We have released an update to the search user experience that makes hints available to online users of search. Until now, hints from American Ancestors databases were only available to users of American AncesTREES. Now they are available to everyone.
You can see an example of hints on the image above. Here we have the Record Display page for the birth of Nathan Snow in 1725 from the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1620-1850 database. On the right side you can see the heading “Hint” and the suggested records underneath. If there are no suggestions, this section will not appear.
Each hint is prefaced with the name of the database that contains the hint record, the first and last name of the suggested person, and the birth and/or death year of that person as extracted from the source of the hint. An annotated sample is shown below. The name and date part of the hint is the hyperlink. You can click on it and go there directly, or right click and open the hint in a new tab or window.
The hints are listed in a relevance sequence with the best fit at the top of the list. A maximum of 10 hints are displayed. Not all databases currently provide hints. As new databases become hint providers, we will send an update on DB News, such as this one from last summer. You can also use Browse Database A-Z for a current list by typing “Hint” in the Search field.
We hope that this enhancement helps you with your search efforts. If you have any questions, please let us know by using the Comment or Question box or Report Error button on Record display. You can also email us directly at webmaster@nehgs.org.
