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Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008 -
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Do You Know that you can search just the
Census
Records on the site by using the three county level Census
buttons in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the
Current
What's New Page?
You can further limit your search by choosing the find all words
option and entering a year or township name along with your surname.
Remember that alternate spellings of surnames WILL affect your search results. |
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Census records are very often difficult to read because of handwriting,
microfilm quality, and spelling issues. Our early census takers were not as well
educated as we'd like them to have been, and even the people bearing the names
often could not spell them with the same consistency we are accustomed to in
this era. The census taker wrote what he believed he heard as well as he could.
These have been transcribed for you to the very best or our abilities given the
difficulties mentioned. Please be tolerant of what you would consider
"mistakes." If you can recognize the names you are looking for, then it is a
success. If not, then you may want to find a place where you can view the
originals so that you can judge for yourselves. Excessive attention to outmoded
spelling issues is the sign of a beginner in family research. Those of you who
have been at this a while are well aware of the "spelling errors" in our early
records and have learned to deal with them. |
