help with Trove

[nudge67]

Hi all

when I'm searching the surname Edwards on trove, how can I avoid being inundated by results for Edward. Or for that matter Edwardstown, as most of my searching is in South Australia,

Thanks

nudge

[Ruskie]

I had a very quick look - typed Edwards into the search bar, and got over 8,000,000 “initial” search results.

The first page of results all seem to be Edwards the surname.

You can narrow the search down by selecting a specific publication, or State, or time frame. You could also try adding a other search term or two, or a full name in “inverted commas”.

[sparrett]

To search excluding Edwards town, try this
"edwards" -town

To search for a specific person surnamed Edwards, use the given name.

Example here.

Supposing he came from Bordertown use the symbol ~and a numeral indicating the number of words by which your search words may be separated in a newspaper item .

If you don't want the Richard Edwards who was a musician in Bordertown, do space and symbol-  (that's minus) musician.

And you don 't want the Richard Edwards who was a shepherd, do space and symbol - (that's minus) shepherd

Search then looks like this
 
"richard edwards bordertown"~13 -musician -shepherd 

Narrow down further by decade date and item type from the options on the right of search screen

Sue

[Ruskie]

Good tips Sue. 

…. also keep in mind if you can’t find the right Edwards that not everyone gets a mention on “Trove”…

[wivenhoe]

You must have some idea about the EDWARDS you are interested in.

If you found reference in Trove for your EDWARDS...... how would you know?....what would confirm to you that it is your EDWARDS?

Were your EDWARDS  born in South Australia?....married in South Australia?...died in South Australia.?

You need some sort of time frame, some part of the state...north/south/east/west....some idea of occupation. Use those identifiers as part of your search terms.

As long as your only search term is....EDWARDS.....why would you expect anything different....than endless returns?


Who are you researching?.  What do you already know about them?.  The forum might be able to help you if you are interested to give more detail.

For most purposes  Trove can be searched for newspapers up to 1954 so if you are hoping for something more recent, Trove will be of limited use to you.

[sparrett]

You must have some idea about the EDWARDS you are interested in.

If you found reference in Trove for your EDWARDS...... how would you know?....what would confirm to you that it is your EDWARDS?

Yes. It would be a bit like putting Smith into google and hoping your person of interest would pop up

Ruskie, I am not an expert, but I have found also that changing word order and using the person's name and then a family word (such as brother) all within double quotation marks followed by tilde12  (or whatever) will bring up relations of you person of interest.
Search box would look like this.

"richard edwards sister"~12

And could possibly result in an item like this 
......Mrs Jones, the recently widowed sister of Richard Edwards died suddenly at ....   

Ah! you didn't know he had a sister
Anyhow, it's all a game of trial and error really.

Sue

[Ada Zeeks]

Hi from Western Australia
Trove is fantastic, but it can be overwhelming with results (I'm searching Kelly)

Type Edwards - do NOT use inverted commas because they will pull the name back to EDWARD and some of the newspapers aren't scanned nicely so there are letters and numbers.

I find the best way to search is to write name and location, so     EDWARDS, ADELAIDE  or write the specific town or region they were in.

THEN, narrow the search by clicking on SOUTH AUSTRALIA and narrow down dates to a specific decade.  Start narrow and work your way out.

Narrow your search by looking for very specific information - use Family Notices OR advertisements.
 SOunds nuts, but ads tell you WHO is in a town. Mix the search up by adding another surname from the same family, example EDWARDS, HORNSBY.

WOMEN - when you are searching for a woman, if she is married, she is MRS JOHN SMITH (example), she loses her identity

I have done a quick search for EDWARDS, HORNSBY...and only searched the 1880s and ONLY used ADVERTISING

ARTHUR EDWARDS - a butcher in Rundle Street

EDWARDS YARDS IN JAMESTOWN  and the same newspaper was talking about Hornsby's ploughs/Ransomes Ploughs. (Newspaper - SOuth AUstralian Register 1880)

Theres a H Edwards in PROSPECT, advertising two houses for let.

Advertising was huge and it can tell the story of your family when they have settled in town.  But to find the town, you may like to start with Family Notices - they generally show the movement of people through areas with births and marriages.

Hope that helps,
Katherine

[nudge67]

Hi all

Thanks for your comments.

I'm actually at a more advanced stage at searching this family I know names, areas etc. they were a prominent agricultural family with extensive real estate holdings, which I am studying now.

the returning of results that show edward not just edwards is being a problem. Thats whay I want to fix

[sparrett]

Well Nudge, perhaps if you use  some of the strategies suggested above, you will get better results.

Without more specific information about the people and point of your search, we can't offer much more.
 
Sue