnati. that way. It seems
that his last name was spelled with 2 f's instead of 2 m's
- go figure - living in a boarding house - but if it is him
it really doens't tell me anthing I don't know.

take care
Liz






On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:49:12 -0500, in alt.genealogy Jim
Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote :

I'm trying to find Luer SIEMS b. abt1821, or his son, Luer SIEMS b.
abt1846.
[both from passenger list Germany-NY 1873]

I have tried soundex searches- substituting L's and S's- and finally
tried 'born Germany -enumerated in Westchester County, NY-- with no
name.

That gets 1600 hits which I might even try mucking through sometime--
but if I could narrow it down to L* S* I could probably save a lot of
time- and maybe even broaden the search statewide.

But Ancestry's search engine requires 3 letters before a wildcard.

This has been an issue for a while- has someone come up with a
workaround? [and does someone know why blank entries are OK- but L*
S* "returns too many hits"]

Jim

Michael Kenefick

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Michael Kenefick » 19 nov 2006 19:46:18

Have you been able to translate Luer into English? Have you found them
on any Census records? I can find many Siems, but few Luers and none
together on Census records.
Mike in Ohio

Liz_in_Calgary wrote:
I have had some luck using the first name only. I think I
may have found my Henry in Cincinnati. that way. It seems
that his last name was spelled with 2 f's instead of 2 m's
- go figure - living in a boarding house - but if it is him
it really doens't tell me anthing I don't know.

take care
Liz

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:49:12 -0500, in alt.genealogy Jim
Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote :

I'm trying to find Luer SIEMS b. abt1821, or his son, Luer SIEMS b.
abt1846.
[both from passenger list Germany-NY 1873]

I have tried soundex searches- substituting L's and S's- and finally
tried 'born Germany -enumerated in Westchester County, NY-- with no
name.

That gets 1600 hits which I might even try mucking through sometime--
but if I could narrow it down to L* S* I could probably save a lot of
time- and maybe even broaden the search statewide.

But Ancestry's search engine requires 3 letters before a wildcard.

This has been an issue for a while- has someone come up with a
workaround? [and does someone know why blank entries are OK- but L*
S* "returns too many hits"]

Jim

Norman J. Garland

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Norman J. Garland » 20 nov 2006 05:52:26

Jim When Leur came to the USA in 1873, He was 52, His wife Anna was 52,
and the son Leur was 9. So I believe Leur Jr. was born in 1864, not
1846. I found them in the 1900 NY census. Junior is living there and his
Mother is living with him. She is widowed......Norman

Michael Kenefick wrote:
Have you been able to translate Luer into English? Have you found them
on any Census records? I can find many Siems, but few Luers and none
together on Census records.
Mike in Ohio

Liz_in_Calgary wrote:
I have had some luck using the first name only. I think I
may have found my Henry in Cincinnati. that way. It seems
that his last name was spelled with 2 f's instead of 2 m's
- go figure - living in a boarding house - but if it is him
it really doens't tell me anthing I don't know.

take care
Liz

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:49:12 -0500, in alt.genealogy Jim
Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com> wrote :

I'm trying to find Luer SIEMS b. abt1821, or his son, Luer SIEMS b.
abt1846.
[both from passenger list Germany-NY 1873]

I have tried soundex searches- substituting L's and S's- and finally
tried 'born Germany -enumerated in Westchester County, NY-- with no
name.

That gets 1600 hits which I might even try mucking through sometime--
but if I could narrow it down to L* S* I could probably save a lot of
time- and maybe even broaden the search statewide.

But Ancestry's search engine requires 3 letters before a wildcard.

This has been an issue for a while- has someone come up with a
workaround? [and does someone know why blank entries are OK- but L*
S* "returns too many hits"]

Jim

Jim Elbrecht

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Jim Elbrecht » 20 nov 2006 13:01:12

Thanks to Liz & Michael-- as well as Norm. And apologies to Liz &
Michael for my email replies. I know better & I've been using this
software for nearly a decade so 'brain fart' is my only excuse.

To summarize-- The family referred to Luer jr. as Louis. He is with
his mother in 1900- still single.

I agree with Liz that first name only searches are handy. Still
puzzles me why you can leave a field blank-- but can't use a single
letter and wildcards. Probably some geek-magic that we mere mortals
can't understand.


"Norman J. Garland" <kane@citlink.net> wrote:

Jim When Leur came to the USA in 1873, He was 52, His wife Anna was 52,
and the son Leur was 9. So I believe Leur Jr. was born in 1864, not
1846. I found them in the 1900 NY census. Junior is living there and his
Mother is living with him. She is widowed......Norman

Norm- Thanks. Bad brain day yesterday for me. 1846 is young Luer's
birth year. That is them in 1900. Thanks. So where are they
in 1880?<g>

Jim

Dennis K.

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Dennis K. » 20 nov 2006 13:28:09

On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 07:01:12 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com>
wrote:

I agree with Liz that first name only searches are handy. Still
puzzles me why you can leave a field blank-- but can't use a single
letter and wildcards. Probably some geek-magic that we mere mortals
can't understand.

Yes, there is probably a good reason for this ... but I doubt if they'll
tell us what it is.

Have you tried Dr. Morse's front-end?

http://www.stevemorse.org/census/ancestry.html

I have trouble with it on my dialup connection, but maybe it will work
better for you.

--

Dennis K.

