One of the most challenging parts of finding ancestors is which place to look for them.  In this latest update we have tried to provide the most flexible way to search for place – allowing you to search by country, state/province, county, or city.  This is done by simply typing the name of the place and allowing the list to appear below then selecting the best match.  We have also provided the list of selections from our extensive database of places which accounts for near mis-spellings and or changes in places over time.  So you may see a few suggestions that you may not expect. 

With power comes responsibility.  So if you search for a city that doesn’t have your ancestors name you will get zero results, this means that you need to expand your search to the county, state, or country. 

In my case when I search for my great grandfather I get 7 results for city, 11 for county, 49 for state, and 3,388 for country.  So you can see a big difference in results – so please expand your search if you get 0 results as ancestors could be mis-recorded in different cities or counties. 

One strategy is to start big and narrow results by using filters in the results page as well (note: we can’t filter place county or city yet – but are looking at that).  But you can use many other filters like events, collections, roles, etc. to find your best result and hopefully your ancestor.

We hope this improves your results in looking for your ancestors and look forward to hearing of your success.