I’m looking for a woman named Wilhelmina Senf who immigrated to the United States between 1846 and 1852. Sometimes her first name is rendered as Mina and sometimes her last name is spelled Senf, Serf, Senft, Serft, Zenf, Zerf, Zenft, Zerft, etc. I need to make certain that my searches are covering all these possible variations of her name.
To do that I made a chart with the name variants spelled out. The problem is that soundex and “sounds like” options for Senf may not catch all the variants that begin with an “S.” The same thing is true for the variants that start with a “Z.” The “n” being read as an “r” creates that problem.
I also need to make certain that while she’s usually listed with a first name of Wilhelmina/Wilhelmine, she did use the first name of Mina as well. My list of names to search for needs to reflect that. Based on the three variations for her first name and the eight variations listed for her last name, there are twenty-four possible name combinations. Using search options (based on sounds-like choices and wildcards) means that each of the twenty-four choices does not have to be performed as a separate search.
But we do need to make certain that the searches we enter will catch all the variants we have.
Do you always do that?
7 Responses
Some websites allow the use of wild cards, where a question mark (?) replaces one letter and a (*) replaces more than one letter. These can be helpful when they are available.
Good reminder. I always tell people to make certain that wildcard searches are getting all the variants you can think of–and learn how to use them. They can save time and, for some variants, are more effective than sound-based searches.
Also some clever person may have translated the name Senf to Mustard, which is what it means in German!
Good point. Never hurts to translate things as well.
And sometimes no matter how many things you try, it is just luck that you find your elusive people on those lists………my Swedish ancestor’s commom name: Anders Jansson/Andrew Johnson was listed on at least once on about every page it seemed. He traveled with his wife and three children, so I searched for them also. At a recent workshop I had earned that “hustra” was Swedish for wife. Then one day as I looked at various lists and possible matches, I looked down to see – Johnson, Anders, listed under his name-Hustra, Anna (his wife Anna), listed under her were each of the three children with their last name listed as “Hustra”! No matter how many spelling variations I might have tried this would never had been one of them. It was pure luck that I found them among all those Swedes coming to New York in 1871!
So..not the Wilhelmine Senft who arrived in NY 21 Nov 1854 with Adam and Suzanne Senft (from Württemberg via Le Havre, France) on the ship Canvass Back? https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7488/images/NYM237_148-0190
I’m sure you already found this but was experimenting with wild cards, and no, Min* Sen* didn’t return this record.
No.That is too late as it’s after her Kraft marriage when she was in Kentucky. Thanks! I will keep trying.