Monday, March 10, 2014

Where Did My Ancestry.com Sliders Go? How I Search Without Them

I was using my laptop computer on Friday night while I was in Hemet, and was happy to see that I had sliders for refined searching on Ancestry.com when I was logged into Ancestry.com.  I tried them out, and considered writing a blog post that night about them, but figured i'll wait until Monday to do that.  So here's the Monday post...

I don't have Ancestry.com sliders today, and I have no clue why.  I'm in the same Ancestry.com account.  I'm searching the same person.  But no sliders.  

Here's my proof:

1)  The "Search" tab screen:


Note that I have information in the following fields:

*  Exact match box not checked.
*  First and middle names:  Isaac
*  Last name:  Seaver
*  Event:  Birth [selected from dropdown list]
*  Year:  1823
*  Birthplace:  Massachusetts, USA [selected from dropdown list]

2)  The results page (using the "Records" tab to see the "best match" records found at the top of the list:


Note that there are NO sliders at the top of the left-hand panel for some reason.  All of my Facebook Friends have them for default-type searches, why don't I?  Ancestry.com is teasing me...

The "Matching Records" at the top of the list of 92,420 matches include these records for "my" Isaac Seaver (born 1823, died 1901):

1.  Ancestry Family Tree entry for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
2.  1900 U.S. Federal Census for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
3.  1880 U.S. Federal Census for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
4.  1870 U.S. Federal Census for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
5 to 19:  Public Member Tree photos for records and pictures of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
20 to 22:  Birth Records for Isaac Seaver in 1823 from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988.  (not duplicates, different entries)
23.  Death Record for Isaac Seaver in 1901 from Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1915.
24.  1860 U.S. Federal Census for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
25.  1850 U.S. Federal Census for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
26. U.S. Civil War Draft Registration, 1863-1865 for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
27.  Westminster, Mass. 1864 Militia List for Isaac Seaver from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988 (this was a new find for me)
28.  Find A Grave Index entry for Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
29.  Westminster, Mass. 1865 Militia List for Isaac Seaver from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988 (this was a new find for me)
30.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Alvina Lewis in 1888, from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988.
31 and 32.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Lucretia Smith in 1851 from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988.  (not duplicates, different entries)
33.  Westminster, Mass. 1866 Militia List for Isaac Seaver from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988 (this was a new find for me)
34 and 35.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Lucretia Smith in 1851 from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988. (not duplicates, different entries)
36.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Juliet Glazier in 1846 from Mass. Town and Vital Records, 1630-1988.
37.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Lucretia Smith in 1851 from Mass. Vital Records, 1841-1915.
38.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Alvina Bradley in 1888 from Mass. Vital Records, 1841-1915.
39.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Alvina Lewis in 1888 from Mass. Vital Records, 1841-1915.
40.  Marriage Record for Isaac Seaver and Juliet Glazier in 1846 from Mass. Vital Records, 1841-1915.
41.  Isaac Seaver Civil War Soldier Record and Profile, 1861-1865
42 to 45.  Public Member Tree Photos and Scanned Documents
47.  Marriage Record of Lucretia Smith (to Isaac Seaver) in Mass. Marriage Records, 1840-1915.
48.  Eliza A. Seaver Marriage Record to Isaac Seaver in Vermont Vital Records, 1720-1908 [not my guy]
49 and 50.  Marriage Record of Lucretia Smith (to Isaac Seaver) in Mass. Town and vital Records, 1630-1988.

Out of the top 50 matches, 49 of them are for my Isaac Seaver.  There are more matches for him in the set of 50 records also - especially City Directory matches.  However not all of the matches are "my guy."

3)  I clicked on the "Categories" tab on the Results page and saw the list of categories with records that match my search criteria:


Note that there are no sliders in the left-hand panel...still.

I could search within each Category item if I wanted to, and the matches would, generally, put "my guy" at the top of the list.

For instance, for the 1900 U.S. census, here is the top of the list:


Still no sliders in the left-hand panel.

5)  I clicked on the link for the record at the top of the 1900 U.S. Census list above, and saw:


6)  Doesn't everybody start with "easy" searches like this - with only a name, birth date (if known) and birth place (if known), and just default matches?  The Ancestry.com search engine find records very efficiently that match your search field criteria.  And it presents the "Best Matches" at the top of the "Records" tab listing.  I think that is fantastic.

I entered data into four search fields - given name, last name, birth year, birth place (think of four stars).  The first 41 matches found records for all four of them (with a birth year variance of 1 year).  Granted, I had the birth year in the Photos attached to my Ancestry Member Tree.

Because I started with "default" matches for everything, it found a lot of matches (92,420 of them).  For my search above, the system looked for four star matches, then three-star, two-star, etc.

7)  If I clicked the "Exact match" box at the top of the search screen, I would get many fewer matches because I'm narrowing the search.  But I would also miss the variant name spellings of the given and last names.  Or I can use wild cards for the names and find variant spellings.

I can choose refined settings for the given name, last name, add some range to the birth year, etc.  For instance, the Given Name settings include:


All you have to do is click on the "Use default settings" link and pick from the dropdown box.

The Last Name settings are similar  (just click on the "Use default settings" link):


And the Location settings have refinements too (just click on the "Use default settings" link):



8)  I realize that I used someone with lots of records and uploaded images in my tree to do this blog post.  I will get similar results for every 19th and 20th century ancestor I search for.  Records are sparser before 1850, but the search processes above should work before 1850 also, but with fewer matches for "my guy."

I usually start with exact matches (so that I get fewer extraneous matches), but with a 2-year range on birth year. When I do that, I miss the name variants and records that don't have a birth year or birth place associated with it.  So I often use wild cards to cover the name variants, and expand the birth year range and perhaps the birth place range to find more records.  When I find very little, then I use the "default settings" for all search fields, and go through the top 100 to 200 matches.  I rarely have to do that.

9)  So how do you search on Ancestry.com?  Do you use the exact matches or default matches first?  Do you add a birth year and birth place?  Do you use the "Records" tab or the "Categories" tab on the results page?

10)  I'm still wondering where my sliders went.  Maybe I should check the nearby Applebees.  Take my laptop.  Maybe they're there!

Frankly, I don't need them.  The name and location setting options cover them and I know how to use them.  If, or when, I get sliders, I will do a similar exercise for the same search above and tell you if anything different occurs.  I doubt that it will.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/03/where-did-my-ancestrycom-sliders-go-how.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


1 comment:

bgwiehle said...

The sliders appear on all my search results screens. I guess my upgrade was simultaneous with the loss of OldSearch. (Not a desired trade).
Although I don't use them for setting up initial searches, I find the sliders handy in 2 ways: 1) easy to visually verify key settings, 2) easy to adjust a single field.