SEARCH PROCEDURE

1. On the Main Page, Click on Search.
2. Set your parameters as follows:
• Equals - use only if you know the exact spelling of the last name.
• Contains - use any part of the name that you know will be in the name. For example, I use hois for Hoisington because it's faster
Starts with - Use at least 3 letters, as there are 15+ thousand names in the database.
• Ends with - Use when the first part of the name sometimes varies.
• Soundex of - Soundex searches for words pronounced similarly and can be used to simplify searches when you know the pronunciation but not the spelling. For instance, Hoisington with bring up Hoisington and Hossington, but will not bring up Horsington or Hassington.
• Metaphone - Similar to soundex. Metaphone creates the same key for similar sounding words. It's more accurate than soundex as it knows the basic rules of English pronunciation.
3. AND or OR
• Joining with AND requires the results to contain ALL of the designated parameters.
• Joining with OR searches for ANY of the designated parameters.
4. OTHER EVENTS

You can search on any field that the database contains. The displayed fields are only the most common.

5. SHOW DEATH/BURIAL INFORMATION

Select this if you have more than one person with the same name and or birth year.

6. SHOW SPOUSE

Select this if you want to know if the person married or if you have more than one person of the same name and you know the spouse's name of the individual you want.

SEARCH TIPS

Use the least number of parameters necessary to select the individual you want. However, if you are searching a common name Mary Hoisington, but do not know if she may have a middle name listed, use both Last Name contains Hoisington AND First Name contains Mary.

Do NOT search for "Hoisington" when all you want is all the William Hoisingtons as there are many William Hoisingtons and thousands of Hoisingtons.

If you are searching for someone with a First Name like Will, use First Name contains Will, as it may be listed as William, Willis, Willie, Wilhelm, etc.

When looking for a group of individuals, start off with the most common feature of the group that you are researching. For instance, if you want to know who was born in Windsor VT between 1800 and 1820, you would select Birth Place equals Windsor AND Birth Year equals +/- 10 years from 1810.