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Topic: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches (Read 16666 times)
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ankerdine
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 635
Without Autumn there would be no Spring....
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Hello
I could weep.  I too have thrown away another few quid on searching Scotspeople. I found an Alexander Marshall, son of Robert, who married a Mary Shaw but then the dates/ages didn't fit with what I already had. I watched the credits fast disappearing and it was like a challenge to see if I could get something accurate before they all ran out. To no avail, it was nearly a completely wasted few hours of work too.......
On a brighter note though I did find just one marriage certificate and one accurate census record for a William Marshall. On the census (1851) in (Kirkcowan) there is a reference to a family of WILSONS. Someone out there was searching for Wilsons and having trouble.
I had 1 credit left and found something very positive-sounding but didn't dare try again.
How do you list several districts at once on scotspeople? Do you have to select and hold down the control key?
I will wait until another rainy day and raid the "piggy bank" again.
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Marshall, Williamson, Blair, Hoggart(h): Creetown, Stranraer, Dalrymple, Auchinleck, Coylton
Scott, Ayrshire and England
Saxton, Brown, Sketchley: Nottingham, Rutland, Leicestershire
Bradbury, Turner, Merricks: Walsall, Penkridge, Staffordshire
McColville, Halliday: Northern Ireland
Hawker, Davies: Aston, Birmingham, Shropshire, Malone: Black Country
Silvers: Dudley, Worcestershire
Blakemore: Black Country, Shropshire, Rhodes: Bilston
Rhodes: Dudley, Worcs
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Gadget
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 24408
Holy Island - Pilgrims' Path
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Hi
Did I hear anyone mention Wilsons 
If you want to select parishes, you can do it in the usual way - crtl or shift key and click to select some or a range. Unfortunately you can't do it for counties unless you select all counties and then the parishes associated with them - but that's a bit tedious 
Gadget
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ankerdine
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 635
Without Autumn there would be no Spring....
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Hi again and thanks for information re multiple districts, Gadget.
The Wilsons on the 1851 census: Husband was besom maker and wife was besom seller!! Lovely don't you think? I really enjoy reading about their occupations.
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Marshall, Williamson, Blair, Hoggart(h): Creetown, Stranraer, Dalrymple, Auchinleck, Coylton
Scott, Ayrshire and England
Saxton, Brown, Sketchley: Nottingham, Rutland, Leicestershire
Bradbury, Turner, Merricks: Walsall, Penkridge, Staffordshire
McColville, Halliday: Northern Ireland
Hawker, Davies: Aston, Birmingham, Shropshire, Malone: Black Country
Silvers: Dudley, Worcestershire
Blakemore: Black Country, Shropshire, Rhodes: Bilston
Rhodes: Dudley, Worcs
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Gadget
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 24408
Holy Island - Pilgrims' Path
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Not my Wilsons - they'd left by then 
Thanks 
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Jacquie in Canada
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1143
Canadian, eh!
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I've noticed that there hasn't been any updates in this thread for quite a while even though there have been a few changes at ScotlandsPeople.
Census Updates
1. They added another search parameter for all the census except 1881 quite some time ago in which the forename of a second person can be included in a search.
From SP:
Second Person Forename
If you know the forename of another person whom you would expect to find in a household, enter the forename here to refine your search results.
Please Note:
If a household is spread over two pages, and both members appear on separate pages, the search will not return this entry.
If two households appearing on the same image have the same names as your search criteria, both will be returned.
A search on a second person forename will return records which contain exact matches of that forename only. For example, entering ANN will only return ANN. MARY ANN, ANN ELIZA or ANN J. , etc. will not be returned. Variations in the spelling of the name, for example, Anne or Annie, will also not be returned. To find any of these, you must either search with each variation separately or use Wildcards for example, Ann*.
2. A person I was helping with some Scottish research had a problem with an entry from the 1881 census and contacted SP. In the response she received (they corrected the problem), she was told that SP will be adding the images for the 1881 census soon (possibly in Dec 2008). When that occurs, the search mechanisms will be the same for all census databases.
