GROS Subcodes? .....

[Tusker]

I'm a new user and this is my first post. This site is absolutely terrific!....

Here's a question I hope someone can help me with.... Each possible name on an index page on SP has a GROS data number, e.g. 644\11 010\11 022.

I know that 644\11 is the RD for Hutchesontown, Glasgow during 1875 - 1906 and that the 022 is the page in the enumerators census book. Does anyone know if the RD Suffix 010\11 can be used to narrow down the search to a specific location or area of the RD, and if so, how? Is the specific area covered by the 010\11 part of the number listed somewhere, other than the header of the census book -- or do you have to open the person's name before you can view the census book header?

I wonder why they don't make a specific address a searchable item on SP......

[Ted]

Hi Tusker

Big warm welcome to TS - whilst I do not know the answer to your enquiry - stick with us - you will surely have the info you need by the end of today.

Best regards

Ted

[LesleyB]

Hi Tusker
...and a warm welcome to Talking Scot.
010\11 022, where 10 is the enumeration district within area 644\11.
As far as I'm aware the \11 022 refers to: page 11, line 22. So if you had several persons on a search page with the same surname, all with the ending 11, then 022, 023, 024 etc you would know they were on lines following each other, so probably within the same household. If the household ran onto the next page it would change to the ending \12 001.

On SP you can't use the numbers to limit your search though!

I wonder why they don't make a specific address a searchable item on SP......

You can.. but only in the 1881 as far as I remember.

Best wishes
Lesley

[AndrewP]

Hi Tusker
...and a warm welcome to Talking Scot.
010\11 022, where 10 is the enumeration district within area 644\11.
As far as I'm aware the \11 022 refers to: page 11, line 22. So if you had several persons on a search page with the same surname, all with the ending 11, then 022, 023, 024 etc you would know they were on lines following each other, so probably within the same household. If the household ran onto the next page it would change to the ending \12 001.

On SP you can't use the numbers to limit your search though!

I wonder why they don't make a specific address a searchable item on SP......

You can.. but only in the 1881 as far as I remember.

Hi Tusker,

The GROS reference is not as specific as line number on a page. It refers only to the page. The sub-district number is repeated.
So you have Registration District 644/11, Enumeration District 10, Page 22.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[MargaretS]

In the old days before we got the images and ony the indexes were available on the internet, I used to do surname only searches (admittedly I was using fairly uncommon surnames). I then copied and pasted the results into an Excel spreadsheet. When you then sorted the data by the GROS numbers they arranged themselves into households. It was a really useful tool.

[DavidWW]

In the old days before we got the images and ony the indexes were available on the internet, I used to do surname only searches (admittedly I was using fairly uncommon surnames). I then copied and pasted the results into an Excel spreadsheet. When you then sorted the data by the GROS numbers they arranged themselves into households. It was a really useful tool.

For more commonly occurring surnames, as long as you can limit the search to a county or an individual registration district, that's still a valuable technique. In other words, before starting to spend credits on viewing images, it may well be possible, for, say, 10 or 20 credits, to find the one reference which fits the whole family.

But remember that a household can span two pages so that matches can be +/- 1 in terms of the page number (had there been a line number that would have indicated position on the page )

David

[Tusker]

Thanks to everyone for their input so far. Margaret's idea is really clever, and I'll certainly give it a try if I ever find my disappearing Granny, and any of her family's GROS codes.....

So basically, there's really no way of telling which particular part of the Ward the middle set of numbers refers to, unless I open the person's name and look at the free census header page at the front of the book?

[AndrewP]

So basically, there's really no way of telling which particular part of the Ward the middle set of numbers refers to, unless I open the person's name and look at the free census header page at the front of the book?

That's right. As far as I make out, the header pages are free, but only after you've paid to see a census page in that enumeration book.

(There's no such thing as a free lunch)

Other than that, if you can get to an LDS Family History Centre, or a library that holds these microfilms, then you can view the whole of that census enumeration district and many neighbouring districts which share that reel of film.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[Tusker]

Hi Andrew -- I don't really think I'm looking for a free lunch. I'm just trying to avoid having to open say, six different John Walker's (at 5 credits per name) who were all around the same age, and all lived in the 644\11 RD during a certain time period -- particularly if I know the street on which my particular John Walker lived. Which is why I initially asked if a search could be done on an address.....

In this marvellous world of technology and high-speed computers, I'm sure others have wondered about the same thing....I've also wondered why searches can't be done for all children of a set of parents, rather than having to track each one down individually. More money into the coffers, I guess......

[sporran]

Hello Tusker,


indeed we have a marvellous world of technology and high-speed computers, but indexing other information, such as addresses, needs money and people. GROS chose to request a "thin" index for their censuses, so although the information is on the census pages, you can not search on it or display it in search results (except for 1881, which was done by the LDS).


Regards,

John