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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Topic started by: trish251 on Wednesday 24 January 07 23:11 GMT (UK)
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Images for OPR births/marriages are now on ScotlandsPeople. These are parish register images, so they often show no more information than is on the index, but sometimes have some extra data.
The best OPR marriage I have found in Scotland gives
Name and parish of bride and groom, name of brides father, occupation of groom and bride's father. Name of 2 witnesses.
The worst - simply gives date and name of bride and groom.
Birth images sometimes give the occupation of the father, but little other extra information that I have found.
Trish
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I was on ScotlandsPeople earlier today and it was still down. Thanks for letting us know it is back up and running smoothly.
yn9man
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Ooooooooooh Trish. That is good news. I'll be using up all my units :) :) :)
Thanks for the news. I hadn't been in tonight.
Gadget
PS - much cheaper than the £10 each that I've paid before now :)
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I'll be getting lazier still - online instead of going to the LDS to spend hours tracking through parish registers
But I still need to go there to check the burials!
Trish
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You're lucky - my nearest LDS is in Inverness and it's open for 2 hours a week. The last time I tried to get anything, it took 3 months to get in and then it had to go back the next week. This will be marvellous :)
Gadget
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Hold on , there is something wrong. i went to search for my archibald buchanan who married Isabel Thomson on 09 Nov 1755, specified that it had to be in East Lothian. It has come back with 1 in Stirling and 2 in Glasgow and none in East Lothian.
I think the Gremlins are still here.
Tom
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I then did same search specifying County/Cit yas Shipping and it still brought the same 3 results. I am away to email before I lose credits.
Tom
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Thought I was onto a winner with them...guess what? No extra information. ;D Should have prepared myself for that. Nice to have them there though.
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There's probably been such a pent-up demand for the OPR images, that it's overloaded their servers - when you try to log on, there's now (for the last half-hour) a page saying:
SITE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
The site is currently unavailable or has encountered a problem that prevents it responding to your request. Please continue to the home page. You may be asked to login before resuming your searching. Please feel free to inform us of the circumstances in which you encountered this problem by filling this form.
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An obvious advantage of living in Australia - jump in while the north is asleep :) I wonder if anyone, anywhere, has EVER estimated the correct amount of computer power needed when implementing a new system/new option. No-one seems to have learned from the 1901 debacle. I find it more understandable when free (e.g. FreeBDM) but commercial sites should be aware of the potential demand.
Looks like the LDS could regain my custom (My Mum used to visit once a month Gadget to her local centre - in the early 1990s - that was how often she could book a "computer" )
Trish
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Trish,
Are you using the word "commercial" for a government site? You are right when you say a commercial site would provide extra amount of bandwidth for a new product launch that lots of people have been waiting for. Surely the Government in Australia is just the same as ours. Are they that progressive? Ho Hum, missed the boat, and they have stopped that transportation scheme for crims, ah well.
Tom
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I've been in and out all day and had no problems - maybe it's kinder to we residents - or the bit of string is shorter :)
Still pretty good value compared with the alternative.
Gadget - a financial supporter of SP :D
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Hi Tom
I guess I use the word "commercial" when I have to pay! so I would call both a "govt pay to view site" & "ancestry pay to join site" commercial. Places like RootsChat and FreeBDM who provide free access to all, I exclude.
Ancestry seems to usually add the bandwidth when they launch a new census, but they have also had problems.
My mention of Oz simply related to the fact that using the site at 2-4 am UK time means there is less bandwidth needed to give a service.
I certainly don't exclude the Oz govt from any discussions of failure. Where I live we are less than 2 years away from a situation of no water for a city with a population of 2 million - and the govt is beginning to think we may have a problem! To date the solution has been to provide a minor subsidy if you buy a water tank, use less water to flush the loo or less pressure in the shower!
Praying for rain has also been mentioned!!!!!!!!!!! not a great suggestion - especially for the non believers.
Trish
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I've been in and out all day and had no problems - maybe it's kinder to we residents - or the bit of string is shorter :)
Still pretty good value compared with the alternative.
Gadget - a financial supporter of SP :D
LOL Gadget - aren't we all! I haven't had a problem - as I only tried accessing in the hours when UK folks tend to be asleep (excluding yourself!) - I was simply responding to David's comment - in my experience new options tend to send websites up/down for a while. They seem to often under estimate demand.
I am unsure as to where this relates to Convicts and Australia?
Trish
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Trish ~
I apologise on Tom's behalf :(
I remember the 1901 fiasco. Is this going to happen for the 1911 one as well.? Will they never learn?
Oh and I also remember spending days in records offices in rural Aberdeenshire in the 1970s going through birth registrations - but it was free* and they gave me cups of tea :D
Gadget
* nay - better than that - I was paid to do it ;D
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I apologise on Tom's behalf
Wasn't needed or expected - probably just as well there were no computers in 1788 or goodness knows where the fleet may have ended up - and someone else would be celebrating Australia Day & most of us wouldn't exist!!!
Trish
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Hi
I have just had a play with the OPRs and came across this abbreviation in a marriage entry
O G F P .Does anyone know what it means? perhaps the last part is Fixed Parish?
