Washington County 'Little Washington' Pennsylvania
 Genealogy and Family History

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Washington County Pennsylvania History and Families

Florian's Best On-Site Search Tips

This site reviews search terms used.  So I have some idea of what people typically search for on my pages.  Here I provide some site specific search tips along with general tips (see Search Engine Behaviors, below).

Question:  Do I need to search for the words Washington County, PA?

Answer:  No, all of my websites and pages are for Washington County, PA.  So you do not need to specify this, unless the person lived in the city, Washington, Pa.

Question: What if I want a specific small town in the County?

Answer: Some newspaper articles gives the town in the text, but many articles do not.  The best search is to use the town's name if you want a town, but use the person's name if you want a person.  OR try Name/Surname, Town - such as John Miller, Daisytown

Question: is it better to search by full name, first name initial and last name, or by surname only.

Answer: Newspaper articles vary how they used people's names. If you have time to look through the results, use just the surname.  For quicker searchers, use the formal version of the person's full name (not nickname).  Try both First Middle Last and First Middle Initial Last.    OR, use the standard abbreviation of a first name.  For example, search for Charles or Chas., not Chuck.  John was Jno.  Then try common nicknames, like Chucky, Johnny.  Note:  Young children were normally called by informal or nickname.

Question: I'm looking for a married couple but cannot find the woman by her first name.

Answer: Try searching for "Mr. and Mrs. Full First Name of Man and his Middle Initial  Surname."  Try this with and without quotes.  If the year is after 1960s, put the woman's first name in parentheses after the man's name.  For example:  "Mrs. James F. (Marcella) Florian'.  Women's first name appeared in parentheses in newspapers when she was called Mrs.  

Question:  I'm looking for a child, but newspapers often did not put the surname directly after the child's name.

Answer: I have tried to add the Surname after children's first names.  However, you will need to use brackets around the [Surname].  Example, "son, Johnny [SMITH]" or "daughter, Marcie [MILLER].  ALSO search for the parent or parents' names.

Question:  Can I search by DATE?

Answer:  Yes you can!  However, newspapers follow American date practices, meaning, Month Day Comma Year.  Month may be spelled out or abbreviated.  So for example, try January and Jan.  *Some* submitters to the website used traditional American number dates (09-18-1945) OR they may have used genealogical dating practices (04 Apr. 1943).

Question:  I'm looking for photographs.

Answer:  Try searching for "Photo of Person or Place Name".  I normally always use Photo in the text and description if the photo is a person, place, or event.

Search Engine Behaviors

There are many ways to modify the default search engine behavior.  You will need to combine the tips listed above with the standard practices listed below.

Phrase Searches
The search engine supports three types of phrase search.

• To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
  Example: "free search engine"
• To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
  Example: [free search engine]
• To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }
  Example: {free search engine}

• If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
• If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
  Example: +always -never
•  

• If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match.
  Example: gift*

• If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
  Example: b?g

• You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
  Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)

All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*

This page was last edited Sunday, August 02, 2015

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