Narrow Searches to a Specific Town, City or State
If you want to refine your genealogy search to a specific geographic area or to several regions (such as a couple of towns, cities or districts) then use the Any of These Words line in Advanced Search.
Technically, this uses the Boolean OR search function in Google. So, for example if you were looking for John Smith born around 1850 somewhere around Chicago or Peoria, you would enter in Advanced Search:
All These Words [1840…1860]
Exact Phrase [john smith]
Any of These Words [Chicago Peoria]
How to Exclude Certain Words
Sometimes, a number of records can come up for a person, place or thing that has no relationship to what you are trying to find. To avoid these records from coming up time and again in your searches, consider using the line in Advance Search that is called None of these Words.
Technically, this is a Boolean NOT search, which Google identifies with a minus (“-“) sign. This will help you exclude multiple extraneous results that are not related to what you are trying to find. For example, suppose records from someone in New York keeps coming up in your searches. On the None of these Words line you would enter new york.
