Find just the records you need using keywords

With just a name and any additional information you can quickly narrow down your search with TheGenealogist

Sometimes when you're researching an ancestor, all you have is a name and a few facts to go on. Perhaps you know the area they lived in, or perhaps a name and their occupation? If that is the case, simply head over to TheGenealogist and use the powerful keywords facility within its Master Search.

You can use Keywords to identify forebears from their area, occupation or address; rank or service number if they served in the military; even mother’s maiden name or the name of the house they lived in – you can use anything that might be in the original record to pinpoint the exact document you need.

Take the example of Max Gate, the house of Thomas Hardy. We enter Thomas Hardy and include the keywords 'Max Gate' in our search. TheGenealogist refines directly to the correct census entries, also bringing back listings in various residential directories and peerage and heritage records. We even find a note of his honorary doctorate in the 1901-1925 Aberdeen University Roll of Graduates.

We can be frustrated by ancestors who chose to spell their name different ways. TheGenealogist's Master Search can help as you can choose to search for a name phonetically rather than by a specific spelling. This is much more refined than name variant matching used by other search engines, as it just concentrates on different spellings for a way a name is pronounced, such as Renault/Renaud.

Key Results: Using just a name and putting any additional information we know about a person, in this case their house name, brings up a list of records that only relate to the person we're looking for.

Directory: As well as the census entry, our search using keywords also pinpoints Thomas Hardy in this directory for Dorsetshire in 1899, living in the same house as he was two years later. This is vital data for plotting someone's life.

School Days: As well as census and vital records, TheGenealogist also has a wide range of other important records, including those for occupations and schools. The keyword search goes through these too, and brings up this Aberdeen University roll of graduates.