Scottish records/parish records - infuriating

[TeabySea]

I'm trying to establish whether someone I think may be an ancestor is actually the right person.
Information suggests so, but without sight of the original documents/scans of the original documents it's pretty nigh impossible to narrow things down.
Does anyone know if any of the records - census returns and parish registers are actually available to view online in a scanned (not transcribed) format?

It looks as though a known ancestor lied a bit about her age, so that she appeared the same age as her husband. I find a potential match born in Scotland in a family with the right name for father and for a sibling (who also possibly was vague about age), but I can't tell without viewing a scan of the document whether her age was mistranscribed or more accurate.

The potential ancestor is her father. I find a marriage in the right area to tie in, and in the right sort of timeframe, but again, without seeing a scan of the document which would detail his occupation it's hard to be sure whether he's the right person.

It's not a particularly unusual name and I feel a bit as though I'm clutching at straws.

Scotlands people website has the scans.

As pp said Scotland's People allows you to view scans. You buy a bundle of credits and view online.
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/help-and-support/our-charges

Thanks for the hints. I'm reluctant to pay for scans without viewing them first (happy to pay to download) as there are quite a few people in the same area with the same name (as is the case with a Hertfordshire based ancestor I'm stuck on), and I don't want to waste money on dead ends.
Might have to see if I can narrow things down a bit.
I've been spoiled with access to Ancestry and FMP where the subscription covers the cost of these types of record, and I suppose a bit miffed that the Scottish info isn't included.

Scotland's People is enormously frustrating and you have exactly identified the main issue. I was helping someone recently who was searching for an ancestor called Alexander Smith. She knew he was born between 1895 and 1905, and his parents names. She also knew the family moved about a bit, so needed to look at all births in Scotland.

Scotland's people website is so poorly indexed that there is no way you can filter the hundreds of Alexander Smiths born in the right period with the parents' names or even the mother's surname. The only way to find the right one is to pay to look at every record at £1.50 a pop, or pay for a £15 day ticket in the Scotland's People centre in Edinburgh or Glasgow (if you can get a seat, you need to reserve 8 weeks in advance in Glasgow) and go through every single record. And even if you do find the right one, you have to pay AGAIN to print it, or access it later from home.

It's a total rip off.

I suppose my main issue is that the stuff isn't scanned and viewable, but as you say, finding the right person is the problem. I don't have Alexander Smiths but a very similar issue. There's a whole raft of people that may or may not be my ancestors; they all did the same type of job, and all lived in the same place, and all gave their children (born just a few years apart) the same names, in pretty much the same order.

I've contacted a person on Ancestry who seems to be a DNA match to see which of the two people I'm investigating they are descended from. If both, then my hunch was correct and I can narrow down what I'm looking for. If just one of them, then I'm not any further forward until I get a match on the 'other' (likely but hunch) side.

I've found Scotland's people extremely easy to use, and I say that as someone descended from numerous standard Lowland ancestors named John Smith (4), James Brown (5), Janet Wilson (3), Jean Robertson (4). Rarely had a problem identifying the right ones.

You can filter by mother's surname, except in the older parish records where some parishes didn't bother recording them.

Given the smaller name pool in Scotland, it's known that there is a lot of repetition, but how much more indexing can they offer? You get to search on the name, including full middle name, the civil parish or registration district, a reference number, the maternal surname, the option to filter by different spellings.... If there were 500 Alexander Smiths born in your time period and you can't narrow it down with all that info, what more do you expect from them? That's a lot more to go on than you get from the English online records.

The similarities and repetition of names isn't the fault of the system, it just means you can end up down a couple of blind alleys, and at least it's a relatively cheap error to make, unlike ordering the full certificate only to find it's not the right person.

Paying to print at a centre only costs 1 or 2 credits 50p at so 50p at most.

I'd say it's great value, given you can usually trace people quickly and from the comfort of your own home. Been using it for more than 20 years and it just keeps getting better.

It's always worth looking on familysearch.org

This is the Mormons free to use service though you have to create a login.

I find it a good tool to have in addition to ancestry and fmp as it searches in a slightly different way and occasionally you will get lucky because their transcriptions have more to view than other indexing. I am finding it particularly useful for Scotland and Ireland (especially finding siblings who have moved abroad, but then offer little details which helps you get enough information to get back just that bit further).

I've been able to crack a few brickwalls because of the differences, even though a lot of the collections they have are also on fmp.

I use all three as my mainstays.

I hate Scotland's people. It's a money pit and shit to use, though I think the indexing is a lot better than it was!

The problem is I don't know the mothers surname. Or first name. Or the area the person is from.
She moved to London but I don't know when. Turns up in the 1860s marrying into my family. Her name has 3 different spellings on the census returns and marriage certificate. Her age varies from 2-5 years of what it might be across records and her place of birth appears as Ross, Rothes and Kinross.

If I could see the scan of the census for Scotland rather than a transcript, I could see the occupation for the various men all of the right age in those areas, who might be her father.

Think I'll just have to suck it up and throw some money at looking at it.

As an update, I bit the bullet and bought some credits foe Scotlands People. Have found a marriage certificate for potential parents for my ancestor, 1841 census, and death cert for likely father.
Shall have to review info on likely mother as the issue of "people of the same name with the same job in the same area" remains.*

*Did this with another ancestor; her age on documents was a bit flexible. Found someone matching and older version of her age, father's name and occupation tied in with her marriage cert. His residential area tied in to marriage cert too.Traced father and went back 4 generations. Then discovered another woman 5 years younger with a father same name, occupation and residential area...and realised I'd researched the wrong people.

Can you triangulate your info by using freebdm, freecen, local family history societies (random but you might get lucky!) Familysearch then scotlands people for census, birth, marriage, death and valuation records. Just a case of grindwork but it will eliminate outliers from your possibilities.
Also 'trade' records.. railway/mining staff records etc
I have been lucky in the past by simply googling the names and the year of birth/marriage and any location relevant.
Good luck!

Thanks @Bonbon21
The only family I find with the right names, and age gaps are from a different area to where I thought, and are a few years older. However, father's name and profession tallies, as does sibling who turns up as a visitor after my ancestor married. I'm reasonably confident these are the correct people, as nothing else fits.

Now looking at the parents. Person in ancestry had both the names in their tree, linked to same names I have. Father of my ancestor seems to have died about 1851 - this isn't mentioned on her marriage certificate, which didn't help.
Mother has been narrowed down to 5 potential women- all of the same name, born in the same area, over a 7 year period. Given the inaccurate age info for daughters, I will have to go the route of triangulating each of the 5.

Feels as though I'm making progress at last!