Genealogy Chat

an easier way is to use the wild card on sites that will allow it


? = 1 letter

* = 2 or more letters


I prefer to use this method whenever possible.

In addition to 18th century documents also on the 18th century newspaper when looking for a marriage for example enter" Mifs Jones" as a keyword.-j

You can sometimes see the fs for a double s in the middle of a word as well

Rufsel for Russel. It probably depends on a) the transcriber and b) the education of the original scribe

And the letter l, too, sometimes :)
ie Ladd / Sadd.

In addition to this it will often not be the last S which is an F if ending in a double S.

ie Lass will be shown as Lafs Class = Clafs

Just to make life easier for us

:-D :-D

Here's a tip for searching websites of 18th century documents or older. If you're keying in an ancestor's name that contains the letter 's', try substituting the letter 'f'. I thought I had found all I could on my Wilmshurst ancestors but then I keyed in 'Wilmfhurft' and found a whole load if documents I would otherwise have missed.