Genealogy Chat

anyone else having problems with searching on ancestry scottish census?

If I put in birthplace it brings up 0 matches when I know that birthplace exists for them on the census.

No problems at the moment with 1901

Are you putting in too much info and not allowing for mistranscriptions

well one ancestor had Gladsmuir, Haddington exactly like that for their birthplace on ancestry, however if I put that in exactly the same for Birthplace myself with their surname Anderson, it brings up 0 matches.

So the only way to find them is to type first name and surname and approx year of birth, which with the surname Anderson can take me ages to find them as Anderson is a pretty common name, when it would be so much easier if it would work when I put in their birthplace as it is on ancestry.

Are you using the new or old search method ?
old search> top right seems to be easier

I noticed Scotland had gone weird a couple of days back.

Here's an England Search (old style exact)

Exact Search Results - 1871 England Census
You searched for Vagan born in Spitalfields
Name Parent or spouse names Estimated birth year Birthplace Relation Civil Parish County
Augustus Van Vagan abt 1855 Spitalfields, Middlesex, England Assistant Bethnal Green, London

I get the same result using a wildcard, namely for:

You searched for Vagan born in Spi*Alfields
You searched for Vagan born in Spi?Alfields


Now in Scotland:

Exact Search Results - 1891 Scotland Census
You searched for Vagan born in Dundee
Name Parent or spouse names Estimated birth year Birthplace Relation Civil Parish County
Margret Vagan William abt 1863 Dundee, Forfarshire Wife Liff and Benvie Angus
William Vagan Margret abt 1864 Dundee, Forfarshire Head Liff and Benvie Angus
William Vagan William,Margret abt 1884 Dundee, Forfarshire Son Liff and Benvie Angus
Maggie Vagan William,Margret abt 1885 Dundee, Forfarshire Daur (Daughter) Liff and Benvie Angus


If I change the pob to Dun*ee oe Dun?ee, then I get:

Your Search for Vagan returned no matches
You searched for Vagan born in Dun Ee

Same if I say Dun or Dun*

Your Search for Vagan returned no matches
You searched for Vagan born in Dun

However, if I say Dund or Dund*, I get my 4 hits back (although the search title says Dund in both cases, not Dund* in one of them.


The English 1871 gets 1 hit for Spit* and none for Spit.


I'm fairly sure the Scottish census used to work properly, like the English one does.

EDIT I've just submitted this post to Ancestry, with minor mods to 1st sentence.

thanks mgnv

I am glad it is not just me then, as I know it worked properly before, it is just very hard locating ancestors in the census, when I Have common Scottish names like Anderson, when the place of birth won't let me put anything remotely close in.

I will report to ancestry all, hopefully the will fix whatever the problem is.

Why are you using Ancestry to look for Scottish records?

You stand much more chance of finding them if you invest in a few ScotlandsPeople credits. Their transcriptions are infinitely more reliable than 'Ancestory'.

You can even get free SP credits by signing up to receive a newsletter from www.ancestralscotland.com

FreeCen is also worth a try.

Alison,

I use both, I have a subscription to ancestry, so is pointless me spending a fortune on Scotlands People with Scottish surnames like Anderson, until I have better information to locate them.

Once I find them in the census on ancestry, I then buy credits to easily obtain the images on Scotlands People for less cost than what it would have. Same goes for OPR's etc, I always use sites like familysearch and freereg first.

I have both English and Scottish ancestors throughout my tree, so ancestry is a great resource for me.

thanks for that Colin.

It works putting the birth place in the keyword box, why didnt I think of that (doh). However It still means the the birthplace information box doesnt work when searching. I have reported it to ancestry now.

It certainly isnt a problem just to internet explorer thats for sure, as I use firefox.

Thhis birthplace problem crops up all the time.. I don't know about the Scottish records - but the address where a birth is actually registered can be a long way from the actual town or village of birth, and in other documents such as censuses people may well give the village or town or parish of their birth, not to speak of the hospital they were born in. And Ancestry does have this default habit of giving the American whereabouts of a placename if you don't specify the country and/or county.

Colin - thanks for that tip - wildcards work properly in the keywords box (and the residence + occup boxes).

Ancestry has done a better job of transcribing the Scottish censuses cf the English ones. However, they're not as good as FreeCEN nor SP.Ancestry's 1881 is from the LDS, both in ENG & SCT.

Sib
I do the same as you, I also have a subscription with ancestry. I look up my Scottish ancestors surname (Scott) also very common, then go on to Scotland's People and buy the credits.
I have spent a fortune on SP it is just a pity you can't get a subscription with them ore more Scottish information on Genes. .

Sandra