Search Terms

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:52 am

I was searching for a death which I knew must have taken place between 1861 and 1868 and almost certainly in Argyll. I couldn't get it even although I tried "all districts" too. Eventually I removed the age range and birth year and it came up and the search result had "u" in the age column. However when I viewed the image the correct age was there. Why did that happen? I thought "u" would mean the age wasn't recorded. I am thinking now I have to go back and search all the other ones I can't get and miss out the age in the search too.

Mallog

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:51 am

Hi Mallog,

There is a range of years where the age is not included in the death index. I think it is 1856 to some point in the 1860s or 1870s. To get around this, tick the box marked "Include Unrecorded Ages in Age Range" and unrecorded ages will be included with those in the age range that you have specified.

All the best,

AndrewP

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Thu May 04, 2006 11:41 am

Thanks Andrew I wasn't thinking of it not being in the index. His age was always given in Census etc and other possibles were returning for the search and so I never thought !!! I should have because I am learning you have to cover every possibility. I have been amazed at some of the name variants that have popped up on this board. As has been said a few times in this forum as far as a death certificate is concerned a lot depends on who the informant was. It's not always the surviving spouse that reports the death and I have to remember that.