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 Useful Data Extraction Scripts


To speed up research from various sources, I have created a sidebar menu for Firefox and am using my own scripts for Tampermonkey to go with it.

Tampermonkey is an add-on extension for the Firefox, Chrome, and Opera web browsers and it allows customization of the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of Javascript. I use these scripts with Firefox for extracting information quickly from a number of (mainly genealogical) websites by placing data onto the clipboard at the click of a button. I have not tested them extensively in other browsers but there is no reason they should not work with the latest versions of the browsers mentioned earlier.

The scripts are far better than simply copying and pasting information as the output can be formatted any way you want by modifying the script. I am currently updating the scripts with 'new' technology as some of them are a little outdated now. So, if a script looks useful to you, but doesn't provide the output you want, let me know and I'll try to customize it for you.

Instructions for using the Scripts from this site.

Get Firefox!
If you already have the Greasemonkey or Violentmonkey extensions installed then disable or uninstall it. Install the Tampermonkey extension.

Click on one of the files on this page and allow Tampermonkey to install it. If you have previously installed a script with the same name from The Williams Family Tree site please uninstall it first:
Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions -> Tampermonkey -> Options then click on the bin icon to of the script concerned to remove it.
Then clear your cache.

Note: You may have to download the script to your computer first and then load it into Firefox via the File -> Open file option, or right-click on the file you downloaded and select Open with ... Firefox.

More scripts will appear here as they are created or updated.

   Script Name   Information 
1. AncConfTest 

Attempts to test every aspect of GM_config. 
Version 2.3.0.3
 
 
2. Ancestry 2023 

Extract data from Ancestry pages and place it on the clipboard 
Version 2024.01.16.1155
12 Mar 2024 
This is the latest script for extracting information from Ancestry pages.

I have tried to cater for every page that useful data can be extracted from. Once this script is loaded into TamperMonkey and an Ancestry result page is acquired, a row of buttons will appear towards the bottom of the Ancestry page. These buttons allow specific information to be copied to your clipboard.

Depending on the results, the buttons will be labelled: Copy Name, Copy Volume, Copy Data, Copy Source, Copy Address, Copy URL, and Copy All - not necessarily in that order.

If the page is a UK Census one, the script tries to assimilate a complete list of all the occupants of the abode and calculates their birth year from their given age.

As Ancestry are continually adding new records, I do occasionally update the script. For instance, with the UK Electoral Roll pages I have concatenated the two address lines into one into the correct UK address format and added an 'Address' button to extract just this data.

The 1939 Register has been added to the list of Ancestry databases and now this is taken care of as well. Unfortunately, they do not provide the dates of birth for the complete household and often the address is incomplete or missing!

The script has been updated to correctly extract the Norway Census results and an alternate method of finding the individual's name has been added.

Copy buttons have now been added to the search results page. This enables the data on each row to be copied to the clipboard individually or, with the 'Copy All' button, the whole lot in one go.

There is now a Settings option on the main menu bar. This allows you to select which of the options you want to display/hide etc. These are:

Turn off all options - pretend the script is not running.
Set Debug mode - for me only, used when updating the script.
Start with Settings pane open - display the Settings pane when the page loads.
Make all links open in a new tab - when a link is clicked on it's nice to open the page in a new tab.
Annoying Stuff! (self-explanatory)
Remove the popup on the Messages page
Remove the banner at the top of the page
Remove Partner pop-up
Remove text from the Cart icon
Remove Tutorial button
Remove the Archives pop-up
Change, Hide or Highlight Stuff!
Hide inexact matches (usually names) - if you're searching for Ann Jones you want to see Ann, not Anne. This option hides such results.
Highlight non-matched results - as above but highlights, rather than hides the ones you don't want.
Click on a result (usually a location) to hide all the same items - allows you to hide anything that doesn't match your search term.
Hide the autocomplete window after a few seconds - I hate autocomplete!
Widen the results table and change some colours - I needed a wider display for my extra buttons and I changed the colour at the same time.
Set page to display 50 results - sometimes Ancestry decides to display just 20 results. This option forces the display of (up to) 50 results.
Prevent Quick Fill Suggestions popping up - I hate Quick Fill Suggestions!
Sort Tables by clicking on header row - adds the option to sort the diaplayed information. Sorting by date is coming soon (I hope!).


© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
3. Ancestry Census 2021 

Grab census data from Ancestry in CSV and GEDCOM formats! 
Version 2022.10.30.0625
30 Oct 2022 
I'm rather proud of this little script! I've been wanting to extract a lot of census data easily for quite a while. The simplest way to do so is to grab the information and convert it into CSV format that can be entered into a spreadsheet. This was accomplished quite easily. However, to get the information into a genealogy database it needs to be converted to GEDCOM format. Not so easy. So, after a bit of thought, I decided to convert the data into GEDCOM format as well!
The Ancestry website is the easiest to extract data from and their images are better than some others. This script adds two buttons and a tick box to the image display of a census return. It is primarily intended for UK censuses but the CSV button can be used with any (I think!).

To use the script first find the census information you are looking for then click on the View Image button to see it in all it's glory. Locate the Index icon, it looks like a couple of people with three horizontal bars above it. It's at the bottom of the display and dead centre. Click on this to bring up the index of the individuals in the current page. Doing so will add buttons to the left and right adjacent to the 'next' and 'back' arrows. The one on the left is labelled CSV and the one on the right is called GED. When pressed, the former creates a complete list of the people on the page and pops it on the clipboard so that you can paste it directly into a spreadsheet. CSV stands for comma-separated values but in this instance the variables are separated by semi-colons. This is because some locations are in the form 'Aberdyfi, Gwynedd, Wales' and it would totally confuddle your spreadsheet. I use LibreOffice Calc and all you need to do once you have copied the data is right click in the cell of where you want to paste the data.

Sometimes part of the family is on the next page. For this reason I have added a checkbox next to the index icon. If this is checked the first line of the copied data will be the column information i.e. Household Number, Given name, Surname etc. This information is only really needed for the first lump of data added to your file. If the checkbox is unticked (default) then column headings are not added to the data.

The GED button on the right is a little more awkward in that two extra items are required for a valid GEDCOM file. These are '0 HEAD' at the top of the file and '0 TRLR' at the end. This means we need to know where the 'start' and 'end' of the file is going to be. The start is easy; it's whichever page you decide to start from and the '0 HEAD' is added automatically. Proceed to the next page and click on the 'GED' button to add that page's information to the previous one. If the data is to run to the end of the series of images then the '0 TRLR' is added automatically. However, if only one or two pages are to be extracted that is where the checkbox mentioned above comes in. If it is ticked the page you are on is assumed to be the last one to be copied and the '0 TRLR' is appended to the copied data.

A refinement has been added so that families are included in the GEDCOM output. To create a complete GEDCOM file is far beyond the scope of this script. However, I have updated the script so that obvious families are grouped together. So, a 'Head' will be combined with a 'Wife' and/or 'Son(s)' and/or 'Daughter(s)'. The script is not infallible so please check the output thoroughly after copying it. The main problem at the moment is where the 'head' of the family is down as 'Wife' because the husband is away - following children are placed with the wrong family. I am working on a solution for this.

2022-10-10 - Added the ability to click on a highlighted name to extract the information for the entire family. This is because at the moment Ancestry are being very mean with the 1901 census and are not displaying the 'family members'.

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
4. Ancestry Census 2023 

Grab census data from Ancestry in CSV and GEDCOM formats! 
Version 2023.01.19.0836
 
 
5. CWGC 

Extract data from Commonwealth War Graves Commission pages and place it on the clipboard 
Version 2020.11.10.0913
10 Nov 2020 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website has details of thousands of war casualties. This script is an attempt to extract the individual information once your fallen hero is found by adding a "Copy to Clipboard" button to the page. I hope to update the script at some point so that the output it generates is better presented.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024
 
6. Charles Duval 

Extract information from the Charles Duval website! 
Version 2023.06.19.0836
19 Jun 2023 
The Charles Duval website has a lot of information about the man and his family.

This script simply adds a Copy button to the page to quickly add the data to the clipboard.

© Phil Williams 2023 - 2024
 
7. Cornwall OPC 2019 

Extract data from Cornwall OPC database 
Version 2019.11.06.0735
7 Nov 2019 
The Cornwall Online Parish Clerk website provides Birth, Marriage and Death information for many parishes in Cornwall. Once a result has been obtained, this script simply adds a Copy to Clipboard option to the end of the list of Actions so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application.

This updated version actually places the result on the clipboard automagically so all you need to do is paste the information into your application. After a short while the 'Copied to clipboard' text will fade out to be replaced with 'Copy to clipboard'. The link can be clicked on at any time and the data will be placed on the clipboard again. Yes, I'm playing with some new (to me) functions so expect some more modern features with (some of) these scripts!

