Explanation and Format of Results

There are tens of thousands of names in the index. As I am concurrently adding names to the database and completing queries, please understand that until I finish adding every bit of information, the return result from your query may be delayed up to six months. Please don't bombard me with e-mails asking if I've gotten to it yet. Though I'm pretty fast with queries now that I've gotten the database in order, if you haven't heard anything after two months, you may want to send a tickler e-mail

By using a database format, the information can be tied together, instead of just having a list of names in the index, so that eventually, a generated query result will pull out the information from the baptismal entry as recorded in the journal issue. For example, instead of having to request through e-mail that I type out José, Francis from page 048, you would then automatically get something like the following:

where "Entry" is the entry number as assigned by the pastor who wrote recorded the information, and the original page and year is as noted by Mr. Barr.

When the priests wrote the records they followed the same format for each entry: Child name, son / daughter of father and mother[, his wife (optional)] [, of location (optional)], born date; baptized date. Rev. name officiated. Sponsors: first and second. So you can see how it would be easy to plug everything into a database.

The search form above will return the soundex and metaphone codes even if there are no exact matches in the index. If a certain person has an entry associated with his name, there will be a radio button that you may click and submit to get the information. If there is no radio button, then e-mail me at obstinatesnooper (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can look up the information manually in the journal.

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About the database and query scripts

The query generator above searches the index by soundex, metaphone, and german soundex values in addition to a regular LIKE surname query. (If your ancestor is filed under "McGrath" and you search for "Grath", you will get results. Likewise, if your ancestor is stored as "Phettiplace" and you search for "Place", you will get results. However, it does not work in reverse: if "Grath" is in the index but not "McGrath", and you search for "McGrath", you will get no results.) Both the metaphone and soundex functions are included in the PHP programming language. I used the metaphone as included; however, I wrote my own soundex function, because the one included with php ignores the H and W rule1, 2. Many of the soundex descriptions I came across in my search for the rules also neglect this rule:

If "H" or "W" separate two consonants that have the same soundex code, the consonant to the right of the vowel is not coded. Example: Ashcraft is coded A261. It is not coded A226.

So, if I were to query "Ashcraft" with the php included soundex function, I would get A226. If you were to run it with the query I wrote, you'd get A261.

I recently (27 May 2009) In May of 2009, I found a php function, written by Nicolas Zimmer <nicolas dot zimmer at einfachmarke.de>, for german soundex returns, which I added to the site am in the process of adding. (code.)

I went one step further in programming the search strings to search also by only the last three digits of the soundex code (eg. 261). This way, if you have two like sounding names such as Otis and Addis, you will receive both Otis and Addis in your search for Adis. The soundex code for Otis is O320, and for Adis (and Addis) is A320. If you searched only by soundex or metaphone, you would not get Otis options, as both codes start with O and do no therefore match the A query. But since the last three digits of both sounds code as "320", this search provides a match. (Neither Phettiplace nor Otis are in the index.)

I am still working on the script that will allow you to search, for example, for "Ioset" 3 and get "Jose" 4 in your search results. If you think that's a bit of a stretch, know that there's a good possibility that someone made a connection with those two names. I'm also working on how to get it to recognize "Graff" 5 as "Grath" 6, and other associated alternate spellings for other surnames. For now, I've made it search for matches to 6_0, to return surnames that have a value of 600, 610, 620, ... 680, 690.

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