Search One Database for All Green Leaf Hints in Your Tree

Did you know that you can filter your Ancestry.com green leaf Hints by record collection? ~ Source: Randall J. Seaver on Geneamusings.com

Instead of searching an all “green leaf” hints for an ancestor by going through all the hints provided, learn to utilize the power of computing to search only ONE database for anyone with a hint for THAT database in your tree.

Talk about a research time saver!

Mr. Seaver shares the exact steps to create a “collection filter” for a specific database. You’ll learn that your Ancestry.com tree has a Member Tree 8-digit number. And that each Database also has a number. Using those two numbers and a certain URL combo — magic can happen.

Tried it! It Works!!!!

The first two databases came up blank for matches. My first reaction was “But I know I have people in Web: Missouri, Death Certificates, 1910-1962¹ AND in Web: Illinois, Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995.“¹ Then I realized — it matches HINTS, the leaves. I just didn’t have any “hints” in those. I had already recorded the data.

So I tried one I hadn’t seen before, U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, and got nine hits. This is SUCH much faster than sifting through all the hints what I’m now thinking as ‘the old-fashioned way’.

How to try this new search

Go to Seaver’s article titled “Tuesday’s Tip – Search Ancestry.com Hints by Record Collection“. The core of the how-to starts at “If you read those posts, you can see that there are two key numbers to learn“.

Enjoy! I sure did!

And a HUGE thank you to Randall J. Seaver and his genealogy blog, Geneamusings.com.

Ancestry.com Hint from NEAGS:

1. When you see the word “Web:” as the first word in Ancestry.com’s card catalog, it means the data for that collection is located NOT on Ancestry.com but someplace else on the Internet. Many times those Web database collections are free.Both Web links above are free. The above links are to their locations on Ancestry.com. The free links to the same data are here (Missouri) and here (Illinois). These links provided for those who do not have a membership to Ancestry.com.
   NOTE: Nichols Library has a membership to Ancestry.com and researchers (that’s you) may use one of our computers to research. We usually have volunteers that can assist you if you are new to working with Ancestry.com.