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
8. Dictionary of Welsh Biography 

Copy the text of an article to the clipboard 
Version 2018.01.29d
29 Jan 2018 
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography contains over five thousand concise biographies of Welsh people who have made a significant contribution to national life, whether in Wales or more widely. Some of these articles can be very lengthy. This script simply adds a button to the end of the article to allow you to copy the text to your clipboard and from there to your application.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
9. District 

Create an array of Districts and Counties from the freeBMD website. 
Version 2019.11.09.1115
9 Nov 2019 
The freeBMD website provides a textual map of the districts and the counties they belong to. I thought it would be nice to incorporate this into some of my other scripts such as the GRO one that extracts birth and death registrations from their site.
This script creates two textual arrays that can be copied and pasted into your own script. I have plonked one into a separate file that is 'included' in the GRO script - you can do what you like with them!

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
10. FindMyPast 2022 

Extract transcription data from the FindMyPast website. 
Version 2024.02.16.1030
23 Feb 2024 
The FindMyPast website has over 2 billion records to search. This updated script automatically copies the transcript data onto your clipboard and thence you can paste it into your application. However, due to the nature of the pages on FindMyPast, this script operation is slightly different to the others.

Unfortunately, the page needs to be reloaded once a record transcription is found. Also, when viewing a census transcription any row of the household can be clicked on and then the page reloaded again to grab the information for that individual. If the census is a 1911 one, the census reference is highlighted and can be clicked on to copy the reference to the clipboard.

This script also incorporates the updated 1939 Register script and it too places the resultant data onto your clipboard automatically. If you change the main individual by clicking on another person in the table, the script attempts to reload the page to update the clipboard with the new information. It may take a couple of goes at it! For some reason, FindMyPast are limiting the number of people in the table in some instances so the script attempts to fully open the table before placing the result on the clipboard.

Also, the annoying 'Chat' pop-up and the tooltips have been disabled.

Added a 'bin' button to get rid of the messy 'film' bar, surrounding icons, and the annoying pop-ups on the 1939 Register images.

Further modifications are made as and when Find My Past update their software or add new resources.

2022-10-15

Updated the script to the latest version and it now includes a number of extras.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024
 
11. Force the Forces 

Remove the pop-up and add a button to copy the data amongst other things 
Version 2022.10.28.0949
28 Oct 2022 
The Forces War Records website is a pain to navigate. This script prevents the annoying pop-up that you get if you are not registered.

Oct 2022: Added the option to select All the results that are found. Sometimes 100 results is not enough. Be warned though, loading thousands of results can take a long time.

© Phil Williams 2008 - 2024  
12. FreeBMD 2021 

Extract information from FreeBMD website! 
Version 2024.01.16.0959
16 Jan 2024 
FreeBMD revisited! If you don't have a 'big' genealogy site account, or even if you do, the FreeBMD website offers birth, marriage, and death registration information for loads of individuals.

This script removes adverts and extracts the registration information and pops it, along with a 'Copy' button, at the end of each line of information. By clicking on this 'Copy' button, the information is placed on your clipboard so that you can quickly add the data into your own database. Where possible for death registrations, the year of birth is calculated from the age at death of the person and displayed in brackets after the age, or the age is displayed in brackets if a date/year of birth is given.

2021 added the ability to highlight certain locations to make them easier to find quickly. The title row of the data now has a coloured background and contains a text box where you can enter the location you wish to highlight. Any number of places, and even counties, can be entered into this box. Just separate them by commas. This means that you can highlight results for Dolgellau (Dolgelly) and Leicestershire at the same time. The page will refresh after you press the Enter (Return) key or click on the 'Go' button.

2022 added a button to link to Ancestry to search for the record there.
added a button to link to FindMyPast to search for the record there.
modified the script to remove the new advert pane and reset the width of the result table.

2023 removed the advert causing the results table to appear at half size
attempt to remove all the junk at the bottom of the page

© Phil Williams 2008 - 2024  
13. FreeReg 

Extract data from FreeReg records by placing it on the clipboard 
Version 2022.09.17.0922
17 Sep 2022 
This script allows you to quickly copy the search results from FreeREG on to your clipboard.

