When you go to the Parish Records search form you will now see a link to an Advanced Search facility for the Parish Records.

You will need to look around and and try different combinations of searching yourself as it is not something I can write a list of instructions about.

If you do get a little confused about anything then do not send me an email but post a message with your query in this thread as other people may have the same question and they can also read any answers any of us post.

Enjoy

I have just experimented with this new search facility on just one type of search so far. Using just surname and linking all children to a father Richard.

However I had to do 3 searches for this search as when I first put in the name Richard it did not pick out any that are in the database as Rich[ar]d or
R[ichar]d. I was using the name Aston so the search gave me all in database which included these letters ie Baston and others.

I hope this input will help

Gill

Parents surname "starts with" aston
Fathers forename "starts with" ric

should do it !

the r[??] ones will always be a search nightmare ! afterall the transcriber has filled the blanks

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

I note that on the advanced marriage search there is a box for Bride's surname but not for Bride's forename. Is there a reason for this? From baptismal records we pick up the mother's forename but not always surname, hence we will have bride's forename but not surname.
Thanks for all your hard work and brilliant site.

Theses are the criteria I can see on advanced search

Year

Parents Surname

Child Forenames

Fathers Forenames

Mothers Forenames

Mothers Surname

Parish Chapel

seems to cover both forename and surname for the Mother (?)

I can't see a field for Marriage, Burial or Baptism ?

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

The omission of the Bride's forenames in Marriage Search has now been rectified. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Any chance of having witnesses names on the advanced search. On many occassions it is family friends who sign.

You are already able to search for the names of witnesses. Maybe you missed the little drop down list (next to number of records per page) where you can choose between making a birth, marriage or burial search. Each of the events have a different set of fields to search.

Are all the entries in the parish records search included in the Advance Search?
Sylvia

The same database is used for both the original and advanced search facilities.

If you are able to find some records on the original search facility but not on the advanced search you will need to take a closer look at the search operators (contains, start with, etc.) and possibly make changes. At the same time be aware what you are inputting into the search box so it will marry up with the search operator you have chosen in order to get a desired result.

The Advanced search is more complex and you will not always get the best out of it if you leave all the search operator at the default value and just insert names in full. Take a look above at the example which slowhands posted in Linking all children to a father as that will give you some ideas.

If anybody has discovered a good combination of options when searching for a specific result then please share the example of how you did the search with us.