is database complete?

[proctorious]

hello,

i am attempting to research the birth certificate of a certain william david mcdowall and am unable to find reference to the birth certificate on scotlandspeople.  does anyone know if this database is complete in this regard, or if i would have better luck requesting a search of the national archives for example?

i know a bit about this individual, he was born dec 26 1861, perhaps in or near browhouse near annan, dumfriesshire.  may have been illegitimate however, but just would like to know how accurate my attempts are on the scotlandspeople website.

thanks very much for any insight.

sincerely,
proctor

[trish251]

Hi Proctor - Welcome to RootsChat   

SP is definitely complete for civil registrations - so your man should be there. Spelling was not always the best in 1861 - so he may be hiding under a variation of his name.

1855 to 1875 civil index for Scotland is also on the IGI - as they have a name search that includes like names it may be easier to find him there. (It is also free to search)

There are 9 William McDowalls returned, none of which have your dob - but some earlier in the year - and none in dumfrieshire.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true

Given that he may have been illegitimate - could the birth have been registered in a different name?

Trish

[trish251]

This is the batch number for the civil registrations in Annan  C118121
The closest William is 27 Dec 1861 - no mcdowalls

You can check here for other districts
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountyDumfries.htm#PageTitle

And it could be that he wasn't registered 

Trish

[proctorious]

thank you trish251.  that is very valuable. 

the fact that he could have been illegitimate means it is going to be more difficult to track perhaps. 

how did you do a search on first name only?  i have been unable to accomplish that.

proctor.

[trish251]

Hi Proctor

You need a batch number to do a meaningful first name search only - The website link
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm  (of which I gave you a variation) allows you to find a batch number for the different parishes on the IGI. I used it to find the civil index for Annan. You could check for other districts in Dumfries if he may have been born elsewhere.

Once you have a batch number, you can enter any of the index items (parent could be useful) & search within the batch only

Hope this helps

Trish

Items I entered on the search page were batch number, given name and the year - you also need location at least to British Isles - country and county don't matter - as they are defined by the batch number

[trish251]

Have you found a death in the name of McDowall? This would hopefully name his mother?

Trish

[trish251]

Just had a thought - as he was born so late in the year - could he be registered under the following year (although I think the indexes relate to the birth year, not the registration date)

Edit: Forget this one - can't sight him

[proctorious]

excellent information!  thanks very much trish.  not sure what you mean by the death post, but it is likely that his mother was janet mccreath.  i can't find anything on her besides her marriage record though.

[trish251]

Sorry

I meant had you looked for his death on ScotlandsPeople? Thought this may help in getting another name - but as you know his Mother's name, I guess you have searched under that name. Do let me know if you find him. Very strange that you have an exact date - yet no sign of him

Trish