FIRST NAME SEARCHES

Don't underestimate the value of doing a first-name-only search on
Ancestry.com for a family member, even if it is a common name like
Elizabeth.

I was unable to find my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Stiltz, in
the 1880 New Jersey census for Burlington County, even after doing a
Soundex search. That is, until I put in her first name, the name of
the county, and the town in which she likely lived in the 1880
census. Up came a long list of people named Elizabeth in the town
with their surnames in alphabetical order. I clicked on the page of
hits with surnames beginning with "S" and came up with the right
Elizabeth Stiltz. She was incorrectly indexed as Shltz.

If I don't know the town where a person likely lived, I use the birth
year for the person, allowing for a couple of years leeway on either
side of the year as permitted in the search process--along with the
person's first name, the name of the state, and the name of the
county. Using this method of listing the birth year without a town
produces an alphabetical listing of the towns in the county
containing individuals with that particular first name which may,
admittedly, involve a more intensive time search, but one which has
been well worth it in my experience.

This method has helped me break through quite a number of brick walls
involving my census research.

Carl Roache

Ancestry.com - What You Can Learn from Deed Books