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What is Wrong with Ancestry BMD Indices?

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Her Indoors

Her Indoors Report 17 Aug 2006 18:03

Several times I have trawled through years of quarterly indices to find an event I know exists, but for which I have no date. Lots of times I find apparent gaps in the quarterly sequence. Originally, I thought that was because the name on which I was searching did not appear in that index, but I have found that slight variations in the name will reveal that the name is there alright, and that lots of previous searches will have to be done again, because I cannot be sure whether the missing 'quarters' were the ones I really needed. Does anyone know why this happens, or have a solution?

Kim

Kim Report 17 Aug 2006 18:09

Put in a name you know is there which is close to the one you want eg Smith(for Smithers) and then use next or prev. page arrows on top of Ancestry's viewer until you reach right one . If a page does not come up after you select it but is shown in their index click on'Having problems viewing this image 'and send Ancestry an error report. I've noticed lots of marriages in 1940 don't show up for some reason.... Kim

InspectorGreenPen

InspectorGreenPen Report 17 Aug 2006 18:10

Nothing wrong with them it is just that they are not yet complete. They are based on the Free BMD index. Go to http://freebmd.rootsweb*com/ and click on the word 'here' PLEASE NOTE: WE HAVE NOT YET TRANSCRIBED THE WHOLE INDEX. A breakdown by event and year can be viewed here I'm assuming you mean the indexes, not the images

Her Indoors

Her Indoors Report 17 Aug 2006 19:04

No, I don't mean the free BMD data, I mean the images of the quarterly indices. The search function often misses quarters where the name does exist.

Jeanette

Jeanette Report 17 Aug 2006 19:11

if you find 1/4's missing go to one that is ok click on it then click on year above it then 1/4 missing then letter of surname then go through images until you find it if still missing you will have to go on 1837 site Jeanette

Jacqui

Jacqui Report 17 Aug 2006 19:15

Clive I think its the technology used. Picking up the 1st and last name on the page and then sloting the page in. If someones scribbled a name on the end or they are difficult to read it doesnt put the page in the right place. (Does that make any sense). You can get round it by going the long way.Click on the year then the inital letter of the surname you are looking for, guess a page number and then go backwrds/forwards till you find what you are looking for. Jacqui

Merry

Merry Report 17 Aug 2006 19:42

Very many pages have additional entries out of sequence at the bottom of the page........... So lets say you are looking for Frederick Smith. His entry is on a page beginning with Edward Smith and ending with George Smith, but there's an additional Florence Smith entry added at the bottom with a mark up the margin showing where it should appear in the list. Ancestry will record this page as beginning with Edward Smith and ending with Florence Smith, so if you ask for the page with Frederick Smith on it, Ancestry will say, Sorry, no page with that info. (Well, not in so many words!) Merry