Thanks
Anne
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Hi Anne & Welcome to RootsChat
It could be worthwhile to start a new thread with this query & a couple of the Scottish "experts" will no doubt have the answer.
I am used to the abbreviation o.t.p - of this parish so this one looks to me
Of G? F? Parish - would there be a locality nearby that could have been abbreviated to G.F ?
Trish
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OGFP - Old Gray Friars Parish - noticed on my rellies last night. I normally associate it as one word, as in Greyfriars Bobby. I have attached an image of it, look after Stephen Fraser (Wright)
Tom
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Brilliant Tom - I'll try and remember that :)
Trish
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Trish,
I am still not sure if correcrt but one possibility
Tom
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I've been having great fun this afternoon, finding and printing off OPRs.
I think I'm right in thinking that they cost 60 pence (or 80p if you include the search) - compared to the £10 you had to pay for an (admittedly) posh version previously!
The only thing is - all my print offs are coming out in green ink! It might be my printer - although nothing else is coming out green!! :-\
Jill
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It's 5 units in Scotland, Jill, plus 1 for the index = £1.20 in all
I think your black or blue masgenta ink might be out - or you need to clean the head ??? ??? ???
Gadget :)
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Thanks Gadget. I should never have said I was having great fun - kiss of death!
Yes, I came to the conclusion that it was my ink cartridge - although, this time it just suddenly went green! It usually gives me a bit of warning by going all the colours of the rainbow for a while!
So, I changed the cartridge and then the printer started going 'clunk' and I've had no luck since! How on earth do I 'clean the head'? (I take it you don't mean I have to grab the shampoo and wash my hair!! :-[) Sorry, I'm PC challenged.
You're right about the cost - still a lot better than £10, if only I could get the damn printer to play ball!!
I should probably just switch it all off, go outside and scream, and try again later!! :-\
Jill
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Do you feel better now, Jill ;D It depends what kind of printer you have. Epsons have permanent heads that have to be de-liced occasionally ;)
Talking of money - what bugs me is that you have to pay separately for wills even if you have enough units to cover the cost. I know it's a leftover from Documents Online but it could easily be merged, couldn't it?
Gadget
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Yes,thanks Gadget, I had a scream or two and it seems to have had the right effect. The printer is still printing in green (despite it being a new cartridge) but at least it's working again.
it's only taken me all afternoon to print off 4 OPRs - in green!! ::)
Jill
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I can't resist this - and I know I shouldn't -
They are old - maybe it's mould ::) ::) ::)
Sorry Mods :-\
Gadget
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....snipped.........
Talking of money - what bugs me is that you have to pay separately for wills even if you have enough units to cover the cost. I know it's a leftover from Documents Online but it could easily be merged, couldn't it?
Gadget
Simple? No!
As what's required is an agreement between GROS and NAS on a number of issues, some quite complex.
ibi
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Thanks for that ibi. Two public bodies. Would it help if I wrote to my MSPs?
What are the complex issues, please?
Gadget
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Thanks for that ibi. Two public bodies. Would it help if I wrote to my MSPs?
What are the complex issues, please?
Gadget
I'd suggest that you make contact with the Deputy Registrar General for Scotland and enquire ::)
ibi
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Right. I'll do that. I mean it!
Tell said person to expect my letter this week. However, it won't be signed 'Gadget' ;D
Gadget
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Right. I'll do that. I mean it!
Tell said person to expect my letter this week. However, it won't be signed 'Gadget' ;D
Gadget
Good !
As the more people who do just that, the quicker things will happen.
As I'll say further is that, when I was preparing for a certain meeting earlier this week, and thinking on the subject of vouchers, it only just struck me that credits couldn't be used for testaments ....... shame on me :o
The gentleman's name is Paul Parr, the address you'll find very easily on the GROS website.
If you want further info, then email me on 106200.1510ATcompuserve.com ......
ibi
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Thanks very much for that ibi. I hope everyone else who reads this thread writes. It's perhaps the best way we have of influenceing things. We don't want to spite ourselves by withdrawing our custom which is perhaps the only alternative.
I love SP and am proud of what we can get online compared with our bigger brother in the south but these little niggles do niggle.
Regards
Gadget
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.....snipped.......
I love SP and am proud of what we can get online compared with our bigger brother in the south but these little niggles do niggle.
Regards
Gadget
So please, please make the SP UserGroup aware of those little niggles ;D
That's what the SPUG exists for, but if they aren't aware of all those little niggles they can't bring them up in the regular meetings with GROS and SP/SoL, - so simple.
Use them or lose them !
Contact details for the UG are there on SP.
Got to get off to my kip now, as an early start's required to be up in Aiberdeen for 12 noon and programme #4 tomorrow - FM at 12 noon on BBC Radio Scotland ................. some excellent stories including "Chippy" McNish and the 1914 Shackleton Expedition .........
ibi
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Does anyone know if SP making the OPRs available for download is a 'work in progress'?
I can't find a number of entries and I know for sure that at least 2 of them are on the IGI - and I DO mean transcribed IGIs rather than those submitted ones.
