In the past, I have posted about the use of fairly recently released Full Text Search tool in FamilySearch which has been amazing for quickly identifying non-vital records that may have important information for you research. I have used it to find information about my ancestors from Martinique and Guadeloupe that lived on the east of Puerto Rico who appeared on non-indexed census records. Today, I want to focus on finding my ancestor from the mountains through a wildcard search.
What's a Wildcard Search?
When using the Full Text feature it is important to know that occasionally typos will occur either do to human or computer error. By using different wildcard features you are able to search for what you are looking for and include various variants. A list below shows some of the different ways you can conduct a full text search via FamilySearch.
Magrane* Search
I searched for my Magraner ancestors that lived in Lares through Full Text Search and identified a few records. Originally I had only searched using the surname “Maganer” with no spelling variations or wildcard searches. However, while recently reviewing this ancestral line again, I realized that occasionally the surname was written as Magranet. Therefore, I decided to use the wildcard search Magrane* to account for this variation.
By doing this in the search, I was able to locate other records that been catalogued under “Magranes”. From the screenshot below, you can see that on the right, there is a transcription edit option (the pencil on the far right). Using this allowed me to change the spelling from Magranes to Magraner; therefore, in the future whenever someone searches for this surname (myself included), they will be able to find this record as well.
Similarly, the word “señora” should actually be Señores (the shorthand Sres was used in the document). I was also able to correct this mistake.
By widening the search I was able to identify records tied to recently liberated enslaved people in Lares. Likely the brothers Magraner had slaves on their plantation, there is proof that at least Gabriel (one of the brothers) owned enslaved people. This past summer I went to the Archivo General de Puerto Rico and located two last wills for Gabriel Magraner that I need to sit down and fully study. By studying these recently identified records, it will help me understand the life of the Magraner brothers in their early time on the island.
So remember – when conducting a search, always try different spellings, variations, and wildcard searches to locate what you’re looking for!