Help for the Multiple-Person Search

The ability to search with a combination of names can dramatically improve the efficiency of a search. For example, a search for Jacob Friesen with his spouse, Sarah, will deliver a much more concise list than searching for Jacob Friesen alone.

Three different pair-searches can be made from this form:

Spouse a, Spouse b (e.g., Husband-Wife.)
Parent, Child.
Siblings.

Three 3-person searches are available as well:

A parent with two children.
Two parents and one child.
An individual and and two spouses.

For these searches, a Search Type must be selected, and entries must be made for each person.
Note: It is OK to leave some fields blank, but sometimes that slows the search a bit.

For example, we might have searched for "Ben Friesen" in a standard search. The search returned an unwieldy 500+ names. However, if just the given name of the wife is known, the results are greatly narrowed. We simply entered "Ben" and "Friesen" for the husband and "Sarah" for the wife; leave the wife's surname blank if it is unknown. The result is a manageable 11.

The same principles apply to the 3-person search. Specify at least one name for each of the three. (Experience shows that at least one of the three must have both given and surname entered in order to reduce the chances of a timeout of a single query.)

Sometimes it is more convenient to have a spreadsheet of the results than to work from the menu list. To create the file, click on Create .csv file containing full results.

Note that the menu list is capped at 240 families, but the .csv file has no cap. (One should take care to carefully review your request so as not to ask for a large list that could end up in the tens of thousands.)

The Multi-Person search, which appears to be unique to GRanDMA OnLine, has been seen to save a lot of time for Mennonite genealogists.