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How to Post a Query properlyA Guide To Better Queries If you are new to writing queries, then take a moment to review the examples below. Better yet, why not print a copy of this page and write your query off-line. That will give you the time to develop your query in such a way to pay dividends for your research. Be sure bookmark this page in your browser so that you can easily return. I know how to write a query. Go to Submit a Query
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Withheld This is the genealogical equivalent of placing an ad in the newspaper's classified section that says, "Used car for sale. Please call for make, model, condition, and asking price." You might get a response, but don't count on it.
Too General This message is no more informative than the first example. If you're just starting to research your own family, contacting everyone with that name will soon overwhelm you, and isn't likely to help you find your immediate ancestry. Even if you think your name is extremely rare, there are probably lots of people that share it with you. If you really are interested in making a comprehensive collection of all the Davidsons, tell us enough about your project to encourage other genealogists to contribute their research.
Too General A little bit better than the above examples, but you have valuable clues that you're not sharing with us. Your grandfather died when you were 10. This gives you the date of his death. But remember, by Internet, we have no idea if your age is closer to 15 or to 95. We have to guess grandpa died someplace between 5 and 85 years ago. Since most men have children between the ages of 20 and 50, we can guess that he was probably between 50 and 110 years old when he died. He might have been born anywhere from 55 to 195 years ago! So tell us his name, tell us the year he died, and make an estimate of his age so we can tell about when he
was born. This query gives a cluttered opening line that's hard to understand. Use a separate article for each surname, and give us more details. Thousands of people will look at your first line to decide whether to read the message - make it count. Take the time to tell something about your research and your questions - and put it in a readable format so readers will want to help you.
Smart Researcher
Smarter Researcher
Smartest Researcher Summary The idea is to encourage people to reply. They are more likely to do so if they recognize your family as related to people they have researched. Include some details about when and where your family lived. Always include: Name Put them near the beginning. If you don't know exact dates, estimate. For OHGenWeb Project queries, you should include the county name and its appropriate connection to the county. Queries will not be posted if they don't seem appropriate to a specific county. Additionally, I along with most OHGenWeb Project county coordinators handle more than one county, so we need to know which county to post the query to. It is also a good idea to follow the common practice of putting each surname in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and the given name in lower case, like this: David W. KOESTER This helps the reader who is scanning for familiar names, and will catch his or her attention if there is a
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