Author Topic: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches  (Read 150653 times)

Offline ankerdine

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #27 on: Tuesday 20 March 07 14:43 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Helen/Jap
I will do as you both suggest and let you know when I've done it!
Regards
Blair, Marshall, Williamson - Ayrshire, Wigtownshire
Saxton, Sketchley - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire
Brown, Green - Rutland
Hawker, Malone, Bradbury, Arnott, Turner, Woodings, Blakemore, Upton, Merricks - Warwickshire, Staffordshire
Silvers, Dudley, Worcs
Deakin - Staffordshire

Offline ibi

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #28 on: Tuesday 20 March 07 14:54 GMT (UK) »
Hi David Douglas
I too have given up for the time being with Scotlandspeople.
I kept forgetting my password - I know I should have made a note of it which I did frequently. Also, how long does your history remain available to view? We recently changed our broadband provider and, of course Scotlandspeople don't  recognise me any longer.
I now really don't want to request information which I have already viewed under another user name/password.
I have reregistered under my new name and will scutinise your recommendations before I pay for new credits.
Thank you for your information.
Kind regards,
Ankerdine

Hi Ankerdine

See the excellent advice in posts from JAP.

Your problem, I suspect, is that if you've forgotten your password, and, in the interim, have changed your email address, and then asked ScotlandsPeople for a reminder of your password, but that reminder will, of course, be sent to the email address registered on the account..............

ScotlandsPeople can't do anything else, unless you contact them and make them aware of the situation.

I'd suggest that you use the "Contact Us" option, - see the SP Home page right down at the bottom, - I'm sure that SP will be delighted to put you back in touch with all the previous records that you have viewed, but they're going to need to know your previous email address.  To know the user name(s) is preferable but not required, alho', in that situation, they may want to confirm your identity.

ibi

Offline ostler

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #29 on: Monday 25 June 07 20:29 BST (UK) »
Here's a tip: don't spend too long on genealogy in one sitting; it can really get confusing at times if you're like me and do a bit of research on one family and jump to another when you hit a brick wall. After about 2 hours my mind is so full of names, dates and place names I have to go for a cuppa before returning to my studies. :)
All countries/counties
Kinnes, Ostler (and all variations!!)

Scotland
Caithness: Sutherland and Gunn (Latheron), Mowat (Olrig, Canisbay)
Fife: Fleming, Harley, Small, Laing, Malcolm
Angus/Forfarshire: Small, Laing (Dundee)
Perthshire: Runciman, Whittet, Paul, Small
Midlothian: Dudgeon, Sanderson (Tranent)

England
Gloucestershire: Edkins, Trowton/Troughton
Warwickshire: Bromley, Vickers, Hydon

Offline ankerdine

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #30 on: Tuesday 26 June 07 16:16 BST (UK) »
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.
Blair, Marshall, Williamson - Ayrshire, Wigtownshire
Saxton, Sketchley - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire
Brown, Green - Rutland
Hawker, Malone, Bradbury, Arnott, Turner, Woodings, Blakemore, Upton, Merricks - Warwickshire, Staffordshire
Silvers, Dudley, Worcs
Deakin - Staffordshire


Offline Gadget

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #31 on: Tuesday 26 June 07 16:21 BST (UK) »
Hi

Did I hear anyone mention Wilsons  :D

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
Census &  BMD information Crown Copyright www.nationalarchives.gov.uk and GROS - www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

***Restorers - Please do not use my restores without my permission. Thanks***

Offline ankerdine

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #32 on: Tuesday 26 June 07 16:24 BST (UK) »
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.
Blair, Marshall, Williamson - Ayrshire, Wigtownshire
Saxton, Sketchley - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire
Brown, Green - Rutland
Hawker, Malone, Bradbury, Arnott, Turner, Woodings, Blakemore, Upton, Merricks - Warwickshire, Staffordshire
Silvers, Dudley, Worcs
Deakin - Staffordshire

Offline Gadget

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #33 on: Tuesday 26 June 07 16:28 BST (UK) »
Not my Wilsons - they'd left by then  :( :( :( :(

Thanks  :)
Census &  BMD information Crown Copyright www.nationalarchives.gov.uk and GROS - www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

***Restorers - Please do not use my restores without my permission. Thanks***

Offline Jacquie in Canada

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #34 on: Sunday 30 November 08 23:21 GMT (UK) »
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:

Quote
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
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

Offline ankerdine

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Re: Optimise Scotlandspeople searches
« Reply #35 on: Monday 01 December 08 08:13 GMT (UK) »
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
Blair, Marshall, Williamson - Ayrshire, Wigtownshire
Saxton, Sketchley - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire
Brown, Green - Rutland
Hawker, Malone, Bradbury, Arnott, Turner, Woodings, Blakemore, Upton, Merricks - Warwickshire, Staffordshire
Silvers, Dudley, Worcs
Deakin - Staffordshire