What do you do when you run out of clues when you’re researching an ancestor? Through my years of experience, I’ve learned a few tricks of the trade to share with you.

1. Use wildcards (e.g. St*ffleb*n for Stufflebean) when searching databases. They won’t work for the first letter in a name, but most websites can handle multiple wildcards, indicated by the use of an asterisk* taking the place of one or more letters. Some first and last names, especially if less common, can really be mangled by indexers.
2. When you find an image, be sure to check one image before and one image after it. It’s not always obvious when you find a record that there’s a reverse side with more details. It’s rare, but I have found the back side of a document appearing before the front side of the same record. When searching through land deeds, be sure to look at several deeds before and after the one you want. I’ve had two or three situations where a family group is moving en masse, they sell their land and then all go to the courthouse on the same day, just before the physical move, to record the sales.
3. Check multiple websites for the same records. Not all databases are created equal! For example, in my experience, MyHeritage has a collection of Ellis Island records that is better indexed and easier to navigate the actual Ellis Island website. Cast a wide net, particularly when seeking out international records. Instead of paying for an expensive subscription, look at what is offered through the national library or archives of your country of interest. Library and Archives Canada offers free access to its census records, as does the Danish National Archives. FamilySearch has free access to many international church records. What you can’t find on one website might be readily available on another.
4. Check online family trees. Yes, be careful and use your findings as potential clues to verify yourself. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve found a person or document or photo in the universal FamilySearch family tree, or WikiTree or in someone’s individual online tree, including images of wills not freely accessible online. Just consider ALL online trees as full of possible new clues!
5. Seek out digital online books through FamilySearch, Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books and other sites. Not only are there family histories, but most U.S. counties and many towns have published histories. Military histories are excellent resources if you know your ancestor’s service, but want to learn more about what battles and locations where he/she served.

Here’s one more bonus tip – PERSI is (Periodical Source Index) a terrific resource that is underused. The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center hosts PERSI, which is free to use. The database of articles can be searched by surname, location (U.S., Canada, British Isles, Other Countries), Research Techniques and by Article Title Keyword. NOTE that this is an index to magazine, newsletter and journal articles, not to the articles themselves. However, when you find an article of interest, there is an option to order a copy of the article.

I entered “Stufflebean” in the surname search and seven hits appeared:

At the bottom left, there is a Click here option to order the articles.

PERSI is more useful when locations are searched, rather than surnames, but I’d love to read the first three Stufflebean articles!

What’s your favorite strategy for finding new clues? Please leave a comment and share.