Rootsweb WorldConnect

One of my favorite links for genealogy research is Rootsweb WorldConnect's Global Search window. It offers separate search fields not only for first name and surname but for the name of parents and spouse. It offers date ranges for birth dates. You can often leave the place of birth blank. WorldConnect doesn't play well with US state abbreviations. You can search by dates of death and marriage. WorldConnect will even let you exclude a database or let you focus on search results that provide you with research notes, sources, or additional generations.

Searching a Distinctive Name
If you're dealing with a distinctive name, the less information you fill into the fields, the better. A search in WorldConnect for Barzillai Carr will yield four hits, so using a possible year of birth would only limit your chances of finding a listing. A Soundex search will give you 61 hits on Barzillai Carr because Barzillai Cary was such a popular name. Soundex doesn't help with the first name, which must be exact. (Barzillai was a minor Biblical figure in the time of King David. The name is routinely misspelled by census enumerators. I have no suggestions on how to search the possible variations. I've seen Barzilla, but many others are out there to trip you up.)

Searching a Name With a Variable First Letter
None of the special search tools at WorldConnect will find Barzillai Kerr when you search for Barzillai Carr because the tools are all oriented to the first letter of the last name. A search for Carr will find Car and a search for Karr will yield Kerr hits.

Searching for a Common Name
A search for James Carr yields over 8,000 hits, so more detail is required. You'll notice that James need only be part of the name to be included. Alexander James Carr, James Edward Carr, and a host of other James Carr names will appear in your results. If you have a full name, middle initial, and hopefully some rough idea of the birthdate, you should try each of these in various combinations and variations when the name is common.

• Provide a Full Name:Providing the full name James Edward Carr brings the hits to 83, a mix of Edward James and James Edward Carrs. (James E yields only 68 hits.)
  

• Add a Date Range:Picking a birth date range of twenty years either side of 1875 for a James Edward Carr search yields only 15 hits. (If you look back at the name only (no dob) search results, you will notice that many of the James Edward Carr hits contain no dob at all. It's important to remember that those no dob hits are excluded from the results in a date range search.
  

• Add a Spouse:James Edward Carr with spouse Edith yields only three hits. James Carr with spouse Edith produces 11 hits. If you leave the first name blank and look for any man named Carr married to a woman named Edith, you end up with 295 hits. The top of that list includes men named Carr whose first names are unknown. All of these searches can yield matches between databases.
  

Recognize WorldConnect's Limitations
You have to recognize the database's limitations. Use your results with caution and cite your sources. Try contacting the submitters to find out more about their information and where they got it. One of the weaknesses of WorldConnect is the shortage of sourcing. If you source your info as being from WorldConnect, it should remind you to seek additional sources in the future.