Longforgan doesn't even appear on the drop down menu for Perth parishes. This made me wonder if it's yet to be added?
Anyone 'in the know'? :-\
Jill
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Does anyone know if SP making the OPRs available for download is a 'work in progress'?
I can't find a number of entries and I know for sure that at least 2 of them are on the IGI - and I DO mean transcribed IGIs rather than those submitted ones.
Longforgan doesn't even appear on the drop down menu for Perth parishes. This made me wonder if it's yet to be added?
Anyone 'in the know'? :-\
Jill
Jill
I recommend that you use the "Contact Us" option on the ScotlandsPeople site at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk , - third from the right at the very bottom of the screen when you log on as a registered member; and I'm sure that you will receive an answer from either ScotlandonLine who operate the SP site on behalf of General Register Office for Scotland, or GROS.
If not, please let me know, - please feel free to email me at 106200.1510ATcompuserve.com .
GROS would certainly not regards the OPR images and the new, associated index as a work in progress, but would, I'm sure, admit that there may be a number of such glitches that will need sorting out as the undoubted glitches surface, - after all we're talking about an exercise involving the addition of over 500 Gb of images, and the updating of indexes involving over 9 million entries ..............
It might be the case that Longforgan records are included under another parish name. Is an entry for Longforgan lacking from both the all-Scotland list of parishes as well as the parish list for the County of Perth? (due credit needs to be given, BTW, for the considerable effort involved in producing such new, separate county parish lists for the OPR records on ScotlandsPeople on top of the previous all-Scotland list!!)
ibi
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Thanks ibi.
I'll drop them an email as you suggest.
I can only imagine what a mammoth task has been undertaken and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to see the originals.
I didn't mean to sound as if I was complaining - just didn't want to contact them if the work was ongoing as I'm sure they could do without that!
Thanks again,
Jill
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Hi Jill
If you don't have it - this is a list of parishes & registration districts from gro Scotland. I find it very handy when I can't find things (given that your parish may simply just be missing)
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/hlpsrch/list-of-parishes-registration-districts.html
Trish
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Hi Jill, not sure what else you are looking for, but
Longforgan is included. Try the drop down menu for "all counties" or the "Angus" drop down menu.
Dorothy
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I have a marriage entry for Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1807 that was obtained from the film at an LDS centre.
The entry is not on the index, neither are any of the other names that are on the same page.
Why would this be?
Gadget
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Thanks for that, Trish. I've printed off the parish list for future reference.
Dorothy, thanks - I found Longforgan in the all counties drop down list. I thought it was still in Perthshire! Doh!
Doesn't seem to have done me any good though - I still can't find the baptism I'm looking for!
Heigh ho!! :(
Jill
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I have a marriage entry for Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1807 that was obtained from the film at an LDS centre.
The entry is not on the index, neither are any of the other names that are on the same page.
Why would this be?
Gadget
If it's an OPR as opposed to the parochial register of a non-established church, because this facility on SP is limited to the OPRs of the Established Church.
If it's the latter, then this is an omission that should be reported by the "contact form" route to SP in the first place.
BTW, apart from the missing parishes for Selkirk (all but one lonely parish :o ), there's a few glitches in terms of parishes being allocated to the wrong counties (they are there on the full list, but not in the correct county list). The former will be solved asap, from what I understand, as will the latter.
ibi
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Thanks ibi.
It's definitely an OPR. It is a bit tattered around the edges as far as I can see but there's certainly enough to index/digitise.
Gadget
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Fortunately, the GROS approach has most often been a so-called "soft launch", i.e. you don't hit all the possible media on the morning of the day of the availability of the new data, including multiple appearances on breakfast TV programmes.
Instead, it's there one or more days previously, and the word soon gets around, so that you don't get the "(English) 1901 effect", in the first few hours, of hunners o' thoosans of folk logging on to find their granny.
In addition, it's not all that difficult to arrange that either (a) there's some extra site capacity in the first few days, and/or (b) when the level of site hits exceeds a predetermined level, arranging for there to be a message along the lines of "the site is very busy at the moment, please try again later" ..... without the whole site crashing.
Did anyone ever come across an explanation of why the English 1901 went offline for weeks, or was it months, after the day 1 problems?
ibi
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Thanks ibi.
It's definitely an OPR. It is a bit tattered around the edges as far as I can see but there's certainly enough to index/digitise.
Gadget
This question won't surprise you!, - have you submitted a contact form to SP?
ibi
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Apologies for not replying earlier, - life has been a bit frantic recently for several reasons, not least BBC Radio Scotland!
Thanks ibi.
I'll drop them an email as you suggest.
I can only imagine what a mammoth task has been undertaken and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to see the originals.
Indeed !
I didn't mean to sound as if I was complaining - just didn't want to contact them if the work was ongoing as I'm sure they could do without that!
Nae prob, - it was a perfectly understandable question.
ibi
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Thanks ibi.
It's definitely an OPR. It is a bit tattered around the edges as far as I can see but there's certainly enough to index/digitise.
Gadget
This question won't surprise you!, - have you submitted a contact form to SP?
ibi
Not yet - I only read your post about 1/2 hr ago. I will go and do something immediately :)
Gadget