Simply enter your search criteria as normal and when the results page is displayed there will be a 'Clipboard' link added to the page. Click on this link and the contents of the results table are copied to your clipboard and can then be pasted into your application.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
14. GRO 2021 

Extract data from GRO search site - including mother's maiden name 
Version 2023.09.15.0721
15 Sep 2023 
The General Register Office website provides Birth, and Death registration information for the UK. They have recently introduced the mother's maiden name to the birth information. This is a great way of confirming that you have the right registration - something other sites are just getting around to. The age at death is also available in many cases.
This script simply adds a Copy button to the end of each result so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application. Oh, it also ups the number of years to search to ±5 years and removes the tooltips that appear when you hover your mouse over the question mark icons. You now have to click on the icon - I find this less annoying as once you have read the 'tip' you don't really need to read it again.
There are instances where you may not know the exact registration location and if there is a large number of results the one you are looking for may easily be missed. I have added the possibility to highlight certain locations. Simply enter any number of locations into the 'Highlight' box and separate them by commas. If any of the results correspond to any of the locations you enter they will be highlighted in red. I find this very useful when searching for people who may have been registered in Machynlleth, Dolgelly, or Aberystwyth. It works for counties too!
January 2022: Updated to include buttons to search in FindMyPast and Ancestry for the particular result. This is not 100% reliable due to errors in transcription, but it is very useful.
October 2022: Added the number of results after the text Results along with the number of highlighted entries, if any, in brackets.


© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
15. GenealogySA 

Southern Australia BDM Records 
Version 1.02
27 May 2019 
Genealogy SA holds copies of the original District Registration Certificates for Births, Deaths and Marriages for Southern Australia. The original Certificates hold additional information that many researchers find valuable. However, Genealogy SA is not permitted by law to provide an image copy of these original Certificates, but we can provide a transcription of the Certificate. The Certificate information content varies according to when it was created, and you can see tables here showing what you can expect to see. This script simply adds a Copy to Clipboard button to the result so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application.

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
16. GenukiOrg 2021 

try to take over the world! 
Version 2002.11.20.1924
20 Nov 2020 
The Genuki website provides a lot of information for the UK.
This script simply adds a Copy button to the end of each result so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application.

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
17. George Plunkett 

Extract info from the George Plunkett website 
Version 2018.01.31a
31 Jan 2018 
This script allows you to extract the detail from the Plunkett's Website

This site has a great deal of information about anything Plunkett around the Norwich area. This script enables you to quickly copy the information from the website to your application.

Also on the site are thousands of photographs of Old Norwich by George Plunkett.

© RottenSod 2010 - 2024 
18. Gloucestershire BMD 

Extract data from the Gloucestershire BMD website 
Version 2018.01.29b
29 Jan 2018 
This script enables you to extract the information from the results page of the Gloucestershire BMD Indexes website.

Enter the search details as normal and you will see a 'Copy' link at the right-hand side of the table of results - if there are any! Click on the 'Copy' link to place the data for that row on the clipboard and from there to your application.

© Phil Williams 2014 - 2024 
19. Google Maps Coordinator 

This script shows the current co-ordinates of the centre of the map in Google Maps. When clicked on the co-ordinates are copied to the clipboard. 
Version 2020.07.25.1826
25 Jul 2020 
Legacy Family Tree, in their infinite wisdom and to the chagrin of many of their users, curtailed the map function of their software. This makes it a pain to add longitude and latitude to locations so that they are displayed correctly on The Williams Family Tree maps. Although Legacy has a utility for "geocoding" places it is heavily Americanised and adds commas and spaces where they are not needed. So, to geocode locations has meant finding the place on a map website and copying the latitude and longitude values across to Legacy where they are converted into the native and largely obsolete format.

As far as Google Maps is concerned, this means entering the location in the search bar and, when found, right-clicking on the place to bring up a small window with the co-ordinates in it. To copy the co-ordinates means clicking on the values in the small window to transfer them to the left pane of the main window. Only now can the values can be copied by left-clicking and dragging (or triple-clicking). Total number of clicks: 3 and a drag, or 5.

I wanted to speed the process up and I found this script written in 2013 by "muddymind". All attempts to contact him to thank him have been unsuccessful. His script makes use of the fact that the co-ordinates of the centre of the map are "hidden" in the URL of the page. The script finds them and displays them to the left of the window. I have modified his script so that the values appear at the top of the main window and clicking on them automatically copies them to the clipboard for transference to Legacy - or wherever you want them. Total number of clicks: 1.

© Phil Williams 2020 - 2024 
20. Gordon Steele 

Remove waving flags and marquee texts! 
Version 2018.05.11c
11 May 2018 
Gordon Steele has an old website Empire Mica that has some shared family history on it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of waving flags and marquee texts on the pages that are somewhat annoying. This script attempts to get rid of these annoyances. 
21. Irish Genealogy 

Try to make sense of the Irish! 
Version 2022.12.20.1627
 
 
22. JSTOR 

Add a download button to the JSTOR image viewer 
Version 2021.03.11.1502
11 Mar 2021 
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.

