Optimise Scotlandspeople searches

[lindawadwell]

sometimes it helps with reading the images to download, enlarge and highlight in in microsoft document imaging. highlighting often makes the writing clearer.  If it is very faint clicking 'auto correct' often makes it a little darker.  Also try having a look at how the writer has formed letters in other known words.

[ibi]

Just a little correction.

In the ScotlandsPeople (and Scots Origins) census indexes for 1841,1851, 1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901 the birthplace info has never been included in the GROS indexes.  1881, yes, but that census only, due to the indexing method used by GSU.

But will Ancestry trump this?

ibi

[GordonD]

My way round to try to cope with Census searching

One of my biggest problems in searching through the census on Scotlandspeople have been common names and people in the most populous county Lanarkshire. Often they were quite mobile around the county though didn't often venture into Glasgow city (why does Lanarkshire automatically include Glasgow districts (I know Glasgow was historically part of Lanarkshire) when Glasgow districts can be separated from Lanarkshire in the search). A method that I have sometimes used (with varying degrees of sucess) to try to emulate ancestry's "view of other members of the household" is as follows:

Pick a couple of members of the houshold you are interested in. Possibly not the actual ancestor you are looking for but one with a less common forename.
Search for these in the county that you are interested in with the age range that you would have searched for them with anyway.
Don't look at any images until you have searched for two ancestors.
Print off your results.
Compare the GROS data for the results. My interpretation the GROS data for the census returns is as follows(please anybody correct me if I am wrong):

Take the code 651/02 013/02 017 as an example.
651 refers to the registration district 02 being a subdistrict (?)
013 is the enumeration district and 02 I think is the book number for that district
017 is the page within the enumeration book

Basically if there is the same GROS data in the searches from the two people you are looking for then the chances of them being in the same household are greatly increased as at least they are on the same page (obviously if the page differs by 1 it could indicate a continuation of a household on the next page). If a couple of possiblities still exist then a search on a third person solely in those districts of that county would indicate if there is someone who is on the same page.

Not an exact way and I still have wasted 5 credits viewing unwanted images but at least I have an idea if there is a John Campbell for example on the same page as Mary Campbell. Rather than thinking that one looks really good using five credits and then finding is wife was Jane. Ok the searches still cost 1 credit but for the searches I use this for is when I know I'm not going to hit the exact return in 6, 11 or 16 credits (1 for the search and 5 for each of  the viewed  images).

Hope this was of some help and not too confusing!

Gordon

[ibi]

Recent developments on Ancestry, whitiver it's noo ca'ed, have radically altered optimum search strategies in the Scottish censuses, particularly when there's common name problems, or other problems.

The GROS indexes on line at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk are so-called "thin" indexes, i.e. the fields that are searchable are few in number.

The Ancestry indexes, - so far, 1841, '51 and '61 are "fatter" indexes, in the sense that more fields are included in the indexes which can be searched, plus it's possible to search without having to enter the surname; and link the search to the presence in the household of another name.

As yet, I haven't sufficient personal experience to make a judgement, but from what I've seen of the opinion of others whose opinion I trust, the Ancestry indexes are worthwhile, even although there appear to be major problems in terms of the accuracy of the indexing...... the saving grace being the number of fields that can be searched, and the ways in which search info can be combined.

To give you a flavour of the transcription errors in the Ancestry Scottish census indexes, I only just y'day was made aware of the following entry for place of birth, - "Deaf& Dumb, England"  !! 

In other words, the indexer, or the OCR software involved, assumed that the entry in the column before the place of birth column was associated, i.e. the parish, as opposed to being the entry in the column relating to mental or physical disability ........

BTW, the instructions in this context in term of mental disability were, over the various censuses where such info was requested, along the following lines, -

Lunatic: “A mentally ill person with periods of lucidity”.

Imbecile: "Persons who have fallen in later life into a state of chronic dementia"

Idiot: "..those who suffer from congenital mental deficiency."

ibi

[ankerdine]

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

[JAP]

Hi Ankerdine,

SP (GROS) is not a site which rips people off - well, that's my view!

If your email address and user name have remained the same, then SP will certainly help you find your old password.  And if your email address and user name have changed, then I feel sure they'll do their very best to merge your new and old email addresses and your new and old user names - and the  viewing/paying history which goes with your old email address and user name - if they can possibly do so.  Do please give them all the details.

Well, that's my opinion.

Your history (i.e. the history of one email address, user name and password - how could it be else) remains from the inception of SP.  Of course, SP can't possibly know that someone who registered under one email address, user name and password is the same person as someone who registered under another email address, user name and password.  You need to explain this to SP and seek their help.

Just ask the questions of SP!  And persevere!

If there's a problem, do come back and post here again.

JAP

[ankerdine]

Thanks for that reply, Jap. I will certainly do as you say. We have actually changed our e-mail address to a completely new one.
I agree that Scotlandspeople are very helpful if you have a genuine problem. I once had trouble downloading images and, indeed, lost them completely. SP, once contacted, reimbursed me immediately with credits used.
What I was querying was the continued change of password. Do you know if it is possible to use, say, one familiar word rather than the numbers and letters offered at present. I use one personal password for all other genealogy sites and would like to be able to to do this on SP.

[NellW]

You can change your password in the "My details" section of the site, once you've logged in.  You can also change your e-mail address there. 

However, if you can't remember the password on your account you'll have to contact SP, as JAP suggests, to see if they can sort it out - the forgotten password option will only send e-mails to your old address. 

It might also be worth searching through your e-mail inbox to see if you still have a copy of the last e-mail giving your password.

Helen

[JAP]

Hi ankerdine,

I don't know what you mean by "the continued change of password"

As far as I'm aware, I've used the same password since the inception of SP - of course, that has been with my same email address and user name!  I don't bother to change the passwords I use on genie sites because I don't really think that there is a security issue there!

If you want to use one familiar word as a password for all genealogical sites but if certain genealogical sites require a combination of letters and numbers, why not - for such sites - use the familiar word followed always by one specific number (e.g. 1)?  That way you'll always be able to remember it - if not at the first try (when you might try just the familiar word) then certainly at the second try (when you try the familiar word followed by your chosen number e.g. 1) 

But, as Helen (NellW) confirms, you'll have to liaise direct with SP if you've actually changed your email address/user name and want to retain/regain access to your previous searches and viewed images!

JAP