Optimise Scotlandspeople searches

[bonjedward]

It's been a few months since I last used Scotlandspeople, as I can't really get any further before the 1851 census is available. Here is what I remember offhand.
 
Freecen is of course worth checking first, especially when the 1841 and 1851 censuses are available on Scotlandspeople.

Otherwise, the tips are similar to the ones for other sources.
 Narrow your search down until you have a minimum of matching results. If you're pretty sure of the county, try one district at a time. Once you have a list of possible results, try searching those same districts one at a time for other family members you'd expect to be at the same address. Of course, for common names, and uncertain ages, this can be very difficult. If you're getting large numbers of results, you might have to put that search aside until Freecen has done that census and district, or maybe plan a trip to New Register House and pay the daily fee for unlimited searches.

Once you've decided to pay 1 credit for a likely result, expand the search before paying: try to find the most extensive search (widest range of years, ages, wildcards instead of letters) that will return 25 results on a page (or multiples of 25) - there may be other family members among the 25 as a 'bonus'. Or at least you will have eliminated those ranges of years, so that a later search doesn't have to waste time or money there. Remember, don't stop when you get 25 results, expand the ranges a little until you get more than 25, then contract it a little so you find the greatest range to return exactly 25.

[Sally P]

Hi David

Thank you for the tips which I have printed out so they are ready to use later.
I do keep a check on Freecen but the 1851 & 1841 are going to be a doddle compared to the later censuses when various family members spread their wings & decided to fly to various parts of Scotland.

Thanks again
Regards
Sally

[Forfarian]

As many have discovered, the indexing at http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk leaves much to be desired, and you often spend credits in vain only to discover it's the wrong individual. That's part of their business model, I suppose

No, actually, it isn't.

I was helping someone who had looked at every possible certificate indexed on SP in a vain attempt to find her ancestor. When I happened to be in New Register House I dug around in the microfiche and found the right death in 1883, but it was not in the online index.

SP immediately corrected the index and refunded all the credits the person had used looking for this entry.

This accords with my experience of GROS over a number of years. They are always happy to correct any error drawn to their attention, and if an error on their part has caused someone to use up credits, they will refund them. (They don't refund credits used up looking to see if correct index entries point to the right person,so there's no relief for people hunting John Smiths or Macdonalds.)

So your rather cynical comment is not justified.

Forfarian

[bonjedward]

I was referring to the limited and inflexible options in online searches, which can require the spending of several credits in order to get results which could have fitted on one page, given the information actually contained in the indexes.

Businesses are entitled to structure their services in ways that are advantageous to them, just as consumers are entitled to adapt their purchasing habits in order to get the most for their money.

[Janice M]

Thanks David!

I appreciate your comments on how to search for the least amount of money spent.

Another thing that everyone should do is transcribe all the information found on the birth, death, marriage and census certificates. That way, all of us could check here first, before spending a fortune looking for ancestors.

I am in the middle of transcribing the certs that I have viewed so far, as I know just how frustrating it is to pay, and find out that it is the wrong person.

As death, and birth certs have three listed, marriage certs
have two and census can have as many as 50, you can only imagine how many people will be helped, when I transcribe 104 certs that I have already viewed. My search pages total 241, and that results in quite a few pages with as many as 25 names listed on most pages.

Hopefully more people will do this, and post the information in the "unwanted items", so that other rootschatters can be helped.

Janice

[JAP]

A good place to post Scottish BDM information is on Sue Lund's Scotland BDM Exchange at:

http://www.sctbdm.com/

JAP

[marrle]

What happens when you have found the right record eg Marriage Cert, then find its impossible to read it all they charge £10.00 for the cert it self, I am even having problems printing it off any ideas please.

Thanks Marrle

[Forfarian]

What happens when you have found the right record eg Marriage Cert, then find its impossible to read it all they charge £10.00 for the cert it self, I am even having problems printing it off any ideas please.

Contact Scotland's People and tell them you cannot read it. They will replace it with a legible version.

[marrle]

Thanks will try that. Marrle