Using the Search Facility

Many of the pages on this web site contain references to people's names, places and occupations and it is just not possible to manually index them all. It has therefore been decided to use FreeFind which is a search engine which indexes the site in a similar way to other search engines - and given one or more search terms comes up with a list of web pages that contains the term(s). The Search engine works best with single words - For instances, if you want St (or St. or Saint) Albans look for "Albans".

In choosing search terms remember that it will be looking for exact matches and you should consider looking for alternative spellings - for instance Berkhamsted (modern spelling) is often spelt Berkhampstead in old records and some modern indexes.

If your search is negative it may be that information is available - perhaps on the old forum, which can no longer be searched online - and could be put online if you Ask Chris. If you get multiple hits on your search using the "Back" facility on your browser will be quicker than repeating the search.

The site is indexed by www.google.com and some other global search engines. If you enter the site in this way the "restore menu" at the bottom of the page will get you back to the home page and the menu.

Warning: New pages are usually added on a Thursday or Friday to allow for online testing, and are not indexed on Friday night, in time to be fully operational by the weekend.

For many searches you may find that using google with "Hertfordshire Genealogy" (in quotes) and your search terms will be quicker than FreeFind.

Page updated December 2004