The release of several new databases online reminded me of the importance of knowing what is contained in the database being searched. Some online databases do not include every “sub-location” (ie. not every county within a state), do not contain as much information on one sub-location as they do another (ie. some counties have more records included than others), or do not include the same range of years.
Check out what it contains before you enter items in those search boxes.
This tip was based on a longer post about the new “probate” database at Ancestry.com.
2 Responses
SO TRUE… I was excited to see newspapers for Columbus Ohio in Newspaper.com the range was at least one hundred years. Only when I looked at he record set did I see how few of those years were actually available!
Several sites do that and it can be very frustrating if one is relying on full text searches to find things.