GRO Tutorial

When loading each of the Birth, Marriage or Death indexes, the screen will initially appear similar to the example below.  The default sort order for each table is by Year, then Qtr, and then Last name.  Using this sort order, oldest records appear first, and 'Staveley' will sort before 'Stavely' in the index.  So if you don't initially see the record you're looking for, be sure to scan the entire block for that quarter.

Screen Shot - Sample table of data

Adjusting Column Width

Depending on your browser settings, the text may appear squashed in one or more columns.  In the example below, the First name column appears truncated, and only partial names can be viewed:

Screen Shot - Column too narrow to view all data

To adjust the view, position your cursor on the grey column title header bar, directly between the "First" and "Mother" column titles.  When your cursor is correctly positioned, it should change to a cursor line with an arrow at each end Screen Cursor.  Once the cursor is positioned between the columns, click the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the right to expand the column view:

Screen Shot - Expanding column tables

This should now reveal the complete text as shown above.  This same procedure can be performed to expand the view of any column.  To decrease a column width, simply click and drag the column to the left to shrink the view.

Sorting Data

To sort the data differently, simply click the header of the column you wish to sort.  In the sample below, clicking the "First" column header once will sort the table by first name in ascending order (A to Z).  By clicking the header again, the sort order will switch to descending order (Z to A) as shown below:

Screen Shot - Sorting the tables

The sort order is displayed by a small up Up Arrow or down Down Arrow arrow positioned to the right of the column that has been sorted.

When sorting the table, you can always restore the original table view by clicking the 'refresh/reload' button on your browser window.

Filtering Data

You can filter each table for a specific set of information.  For example, if you wish to view all the "Eliza" Staveleys in the table you can do so by using the filter bar at the bottom of the table.  Type the word Eliza in the tan-colored filter bar at the bottom of the "First" name column as follows:

Screen Shot - Typing Eliza in the search box

Then press the 'enter' key to sort the table and view the results:

Screen Shot - Search for Eliza in the database

This method extracts all occurrences of "Eliza" in the table.  However, this applies an EXACT match filter to the search term typed in the filter box.

Filtering Data Using a Wildcard * Character

If now you wish to see all entries that begin with "Eliza", but also include all "Elizabeth" entries, you can perform a wildcard character search.  Refresh the table by selecting 'refresh/reload' in your browser window.  Now type Eliza* into the filter bar and press enter:

Screen Shot - Search for Eliza or Elizabeth as a first name

Using the wildcard asterisk (*) character, the table will return all occurrences of any first name beginning with "Eliza", including Eliza, Elizabeth, and names containing a middle name in the entry such as "Eliza Jane".

If you're not sure if "Elizabeth" was a first or middle name, another trick is to use the wildcard character (*) at the start AND end of the search term.  Refresh the table by selecting 'reload/refresh' in your browser window.  Now type *Eliza* into the filter box.  By including the asterisk at each end of the word "Eliza" you will catch names such as "Ann Elizabeth" or "Eliza Jane":

Screen Shot - Search for Eliza or Elizabeth as a first or middle name

By using these wildcard filtering methods, you can be better assured of not missing key entries of interest in each of the data tables.  Be patient when sorting, as these tables contain a lot of records and may take a moment for the filter or sort to take effect.

Congratulations! You're now ready to search the Indexes of Staveley Births, Marriages, and Deaths!

Please report any Index errors or omissions through our discussion forum.

 

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