You may use this search engine to search my entire site including notes and sources. It has been improved recently and now allows for boolean and neighborhood searches.
(See Types of Searches below.)

You don't need to return to this page to search.  Once you're familiar with how the search engine works just use the box in the upper right of the screen and press enter.

Using this search engine will allow you to search for specific information, particularly if it is in the sources, notes or headstone transcriptions.  For example, you might be interested in all the people buried in the Odd Fellow Cemetery.  Enter "odd fellows cemetery" (with or without the quotes) in the search box and click on Find.

Please note that some material that I have transcribed from the original documents might have "unconventional" spelling that was in use in that earlier era.  You may have to try these spellings to get a match.

Also, it is a major project to update the search database so I do that less often than I update the data.  If I make small changes or additions to the data I do not update the search database so a search for these new things will not find them.  If I make a major change I update the database.  Check the Search Engine update date in the "New" section of the home page.

Types of searches

By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done.

In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

1. phrase search
   The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
   • To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
     Example: "free search engine"
     
   • To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
     Example: [free search engine]
     
   • To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }
     Example: {free search engine}
     
2. + and - qualifiers
   If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
   If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
   Example: +always -never
3. * wildcard
   If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match.
   Example: gift*
4. ? wildcard
   If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
   Example: b?g
5. boolean search
   You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
   Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)

All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*

Other considerations

Clicking on a reference in the search result takes you to the TOP of that page, which may contain several unrelated individuals.  If you have trouble finding your search term in a large page, use your browser's Find feature.  It's found under Edit on the toolbar.  It's in the same place for both Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer and Firefox (recent versions at least).

I've added each persons RIN number on the line below their name on the genealogy pages in the form [RIN Ix], where the x is the RIN number. If you see someone that looks interesting on the update pages, you can use the search engine to find that RIN. Just enter the string, including the square brackets, in the search engine.You may use lower case letters because the search engine is not case sensitive.

For example, if I wished to find Frederick Austin Stonesifer, I would search for [RIN I8] or [rin i8]. To find William Powers Stover, enter [RIN I122] or [rin i122].

Of course this always works, not just on updates, and if you know the RIN number of an individual you can always find them quickly using the RIN.

The results page will show an advertisement at the top and some more free things you can sign up for at the bottom of the page.  This is a necessary tradeoff for the use of this free search engine.  This one, unlike most of the other free engines, will handle a site with lots of pages.  So, if you are looking for a free search engine for your site, check out this search engine by Freefind.