MARY KIRCHER RODDY
  • Home
  • Coaching and Research
  • Lectures
    • Upcoming and Past Presentations
  • Searching For Stories blog
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Privacy Policy

Searching for Stories

Thomas “Tommy” Rot and the Trouble with Transpositions

6/20/2017

0 Comments

 
I’ve recently been searching for a family with the surname “Thomas” and discovered a quirk with Ancestry’s search filters.  Ancestry does not appear to be using a Soundex system for name searches. 
​
Soundex is a code based on the first letter of the surname and the next three consonants.  Consonants are divided up into six groups of letters that sound similar to each other.  Vowels and the letters “H,” “W,” and “Y” are not considered in the Soundex system unless they fall at the beginning of a name.  So two names with the same consonants in the same order should be found on a search.
 
I was searching the 1940 census on Ancestry for Cordelia THOMAS born in Nebraska.  I could not come up with her.  I finally had to resort to a first-name only search and use some additional first names of other people I expected to see in the household.  With that grouping of names, I eventually hit upon Roy THOAMS and family.  
Picture

​When I looked at the census image for the family, the enumerator wrote THOMAS – however the indexer for Ancestry transposed the “M” and “A” and indexed it as THOAMS.

Picture
Year: 1940; Census Place: Longmont, Boulder, Colorado; Roll: T627_457; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 7-49A
 
THOMAS and THOAMS have the same consonants in the same order.  In a true Soundex system, they would be indexed in the same group of names.  But Ancestry does not always put them together.  I have found dozens and dozens of THOMAS families indexed as THOAMS.  And in my spot check of people listed with the surname THOAMS in Ancestry, every single one I looked at on the census was a THOMAS.

A couple of takeaways –
If you know other family members in the household, try searching just by first name.  Unfortunately, I don’t always know other household members. 

Remember that Ancestry doesn’t use a straight-up Soundex.  You might have to think of alternate ways to spell even simple surname. And be sure to consider transposition errors.

if you are interested in more strategies for finding people on the census, check out my "Censational Census Strategies" talk.  You can see when I'll be giving it presentation schedule on the "Lectures" tab of my website.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mary Kircher Roddy is a genealogist, writer and lecturer, always looking for the story.  Her blog is a combination of the stories she has found and the tools she used to find them.

    Read more of Mary's writings at "Adventures of A Broad Abroad" and at Letters from Limerick

    Archives

    April 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Achard
    Ahern
    Aldrich
    Amador County Genealogy
    Ancestry.com
    Archives
    Blair County
    Bradley Family
    Brannack
    Brannock
    Brown
    Brown Family
    California Genealogy
    Cemetery
    Census
    Citations
    City Directories
    Clark County
    Death Records
    DNA Strategies
    Education
    Enslaved People Research
    FamilySearch
    Family Stories
    Fields Family
    Freuhauf
    Genealogy Conferences
    Genealogy Education
    German Research
    Germany
    Graham Family
    Grandparents
    Hardy
    Hartmann
    Indexes
    Ireland
    Kircher
    Letters
    Lunenburg
    Map
    Mapping Tools
    Midwest Resources
    Midwives
    Military
    Newspaper
    Newspapers
    New York
    Ohio
    Pennsylvania
    ProGen
    Railroad
    Records
    Research Techniques
    San Francisco
    Sonoma County Genealogy
    Spreadsheets
    Springer
    Tiburon
    Timelines
    Virginia
    Virginia Genealogy
    Vital Records
    War
    Webster
    World War II Research
    Writing

     Subscribe in a reader

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Coaching and Research
  • Lectures
    • Upcoming and Past Presentations
  • Searching For Stories blog
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Privacy Policy