I haven't seen the "Return all forenames that begin with these characters" feature mentioned in this thread regarding searching so I thought I would mention it. This box is checked by default at SP and can be very helpful when searching names that have spelling variations, such as Catherine, Margaret or names which may have been abbreviated, such as Alex for Alexander, Thos for Thomas or Jos for Joseph. Using Catherine as an example, if you enter Cat you will get back results for Catherine, Catharine, Cathrine, Cathryn, etc. (Note for a name like Catherine, you might want to try searching Kat as well in case they were registered as Katherine, Katrine, etc.). You can enter as few as one letter so if you have a person who is Jean on one census, Jane on another, Janet on yet another and Jessie on still another, you can use this feature and just enter the letter J and specify that you are searching for a female and you will get results for all those names.
I think one of the mistakes that I've heard about over and over again when people say they can't find someone is the mistake of being too specific. For example, if you include a year of birth in the search parameters be sure to include a plus/minus of at least 2 years (IMO). Take into account spelling variations for forenames and surnames. As mentioned in this thread, take advantage of searching with wildcards. Remember that soundex does not always work. For example, I was once helping a person who was researching the surname Stewart and when using soundex the results only came up with the Stewart surname but when I did a soundex search of Stuart, I got both Stuart and Stewart surnames in the results. Another person I was helping was researching the Muirie/Muiry surname and when using soundex for Muirie, no Muiry names were included in the results and vice versa. In this case using wildcards to search Muir* worked best.
Jacquie
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« Last Edit: Monday 01 December 08 08:58 UTC (UK) by Jacquie in Canada »
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Canada: Patterson, Brown, Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Johnston(e), Gorsuch, Kitchin/Kitchen
United States: Patterson, Smith, Brown, Vance, Bower(s), Newberry, Best, Love, Gorsuch
England (Northumberland): Brown, Whitfield, Henderson
Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, East Lothian): Johnston(e), Bell, Galloway, Campbell, Robertson, Williamson, Thomson, Crawford
Germans from Russia: Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Meach, Lorenz
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ankerdine
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 635
Without Autumn there would be no Spring....
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Hi Jacquie
Thanks for your input about Scotlands People. I must say that I just charge into it without really thinking what I am doing and so my units dont last very long. I will try to be more patient in future and really think who I am looking for.
I notice that you have Williamsons from Scotland in your interests. Do they by any chance come from Wigtownshire via Ireland?
I have a couple of Williamsons who are a real trouble to me. Still missing after all this time.
Judy
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Marshall, Williamson, Blair, Hoggart(h): Creetown, Stranraer, Dalrymple, Auchinleck, Coylton
Scott, Ayrshire and England
Saxton, Brown, Sketchley: Nottingham, Rutland, Leicestershire
Bradbury, Turner, Merricks: Walsall, Penkridge, Staffordshire
McColville, Halliday: Northern Ireland
Hawker, Davies: Aston, Birmingham, Shropshire, Malone: Black Country
Silvers: Dudley, Worcestershire
Blakemore: Black Country, Shropshire, Rhodes: Bilston
Rhodes: Dudley, Worcs
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Jacquie in Canada
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1143
Canadian, eh!
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I notice that you have Williamsons from Scotland in your interests. Do they by any chance come from Wigtownshire via Ireland?
I have a couple of Williamsons who are a real trouble to me. Still missing after all this time.
Judy
The Williamsons I have are from Fife although I know very little about that line. My 4th great-grandmother was Elizabeth Williamson and she married David Galloway in Aberdour, Fife in 1793. I don't have confirmed parents for her.
Jacquie
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Canada: Patterson, Brown, Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Johnston(e), Gorsuch, Kitchin/Kitchen
United States: Patterson, Smith, Brown, Vance, Bower(s), Newberry, Best, Love, Gorsuch
England (Northumberland): Brown, Whitfield, Henderson
Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, East Lothian): Johnston(e), Bell, Galloway, Campbell, Robertson, Williamson, Thomson, Crawford
Germans from Russia: Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Meach, Lorenz
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ankerdine
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 635
Without Autumn there would be no Spring....
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Another of my contacts has told me that the Williamsons were a highland clan originally from the North of Scotland.
To my shame  I am very rusty on the "counties" of Scotland so much so that I don't even know where Fife is. It's the same with places like Renfrewshire, Midlothian etc. I ought to take a course on the geography of Scotland.
A possible "New Year Resolution"! 
