Researching Your Hidden Ancestors

Are your ancestors hiding?  Can’t find your great-grandfather in the 1880 census but you know he must be there?  There are many reasons that you can encounter difficulties when searching for those elusive ancestors, listed below are several methods that can help to reveal your hidden ancestor.

Alternate Spellings

Correct spelling of names was not a priority for most people years ago and many immigrants were illiterate.  Thus records may contain a myriad of alternate spellings for names based on how they sounded to the person creating the record.  For example the name “Meyer” could appear as “Meyers”, “Meier”, or even “Mayer”.  Many immigrants often changed their names to make them more “American”, or to be easier to spell.

Sound Out Names

While it can be helpful, don’t rely on the Soundex since it uses phonetic indexing not alphabetical.  Simply say the name out loud and write down as many variations of it as you can.  Keep in mind the ethnic origin of the ancestor and what was their native language, (i.e. “Aube” versus “Obie”).

Try Swapping First and Last Names

Sometimes first names can be mistaken for surnames (i.e. “Wilson”), and thus may have entered or indexed incorrectly.  Or even try searching for middle names.

Nicknames

Learn the common nicknames for your ancestors names, for example “Elizabeth” could appear as Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Betsey, Betty, or Bessie.

Try Alternate Search Terms

If searching for a name isn’t working, try leaving off the first name and adding other data such as birth year, or location.  But note that if you get too specific you could end up eliminating some search results if the record of your ancestor had blanks for certain fields such as birth place.

Search Smarter

Utilize global search forms or advance search forms when there are available.  Try searching across multiple databases.  Or try searching the specific database that you are interested in (search SSDI only).  Try Heritage Quest instead of Ancestry if you’re having trouble with census indexes.

Follow the Family

If you ancestor’s first name was hard to spell, try searching for the spouse or a child or a parent.  You can even apply some principles of cluster genealogy and search for neighbors or other associates.

Be Creative

When all else fails, get creative.  Apply combinations of all of the above suggestions.  If the search tool allows for “wildcarding”, try it.  You can often use “?” to replace single letters, or use “*” for zero to siz letters.

Sources:

Alzo, Lisa A., “Help! My Ancestors Are Hiding!”, Internet Genealogy, Nov/Dec 2009, pgs 14-16.