Anyone else think that not being able to search by a first name and birth details only is a HUGE st
You used to be able to use a first name and birth details to search for married women in census whose new name you didn't know . Now you have to have a surname.... why cripple your existing search functions? This is NOT an improvement .
Answers
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I can still search without a surname. Can you share specifics?
Sometimes, there will be a message (paraphrasing) "Please consider adding a surname" but even when I get that, a couple of reloads/refreshes will force the search to complete.
In this test search, I've searched with a given name, no surname, a place and approximate year of birth, and place of residence in the 1930 US census. 52 results.See this thread where we had a similar discussion a few days ago.
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On the Home Page of FamilySearch, there is a "box" labelled Search for an Ancestor. This requires a Last Name, whereas the general Search / Records menu doesn't. Is @JanePearson trying to access census results via that mechanism by any chance?
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Could be @Adrian Bruce1. I stay away from that page. That box searches everything, and I tend to narrow my search as much as possible.
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Adrian's surmise that Jane has inadvertently switched to the "all collections" search is one possibility. The other is that she's starting off with the top box on the Search - Records landing page; it will indeed not let you proceed without more than just a given name. The error message is "Please enter more data to complete a search". For that "more data", a birth year range will do; so will an asterisk in the surname field.
However, if you're specifically looking for a census record, it's best to scroll down a little on the Search - Records landing page to the Find A Collection box. Use that to find the specific census's landing/search page, such as the one for the 1880 U.S. Census (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1417683). If you click "More Options" in the search box there, you'll get options to search by things like occupation and relationship to head of household, depending on the specific census. You'll still need the asterisk trick if all you have is a given name, but given name + relationship to head or given name + occupation are sufficient as well.
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Having said that, the Search Records landing page does seem to accept searches without surnames if there is sufficiently tight search criteria elsewhere in the search. I can search for first name Ezekiel in Cheshire, England and get answers, eg. Whereas the one that I speculated about has a straight validation check on the presence of a surname, regardless of the specificity of the other criteria.
I guess we have to wait for more detail!
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Familysearch.org/search/discovery/ results etc etc. Looks like the same page i have been using to do all my searches. But now much less useful. Cannot leave the surname blank. Not on any tab. I have been using family search since it only had the UK 1881 and us 1880 census available. Each time they update they seem to screw it up, having to sign in every few minutes or if you navigate away, unable to flick through the 1881 to see the neighbouring houses, confusing mass of pages instead of a simple layout, and unable to search by first name and birth details only. Getting worse all the time.
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Ok , and now I am on a page where I can search without a surname, yup, this website gets worse the more they fiddle with it!
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@JanePearson, any URL with "discovery" in it is not the "normal" page; it's generally a version of things meant as some sort of introductory first step for newcomers. (Or, translated into reality, it's dumbed-down fluff, and I don't understand the motivation behind expending FS's limited resources on such.)
As I wrote yesterday, what you want is Search - Records. You can get to it from any page on the main FS site by clicking the Search menu at the very top and choosing Records (the first option). (And you can get to the main FS site from anywhere in the Community by clicking the FamilySearch logo [with the tree] at the top.)
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