baffled by scotlandspeople

[Clare Fowler]

Hi there,

I suppose it depends what you are used to.  I started off with Scottish research and find it much easier than English.  Ok, so you can't see indexes that are bound by the disclosure rules, but for older records, you can not only see the indexes online, but view the certs as well.  There are loads of English leads I haven't followed up as there are multiple possibilities in the indexed but I don't want to pay £7 until I know I have the right one.  At least on Scotland's people you only pay £1 an image, so you can see 7 for the price of 1.  I think each system has its good points and bad points.

Lesley, you might be lucky and someone going to New Register House or Park Circus may do the lookup for you.  You might also want to post on the Renfrewshire board as Greenock is in that county rather than Lanarkshire.  If you post your ancestor's name, someone might recognise it and have them in their tree - I know its a long shot, but it might be worth it.

Cheers,
Clare

[iainkennedy]

I think the Scottish system with all but the most recent stuff online is far superior. The only frustration for me is NRH and Park Circus not opening on Saturdays as I'm self employed and its very hard to justify losing a day's income in the week. Ironic as I can practically see Park Circus out of my window. It's a shame they can't house these facilities in the Mitchell instead.

Iain Kennedy
Glasgow
www.kennedydna.com/kennedy_one_name_study.htm

[Forfarian]

Well, I'm now convinced that Scottish genealogists have a hard time.    Looking up the website I find that the cost of a certificate, ordered by post is £13, as opposed to £7 in England.

Actually you do not have to pay £13. If you want a copy of a 1923 birth certificate and can't get to Edinburgh or Glasgow, you can get a professional searcher to transribe it for you for a pound or two. Still far cheaper than having to send away and pay £7. There are links on the GROS web site http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/index.html to lists of searchers.

The difference is that in England you have to send away for every certificate at a cost of £7 a time. Also the English indexes may be available freely, but until FreeBMD is complete they are a pain to search as you have to look separately at four different fiches or images for every year.

I pay £17 for a day in New Register House, which would not quite buy me three English certificates. For this I can look up any certificate I like, using a fully computerised index, view any certificate from 1855 to 2004, transcribe any I am interested in, print off the image for 50p, or finally order an official copy for £13. In a good day I have been able to look up 200 certificates, which would have cost me £1400 in England. A normal day's haul is 100 certificates, for which I'd have to pay £700 in England, with no guarantee that they are the right ones.

Also the information on Scottish certificates is much better. A birth certificate tells you the date and place of the parents' marriage;  marriage certificate tells you the full names of the couple's mothers as well as their fathers; and a death certificate tells you the names of the parents of the deceased. All of this, plus the better accessibility of Scottish certificates, makes life for Scottish genealogists much easier than English ones. Don't knock it; we do not want the GROS copying the GRO.

[anner]

Hi All
I agree with Forfarian, I have a lot of Scottish ancestors as well as English. I Have a brilliant contact in one of the registry offices that has looked up and found the most amazing things for me. I don't always have names or birthdates, and she comes up trumps every time. I live in Hampshire so it is impossible for me to get to the Mitchell at every opportunity. I pay £10 for a search, and it is not usually just one name but can be anything up to half a dozen, the price never changes. I get all the info from certs handwritten and sent first class. Absolutely brilliant.
On the English side I find the certs expensive and with very limited info. Unless you have dates and names and can be 100% sure its the right person, you cannot look first, so although you get about £4 back, its a long wait for a lot of disappointment.
I would rather go down the Scottish route anyday.

Regards
Anne.