Friday's Photo: It Worked! Using a Wildcard in my Search to Identify this Photo of Henry Green Davis of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Until yesterday, this photo was labeled "unknown." There was a name on the back of the photo, but it was written in pencil on the gray card and not readable. However, enlarging the scanned image and playing with the filter colors allowed me to make out Henry and a D at the beginning of his last name. In hopes of finding this photo at Ancestry.com, I searched for Henry D* in Bienville Parish using a wildcard - an * after the D indicating that there were multiple letters after the D. 

It worked! I filtered the search to "Pictures" and found an identical photo on the first results page. Thank you to the Bienville Parish family researcher who shared an identical photo on Ancestry.com and at Find a Grave. And thank you to the Frye family, who allowed me to scan and share their photos. 

Henry Green Davis

Henry Green Davis was born on 12 March 1874 in Bienville Parish. He married Carrie Maude Helfin in 1901, and they had at least seven children. Henry owned a mercantile store in Hope (now Fryeburg) in Bienville Parish. He died in 1928 and is buried in Bistneau Cemetery along with his wife, his parents, and many other family members. 

Using Wildcards

In my search for the identification of the photo, I used a wildcard at Ancestry.com. Many sites allow the use of wildcards to improve search results. However, each site may have different rules for using wildcards. The next time you visit a genealogical site, read the help pages for search tips and information about using wildcards. Check out the helpful links below. 

Find easy-to-understand explanations of how to use wildcards, quotation marks, and Boolean Operators at FishWrap The official blog of Newspapers.com. 

At the Find My Past Blog, see nice examples of using wildcards and suggestions for using wildcards in more than just names. 

Julie Cahill Tarr's blog post Are You Reading the Help Section? has links to help sections of many genealogy and related sites. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2023 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50230323/henry-green-davis: accessed 16 February 2023), memorial page for Henry Green Davis (12 Mar 1874–26 May 1928), Find a Grave Memorial ID 50230323, citing Bistineau Cemetery, Heflin, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Nancy E. Collins (contributor 47113696).

Henry Green Davis, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

ponderosalady, "Edwards, Davis, Thomas, Tooke," public tree, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/4254831/person/-778306430/facts : accessed 16 February 2023).