Help need in finding a death certificate.....

[AlanMC]

I have been looking for some time now for the death certificate of my gr gr grandmother Elizabeth Blain, her death notice was in two papers. The wigtown free press and the galloway gazette, both stated that she died on the 26th Dec 1893. One paper has on the 26th inst at 50 Fisher Street Stranraer (where she lived) Elizabeth Ewart, wife of James Blain, fisherman, advanced in years, the other that she died in Newton Stewart.
But no matter what I try I cannot find her death certificate, I have tried spelling Blain, as Blane, Blaine, Blan ect but still no use.
I've tried just searching for Elizabeth Blain, and Elizabeth Ewart, tried Betty Lizzie ect But still nothing.
She was born about 1820 Leswalt Wigtownshire, they married 1842 in Stranraer.

As I be going to Park Circus on Tuesday I plan to try and find the certificate again, does anyone have any idea what I can try?

Alan

[DavidWW]

Hi Alan

Welcome to TalkingScot

I can confirm after a "play" on SP that there's nothing matching.

There is one further possibility, but it depends if Park Circus still have the microfiches of the death register entries.

At the very end of each register there is an alphabetical list of the register entries and this in included on the fiches, sooo..... what you need to do, if the fiches are still to hand, is to look through this index for both Stranraer and Penninghame RDs (contains Newton Stewart) for any possibly matching entry, checking with the full register entries where appropriate.

Unfortunately, given the date of death, while you should start with 1893, you may have to repeat the search for 1894.

On second thoughts, if you need to go to 1984, then probably better to scan the first few entries on the first fiche, and, on third thoughts , for 1893, probably better to scan the last fiche for entries with dates of death after 26th December, - just don't let on that you are scanning the register, as you are not supposed to do the that, - the priviledge that we have been granted in Scotland compared to the situation in the rest of the UK, of being able to view directly the register entries, is on the condition that a single register entry is viewed at a time, - but as long as you are discreet about it, no-one's going to complain.

It's not unknown for there to be transcription errors in the index, or even missed entries.

I came across a real wierdo on Friday where the fiche ended at record 123, but DIGROS showed a matching record with entry number 166, and, sure enough, the register had entries up to nearly 200 !!

One very confused NRH supervisor the problem being that the DIGROS digitised images were created from the microfiches

David

[AlanMC]

Thanks for the advice David, afriad it will have to wait till the next time I get to Edinburgh then, as Park Circus only has the microfiches for the Strathclyde area only. The access to the rest of Scotland is by computer link to the National Index Link in Edinburgh.

Alan

[DavidWW]

Thanks for the advice David, afriad it will have to wait till the next time I get to Edinburgh then, as Park Circus only has the microfiches for the Strathclyde area only. The access to the rest of Scotland is by computer link to the National Index Link in Edinburgh.

Alan

D**n it , as while it's possible to browse the censuses on DIGROS it ain't possible to browse the statutory registers, - see above.

And it ain't possible to use wildcards on DIGROS other than the implied given name wildcard, - the simple reason being limitations as regards the processing capacity of the Edinburgh based main computer system.

David

[sporran]

Hello David,


leaflet S8 (July 2002) from GROS states "We do not allow you to 'browse' through the statutory registers........In practice, you may identify specific entries using the indexes and then consult the actual entries, making pencil notes if you wish".

I take this to mean that data harvesting is not allowed, i.e. taking a fiche with 100+ events and transcribing them. However, looking through the end-of-year summary index seems to be perfectly allowable. Indeed, they are in a public area and are therefore for public viewing. (I remember my mother putting out a bowl of fruit and saying "that's not for eating", but that is different logic and another story).

A few days ago, David and I discussed the idea of having these indexes available on SP (and generally being able to search on forenames alone), and we will put forward the ideas to SP.


Regards,

John

[DavidWW]

Hello David,


leaflet S8 (July 2002) from GROS states "We do not allow you to 'browse' through the statutory registers........In practice, you may identify specific entries using the indexes and then consult the actual entries, making pencil notes if you wish".

I take this to mean that data harvesting is not allowed, i.e. taking a fiche with 100+ events and transcribing them. However, looking through the end-of-year summary index seems to be perfectly allowable. Indeed, they are in a public area and are therefore for public viewing. (I remember my mother putting out a bowl of fruit and saying "that's not for eating", but that is different logic and another story).

A few days ago, David and I discussed the idea of having these indexes available on SP (and generally being able to search on forenames alone), and we will put forward the ideas to SP.


Regards,

John

Hi John

Indeed, such data harvesting is not allowed, but I've always found NRH staff to be relaxed about scanning a register in order to locate a specific record, when there is a difficulty such as in this case, - just as long as it is done discreetly.

David