Judy
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Marshall, Williamson, Blair, Hoggart(h): Creetown, Stranraer, Dalrymple, Auchinleck, Coylton
Scott, Ayrshire and England
Saxton, Brown, Sketchley: Nottingham, Rutland, Leicestershire
Bradbury, Turner, Merricks: Walsall, Penkridge, Staffordshire
McColville, Halliday: Northern Ireland
Hawker, Davies: Aston, Birmingham, Shropshire, Malone: Black Country
Silvers: Dudley, Worcestershire
Blakemore: Black Country, Shropshire, Rhodes: Bilston
Rhodes: Dudley, Worcs
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Gadget
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 24408
Holy Island - Pilgrims' Path
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Here's a good site for you, Judy:
http://scotlandsfamily.com/
Gadget
(think I'm getting to be your minder )
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purlin
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 311
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'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'.
i'm afraid i have to side with david here. in the past i have drawn s.p's attention to a number of faults. i have never been offered a refund. if it is now their policy to do so i applaud them, but its not before time.
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Crosbie, Crosby, Black, Woods, Johnstone, Kelly, Howatt, McMillan, Wauchope Scott, Smith, Gibbons, Roberts, Hildred, Jones, Hughes. Curran, Palmer. Hughes, Jones, Wilcox, wilbraham, owen
Liverpool, Dumfriesshire, Kirkudbrightshire, Cheshire, Flintshire, llanrwst, trefriw, Lincolnshire, America, Canada, New Zealand.
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ankerdine
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 635
Without Autumn there would be no Spring....
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Hi Trish
Thanks for the reminder about Genuki. It was one of the first sites recommended to me by a "genealogy" friend. Perhaps that is why I seldom use it nowadays. It was good of you to jog my memory. You are right, it has been so useful in the past for pointing me in one direction or another.
Judy
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Marshall, Williamson, Blair, Hoggart(h): Creetown, Stranraer, Dalrymple, Auchinleck, Coylton
Scott, Ayrshire and England
Saxton, Brown, Sketchley: Nottingham, Rutland, Leicestershire
Bradbury, Turner, Merricks: Walsall, Penkridge, Staffordshire
McColville, Halliday: Northern Ireland
Hawker, Davies: Aston, Birmingham, Shropshire, Malone: Black Country
Silvers: Dudley, Worcestershire
Blakemore: Black Country, Shropshire, Rhodes: Bilston
Rhodes: Dudley, Worcs
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ibi
RootsChat Senior
Posts: 362
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Note the following from the ScotlandsPeople website
We are pleased to announce that new statutory images from the Statutory Register of Births for 1908 and the Statutory Register of Deaths for 1958 are now on-line. Statutory Register of Marriages (index and images) for 1933 will follow shortly.
No sign yet, however, of the 1881 scanned images, or the Catholic records, both 'promised' for around now.
And still no sign of the modern marriage index, i.e. the index only from the present closure date for images up to the present day, despite this being originally announced for early 2008. A major problem apparently, has been that the release of the similar birth and death indexes a year ago led to an overload on the system from the large number of extract (certificate) orders, - the delivery period is still 4 weeks or worse. (It can be worth paying the extra £3 to order via email, phone, or fax, since this involves a completely separate system with the delivery time being max 7 to 10 days!)
Referring back to an earlier post re the kirk session records, these are all now digitised, but so far can only be viewed at National Archives of Scotland (they may also, or soon, be available via individual kirks?), - promised at some future date for on-line web availability, but that that depends on a number of factors, not least how to index them, - the original indexing pilot project which included every name mentioned produced the result that the full project, with current resources, would take over 15 years to complete, so a less powerful index is being investigated.
Orraverybest
ibi
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Arranroots
Global Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 10886
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I;m going to ask that this thread is kept to general ideas about how to optimise SP searches - and that specific searches are kept to threads of their own - thanks.
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Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOM: BIRD, BURT aka BROWN HEF: BAUGH, LATHAM, CARTER, PRITCHARD GLS: WEBB, WORKMAN, LATHAM, MALPUS WIL: WEBB, SALTER RAD: PRITCHARD, WILLIAMS GLA: RYAN, KEARNEY, JONES, HARRY MON: WEBB, MORGAN, WILLIAMS, JONES, BIRD SCOTLAND: HASTINGS, CAMERON, KELSO, BUCHANAN, BETHUNE/ BEATON IRELAND: RYAN (WATERFORD), KEARNEY (DUBLIN), BOYLE(DUNDALK) |
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