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Perhaps the reason you haven't found your family is that someone along the line from the recorder to the records extractor made a typo. Wild cards and fuzzy searches are a searcher's best friend! Learn the proper use of wild cards like "*" and "?" in each search envirionment. Fuzzy means searching for inexact spelling. Soundex was the first fuzzy search mechanism, but now there are more sophisticated alternatives. Try going back to searching the usual places listed on the [[Flummoxed - Extending Family Lines]] page and using a variety of wild cards. | Perhaps the reason you haven't found your family is that someone along the line from the recorder to the records extractor made a typo. Wild cards and fuzzy searches are a searcher's best friend! Learn the proper use of wild cards like "*" and "?" in each search envirionment. Fuzzy means searching for inexact spelling. Soundex was the first fuzzy search mechanism, but now there are more sophisticated alternatives. Try going back to searching the usual places listed on the [[Flummoxed - Extending Family Lines]] page and using a variety of wild cards. | ||
== Records Never Existed or Destroyed == | == Records Never Existed == | ||
Even when record keeping was common or required during the middle period, it often did non happen. Here are some of the reasons: | |||
*Babies born at home were sometimes never reported. [http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/vitalrecords/visit.shtml New York City] reports, "Approximately 25% of all births prior to 1910 were not reported to the city. Births often took place at home and the doctor or midwife sometimes failed to report the event to the city." | |||
*Gaps exist when records were just not kept, particularly in religious records. Sometimes whole towns were devastated by war or disease. Sometimes there was simply no one there to make a record. Review reliable, published records inventories that cover the area you are searching. | |||
Don't spend an inordinate amount of time searching for a single record because it may never have been created. Instead, move on to find other supporting evidence. | |||
== Records Destroyed == | |||
== Other Sources == | == Other Sources == | ||