Ancestry=poor

[BEARGER]

I took out the 14 trial with Ancestry and so far have found it no better than useless. It can't seem to find anything! Even when I have the original certs. and input the dates it can't find the person. These are Scottish certs. does this make a difference?

[WendyPusey]

Did you look at the Scottish Census or just search the English ones?

You have to choose the right ones otherwise it only looks in England.

[Uncle John]

There aren't any Scottish BMDs on Ancestry. They are only on ScotlandsPeople (pay as you go). The Scottish censuses on Ancestry are generally OK but they do have some dreadful mistranscriptions. Occupations get particularly badly mangled.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Yes, I am not likely to forget my samartive beguine bleaner for a long time! (Nor my Craigs, mistranscribed as Oraigs)

OC

[herky]

OC - I have place of birth mistranscribed as California instead of Caithness - not even the correct continent.
That said, Bearger I do find it useful as it is helpful to narrow things down before spending credits on Scotlands People. So long as you are aware and try to use all kinds of spelling.
At least you can do a search with no name and just an address, which is helpful.
Good luck and please feel free to give me a name if you would like some help.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I find that if a normal sort of search doesn't find them, then I enter bare minimum information and scan down the pages looking for names which are obvious mistranscriptions, like IMRlPT or SCNpTHT, lol.

It takes some time, but I've found quite a few hiders this way, including dear old widow Dom who was mistranscribed as OOM. (I found that by entering just a first name and a 2 year birth range)

OC

[Just Gillian]

Bearger - I've found Ancestry invaluable for Scottish census searches and there are several direct ancestors I would not have been able to afford to find at all if I had only been able to search on SP at at a minimum cost of 1 + 5 credits for each image.

As others have said though, the Scottish census mistranscriptions on Ancestry are dreadful. Just put Jesus in as forename and you'll see what I mean! I particularly liked Louisa Jesus Nicol, daughter of James and Jesus Nicol.

There's even a Jesus McCrone - a relation of yours perhaps OC?

[herky]

Oh and yes - often widows are listed by their maiden name and even by their 1st name as widow eg "Widow Smith".
I agree, sometime minimum information and just scroll down and see if anything jumps out.
It's all the fun of the search.

[Uncle John]

Oh and yes - often widows are listed by their maiden name and even by their 1st name as widow eg "Widow Smith".
I agree, sometime minimum information and just scroll down and see if anything jumps out.
It's all the fun of the search.

It is quite usual for married female Scots to go by their maiden name.

[herky]

Uncle John,
I have a few that appear on censuses by their maiden after their husband has died and a child going by the married name on the same household - very confusing. I have to say though it is in very early censuses eg 1841/1851.
Always worth a try if you are stuck.

[herky]

Just to add that just tonight I did a search on Ancestry and found a relative listed as follows - her name was say Jane Smith but she was listed in 1861 as Widow William Smith.
So you never know, your lost relative may be listed in a Scots census by a 1st name of Widow followed by her husband's name.
What detective work we have to do in this hobby!!!

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have often wondered if the instructions for filling in the Scottish census were different from the instructions for the English census, or whether it was just the Scots being determined to outwit the nosey census takers.

I had a terrible job finding my 2 x GGF before his death, lol. It took me ages and ages to find him (and a sister I knew nothing about) described as boarders with an elderly widow - who turned out to be their maternal grandmother! Their father was at home with his parents and described as "unmarried" - the marriage, two children and death of his wife took place between two census, and the children never lived with him for census tracking purposes.

To complicate matters, Granny had been widowed three times and tracking her back involved a name change on every previous census. Fortunately, Scottish certs are cheap, otherwise I'd still be scratching my head over this one. Why she described her grandchildren as boarders and not grandchildren,I shall never know.

OC