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Archiver > NEW-ZEALAND > 2009-02 > 1235609588


From: Megan Donaldson <>
Subject: Re: [nz] Using Dates in the New DIA Website
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:53:08 +1300
References: <C07FB71975DB4BD09715046B11F5BE7D@KEVIN><fcc5a4c1299be87d26d61ac8112a02dc@ihug.co.nz><186B4E6657674F4EB4B75C6ABC11A372@KEVIN>


Hi Ian & list
I was working thru your Fitzherbert name when Kevin's email came thru. At
that time I had also decided it was Alice Maud you were interested in, &
that she was born between 10-20 Nov 1877.

I suspect Kevin has some computer programming knowledge- the term 'binary
chop method' didn't mean anything to me but have seen the method used. So
using your example I will try & explain it a little more fully for others.
Forgive me if I am a little wordy.

"with the dates 01/01/1877 to 31/12/1879 I get three hits" - viz.
1878/12523 Alice Maud
1878/17270 Sidney Wyndham
1879/17024 Charles William

"but when I change the dates to 01/01/1878 to 31/12/1878 I only get one hit
and not the one I am interested in."
Obviously you want a birth with a Registration number starting with 1878/...
Naturally enough you changed the search dates to 01/01/1878 to 31/12/78 but
only Sidney Wyndham is displayed. However as you want Alice Maud & know she
was born between 01/01/1877 to 31/12/1879 try 01/01/1877 to 31/12/1877 and
yes there she is. So now you know she was born sometime in 1877 but her
parents registered her birth in 1878.

Now if you change the search dates to January-June 1877 inclusive, you get
a negative result. so one can safely assume she born July-December
inclusive. My next step was to search July-September (01/07/1877 to
30/09/1877) inclusive, which also gave a negative result. So I knew she had
to have been born between Oct-Dec inclusive, and that search finally
produces a positive result.

Now I knew her birthdate was between 1 Oct and 31 Dec 1877. My next search
was for October -01/10/1877 to 31/10/1877- which was negative. Searching
November -01/01/1877 to 30/11/1877- produced a positive result. Remember
some months only have 30 days & if you forget to change it from 31
you get the error message "Search To Date is not a valid date in the
specified format". Also remember to change 30 back to 31 otherwise you could
miss the birth date.

Now you know which month it is a similar procedure for the days. I tend to
go 1-10, then 11-20 and if necessary 21 to 30/31. In this example having got
Alice's birth date to sometime between 10-20 November continue narrowing the
days in the search date until you get the actual date. For confirmation my
last search is from 16/11/1877 to 16/11/1877.

As Kevin said "the DIA has indexed the record on the actual date, so with
this website you can find the exact date of birth, marriage, or death."
It is a tad tedious teasing out the date but I find it worthwhile.

Hope the above helps someone
Megan


----- Original Message -----
From: "Clartiere" <>
To: "Ian Westergaard" <>; "New Zealand list"
<>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [nz] Using Dates in the New DIA Website


> Hi Ian
>
> When this happens it could be because the event itself took place late in
> one year, but was registered early in the following year. Many births are
> like this.
>
> So in your example, the birth of Alice Maud Fitzherbert was registered in
> 1878. But she was born 16/11/1877. The method I suggest for finding the
date
> still works, but you may have to adjust the year to account for the way
> registration works.
>
> Best regards
> Kevin
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ian Westergaard" <>
> To: "New Zealand list" <>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 11:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [nz] Using Dates in the New DIA Website
>
>
> > Doesn't work for me
> >
> > In fact if I search births for "Fitzherbert" with the dates 01/01/1877
to
> > 31/12/79 I get three hits - two for 1878 and one for 1879, but when I
> > change the dates to 01/01/1878 to 31/12/78 I only get one hit and not
the
> > one I am interested in.
> >
> > Ian Westergaard
> > New Zealand
> >
> > On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:14:59 +0100, "Clartiere" <>
> > wrote:
> >> Whilst there are many shortcomings with the new Online Historical
Records
> >> website, there is one useful trick with dates.
> >>
> >> One person made the point that although you have to enter the full date
> > in
> >> dd/mm/yyyy format, you only get the year in the search results. True,
but
> >> the DIA has indexed the record on the actual date, so with this website
> >> you
> >> can find the exact date of birth, marriage, or death.
> >>
> >> First find the year. Then enter Search From and Search To dates within
> >> that
> >> year. No need to start from 01/01/yyyy and change one day at a time.
Use
> > a
> >> binary chop method.
> >> For example, if you find that an event look place in 1900, try
01/01/1900
> >> to
> >> 30/06/1900. If not found, try 01/07/1900 to 31/12/1900. This will find
> >> which
> >> half of the year. Take like and work out which quarter, then which
month,
> >> week, and day.
> >>
> >> Works for me every time.
> >>
> >> Best regards
> >> Kevin



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