User:Beccac1229/Sandbox84

= Meyer's Gazetteer Instructions =

Meyer's Gazetteer will be used to find the German state (or other country) that the town of origin is currently located.

 Go to www.meyersgaz.org Type in the name of the town in the search bar (don't need to include diacritics).
 * If there are no results try the following:
 * Partial-name search: type only part of the name and see which results appear.
 * Wild card search: use the asterisk (*) function as a wild card - the * stands for multiple letters.
 * Spelling variants: be aware that some towns are spelled differently now than when Meyer's Gazetteer was published.
 * Sounds like results: click on "'sounds like' search results" at the end of the results to find spelling variations.
 * Fuzzy gazetteer: consult the Fuzzy Gazetteer for possible spelling variations.

Look at the results. The town names are in blue and link to a new page. The results will include towns that exactly match or begin with what was entered in the search bar. The jurisdictions (smallest or largest) are listed beneath each town name.
 * If there is only one result (or only one result with the exact name), click on the town name.
 * If there is more than one result, determine which town name is the correct one.
 * The jurisdictions may help to determine which is the correct town.
 * If the correct town remains unknown, click on each town name (Guided Research will have to be used for every listed locality to find the ancestor).

On the town page, look under the "Detail" section. Find the Lvl I entry. This lists the largest jurisdiction the town is located in. This will either be a German state or a country. After finding the German state or country, return to Guided Research. Click on either "Modern-day Germany" if the locality is a German state or "German Empire (outside modern-day Germany)" if the locality is a country. Then choose the correct state or country and search for your ancestor in the listed collections.
 * For times when the correct town is unknown, use Guided Research for every German state or country in the results to find your ancestor.

