Search Records malfunction??
I have been trying to search records and seem to be getting less and less hits over the past 3 months. Today, I tried to search for two different surnames that I know are common in Campbell County, Kentucky. I was trying to find Stephen Brown in the 1870 census. I find him quickly on Ancestry as Stephen Brown, Grants Lick, Campbell County, dwelling 247. I tried to search as generally as "Brown" in "Kentucky" born between 1820 and 1850, Record Type: Census, lists. I got only Freedman Bureau hits. I tried Smith in Kentucky and got the same results. I then unchecked the Record Type and still get only Freedman. I have refreshed the page and tried logging on and off--same results.
Thanks for any insight. I hate to keep having to go to Ancestry and find the record and then back door it in FamilySearch to attach to my person.
Answers
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From the Search Records option on the FamilySearch profile page of Stephen Brown, you should be able to select the "FamilySearch" search option. This should produce results from many collections; to refine the search to the 1870 Census collection check the box at left and then click on the Filter Results.
Also, using the Search dropdown menu, then Records, then Browse All Published Collections (lower right link), I performed the same search, using the information you provided and it returned 82 results for the 1870 Census (see attachment). The records provided were transcribed and included images. Hope this helps!
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I am not getting the census hits. I think part of the problem is the standardized place for many of these records is wildly off. I can't tell you how many records I find by going page by page through a collection and then see that the standardized place is incorrect.
If a place name is in the list for volunteer standardization, can it apply to an entire page of records, or an entire collection? If so, that is not good news. If not and the standardized place names are being determined by the persons processing the collection, why so many errors?
Lastly, is there any way to browse the census records? If I have a county, precinct, and household number, I should be able to quickly find the page and correct the place name if it is wrong, and then attach it.
Thanks for any assistance!
Sheryl
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I had a similar problem in the past. The problem was that I had limited the collection choices and had trouble expanding them to the the entire set of collections available otherwise. I no longer limit searches to a specific place, e.g., Alabama. Now I put in Alabama as a location for a person having lived or having been born and trusting FamilySearch to list the Alabama records before those for other states.
Incidentally, I wish the FamilySearch allowed me to omit a set of collections, especially the military service of persons who served in the U.S. Civil War. Most of my searches pertain to states in the Confederacy; the list of soldiers from the south who fought are voluminous.
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That still isn't working for me. I am having to link census records from Ancestry because I can't get to them on FS.
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I actually found an 1880 census record attached to a relative:
Path for the collection:
United States Census, 1880 > Kentucky > Campbell > Grants Lick > ED46
On the record--
Event Place (Original): Campbell, KENT
Event Place: Kent, District of Columbia, United States
How can we correct an entire county that is assigned the wrong location?
I have corrected all the people on a page before and it is laborious!
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Here is an example:
Search > Records
Browder Brown
Alt name: Browden Brown
Born: 1866-1867, Kentucky, United States
Mother: Mary Daniel Brown
Residence Place: United States
No other filters
NO HITS.
Similar Ancestry Search:
Get hits for 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 censuses; 1885 Kansas State census; Washington, US State and Territorial Census, marriage records, death records, city directories.
Example: Ancestry 1880 census entry for Browden Brown:
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/41981280:6742
This just doesn't make sense!
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Sometimes less is more...I just entered Browder Brown and his birth year and location Kentucky and the 1st result is the 1880 census, now if I include his mother I might find him when he is a child in her home but I likely wont see the results when he is not living with her, when he is an adult. When adding his mother you are telling the computer to look for that relationship as well as his dates. Also using wild cards like Browd* works well to include all those endings of -en or -er of his name. Also just adding a residence of Washington I get more information about him. He has an ID number in Familysearch that these records are attached to or suggested. G912-K7L and the 1880 census is alone attached to another ID for him which may need to be merged GSRG-KZP
I have just learned you have to play with the search at FamilySearch to get the results you want sometimes, I do like Ancestry search engine better and more people have added corrections to names, dates etc that also help their search engine. Looking at the documents too help because you may see misspellings or birth years off which you need to adjust for when searching in FamilySearch.
Cindy
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I entered exactly what you did (Browder Brown, born 1866-1867 in Kentucky) and got 1 result--a Washington state death/burial record. No census records; no other hits. The 1880 census that was attached to the 2nd Browder Brown was likely attached before the standardized place became corrupted.
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I used a broader birth year, the typical standard is 5 years when you just hit search on a person's page so I went from 1864-1869 to see the result. Census records are often estimated birth years and can frequently be off by 2 years so always give wiggle room when searching birth years especially as they relate to census. Then of course there are those who guessed at their neighbors or parents age because they did not know and the census taker would ask whoever answered the door and also you will find people lied about their age. You have to remember there are lots of possibilities so search broad then narrow. Try even just using his name with Kentucky as birth location and search during certain years in Washington since you know he lived there. If they census listed a different birth location and I have had that happen it will not come up in a search if you narrow it to just Kentucky.
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I looked around and I added the 1870 census to the Family of Stephen Brown and Mary Daniel Brown and their children listed on the census. Yes Ancestry brought it up fairly easy but after finally finding in on FamilySearch I learned why it was not coming up on FamilySearch. (I found it using the technique of looking up someone else on the same census, searching for that person, then bringing up the image which matches the Ancestry census image I see, then from the record view on FS you can attach it to anyone using a FS ID number on the attach screen)
The name Brown was indexed as Bowen and the names of Mary's children from her first marriage was indexed wrong too as Winford for child Rebecca and then there are more children on the next page and her brothers is listed under Hanford. Then you have the 2 sons of Stephen and Mary together and Broader is written Jackson which is weird but I do think it is him and his brother Harry is there and their ages are listed. The pieces of the family match to me and the indexing was poorly done by whoever read the handwriting in my opinion. But it explains why search was not finding this record because the surname Bowen does not match Brown.
This is not a search error but involves indexing. I have learned alot about how to manipulate the search at FS to find the Ancestry search results. In fact I am working on preparing a class on how I do this for my local Family History library where we are doing zoom classes. This search for you has helped me add some bullet points to my lesson as I am gathering my thoughts of what to cover.
Cindy
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