Jim Elbrecht

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Jim Elbrecht » 20 nov 2006 22:24:34

Dennis K. <nobody@iglou.invalid> wrote:
-snip-
Have you tried Dr. Morse's front-end?

http://www.stevemorse.org/census/ancestry.html

I have trouble with it on my dialup connection, but maybe it will work
better for you.

Worked fine-- but I'm not sure of the advantage. I tried using first
initials only and got this message;
"Your search specified a partial first name having only 1 character.
Your search specified a partial last name having only 1 character.

Ancestry.com does not permit searches with partial first or last names
of less than three characters."

Pooh-- I got all excited, too.<g>.
I think he put that page up when Ancestry didn't allow a lot of the
fields they do now. Their search is much improved from several years
ago when they went online.

Jim

Dennis K.

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Dennis K. » 21 nov 2006 00:34:16

On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 16:24:34 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@email.com>
wrote:

Dennis K. <nobody@iglou.invalid> wrote:
-snip-
Have you tried Dr. Morse's front-end?

http://www.stevemorse.org/census/ancestry.html

I have trouble with it on my dialup connection, but maybe it will work
better for you.

Worked fine-- but I'm not sure of the advantage. I tried using first
initials only and got this message;
"Your search specified a partial first name having only 1 character.
Your search specified a partial last name having only 1 character.

Ancestry.com does not permit searches with partial first or last names
of less than three characters."

Pooh-- I got all excited, too.<g>.
I think he put that page up when Ancestry didn't allow a lot of the
fields they do now. Their search is much improved from several years
ago when they went online.

I'm sorry. I thought that Dr. Morse had things configured so that a
partial search of AB* on a field actually did 26 individual searches of
ABA thru ABZ and returned the results. And a search on A* did 26*26
individual searches. I guess I was mistaken. Maybe a search on A* for a
first name and Z* on a last name were just too many searches.

--

Dennis K.

Hugh Watkins

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 21 nov 2006 05:34:36

server limitations

leading wildcards are too "expensive" of cpu time

you would get many failed searches because of time outs

Hugh W


Jim Elbrecht wrote:

Thanks to Liz & Michael-- as well as Norm. And apologies to Liz &
Michael for my email replies. I know better & I've been using this
software for nearly a decade so 'brain fart' is my only excuse.

To summarize-- The family referred to Luer jr. as Louis. He is with
his mother in 1900- still single.

I agree with Liz that first name only searches are handy. Still
puzzles me why you can leave a field blank-- but can't use a single
letter and wildcards. Probably some geek-magic that we mere mortals
can't understand.


"Norman J. Garland" <kane@citlink.net> wrote:


Jim When Leur came to the USA in 1873, He was 52, His wife Anna was 52,
and the son Leur was 9. So I believe Leur Jr. was born in 1864, not
1846. I found them in the 1900 NY census. Junior is living there and his
Mother is living with him. She is widowed......Norman


Norm- Thanks. Bad brain day yesterday for me. 1846 is young Luer's
birth year. That is them in 1900. Thanks. So where are they
in 1880?<g

Jim


--

Beta blogger
http://nanowrimo3.blogspot.com/ visiting my past
http://hughw36-2.blogspot.com/ re-entry
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/" photographs and walks

old blogger
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

jj206

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av jj206 » 05 des 2006 23:54:09

Hugh Watkins wrote:
server limitations

leading wildcards are too "expensive" of cpu time

you would get many failed searches because of time outs

Hugh W

Maybe ancestry.com should hire google to help in their search
software and hardware ?

Jonathan


Jim Elbrecht wrote:

Thanks to Liz & Michael-- as well as Norm. And apologies to Liz &
Michael for my email replies. I know better & I've been using this
software for nearly a decade so 'brain fart' is my only excuse.

To summarize-- The family referred to Luer jr. as Louis. He is with
his mother in 1900- still single.

I agree with Liz that first name only searches are handy. Still
puzzles me why you can leave a field blank-- but can't use a single
letter and wildcards. Probably some geek-magic that we mere mortals
can't understand.


"Norman J. Garland" <kane@citlink.net> wrote:


Jim When Leur came to the USA in 1873, He was 52, His wife Anna was 52,
and the son Leur was 9. So I believe Leur Jr. was born in 1864, not
1846. I found them in the 1900 NY census. Junior is living there and his
Mother is living with him. She is widowed......Norman


Norm- Thanks. Bad brain day yesterday for me. 1846 is young Luer's
birth year. That is them in 1900. Thanks. So where are they
in 1880?<g

Jim


Hugh Watkins

Re: Ancestry wildcard searches

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 06 des 2006 06:23:01

jj206 wrote:

Hugh Watkins wrote:

server limitations

leading wildcards are too "expensive" of cpu time

you would get many failed searches because of time outs

Hugh W


Maybe ancestry.com should hire google to help in their search
software and hardware ?

Jonathan


Jim Elbrecht wrote:

Thanks to Liz & Michael-- as well as Norm. And apologies to Liz &
Michael for my email replies. I know better & I've been using this
software for nearly a decade so 'brain fart' is my only excuse.

To summarize-- The family referred to Luer jr. as Louis. He is with
his mother in 1900- still single.

I agree with Liz that first name only searches are handy. Still
puzzles me why you can leave a field blank-- but can't use a single
letter and wildcards. Probably some geek-magic that we mere mortals
can't understand.

snip
google allows no wild cards

but searches some of the static pages well
site:ancestry.com html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=si ... gle+Search

Hugh W


--

Beta blogger
http://nanowrimo3.blogspot.com/ visiting my past
http://hughw36-2.blogspot.com/ re-entry
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/" photographs and walks

old blogger
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

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