They help you explore a wide range of scholarly content through a powerful research and teaching platform. They collaborate with the academic community to help libraries connect students and faculty to vital content while lowering costs and increasing shelf space, provide independent researchers with free and low-cost access to scholarship, and help publishers reach new audiences and preserve their content for future generations.

JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

The images they display can be downloaded by right-clicking on them but each image is given the name "index.gif". This little script adds a "Download" button that automagically renames the file with the title of the publication and page number.

© Phil Williams 2020 - 2024 
23. Lancashire_OPC 

Extract information from the Lancashire OPC website 
Version 2018.01.29a
29 Jan 2018 
The Lancashire Online Parish Clerk website provides Birth, Marriage and Death information for many parishes in Lancashire. This script simply adds a Copy button to the end of each result so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
24. NSW BMD 2021 

Extract data from New South Wales BMD pages 
Version 2021.03.15.0705
 
 
25. New South Wales BMD 

Extract data from New South Wales BMD pages 
Version 2018.09.18
18 Sep 2018 
This script allows you to copy the data from the The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

To save time, this script tries to fill in the search dates for you if they are left blank. When you have completed a search for a particular event the last column will contain the word 'Copy'. Click on this link to copy the contents of that particular line to the clipboard. This column was the 'PDF Availability' column. If you need to see this column simply turn TamperMonkey off.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024
 
26. New Zealand BMD 

Extract data from the New Zealand BMD website 
Version 2021.10.19.1618
19 Oct 2021 
This script allows you to copy the data from the The New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages Online website.

To save time, this script tries to fill in the search dates for you if they are left blank. When you have completed a search for a particular event the last column will contain the word 'Copy'. Click on this link to copy the contents of that particular line to the clipboard. This column was the 'Order Product' column. If you need to see this column simply turn TamperMonkey off.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024
 
27. Parish of St Peter Halliwell 

Extract information from the St. Peter's, Halliwell web site 
Version 2018.02.02a
2 Feb 2018 
The Parish of St. Peter's, Halliwell burial index contains a number of burial records for Bolton, Lancashire.

This script adds a button to the result of the search so that you can copy the data directly to your clipboard and from there to your application.

@copy Phil Williams 2018 - 2024 
28. Queensland BMD 

Queensland BMD Records 
Version 2022.11.01.0956
1 Nov 2022 
This script allows you to copy the data from the Queensland (Australia) Historical Indexes (Births, Deaths and Marriages).

When you have completed a search for a particular event you will get an extra column with the word 'Copy' in it. Click on this link to copy the contents of that particular line to the clipboard.

Updated 31 Oct 2022

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024
 
29. Scotlands People 

Extract data from the ScotlandsPeople website 
Version 2020.11.24.1131
24 Nov 2020 
The ScotlandsPeople website is the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives. It is used by hundreds of thousands of people each year to apply for copies of official certificates and to research family history, biography, local history and social history.
This script is "work in progress" and simply adds a Copy button to the end of each result so that information can be placed on your clipboard and from there into your application.

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
30. Stirnet 

Stirnet.com Families Database 
Version 2018.02.01a
1 Feb 2018 
The Stirnet.com Families Database is one of the largest genealogical databases in the UK. If you are not a member of the site your viewing will be interrupted after a short period to encourage you to buy a subscription. Whilst I do not condone the use of this script for prolonged periods it places the data in a pop-up before this interruption allowing you to view the data for longer.

© Phil Williams 2009 - 2024 
31. The Peerage 

Extract data from The Peerage website 
Version 2018.02.01a
1 Feb 2018 
The Peerage website is a genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.

This script adds a handy button at the end of each section of information to allow you to quickly copy the data to your clipboard for use in your own application.

© Phil Williams 2016 - 2024 
32. UKBMD Search 

Extract data from the UK BMD website 
Version 2018.02.01a
1 Feb 2018 
This script enables you to extract the information from the results page of the UK BMD Search website.

Enter the search details as normal and you will see a 'Copy' link at the right-hand side of the table of results - if there are any! Click on the 'Copy' link to place the data for that row on the clipboard and from there to your application.

© RottenSod 2010 - 2024 
33. UKBMD Search 2020 

Extract data from the UK BMD websites 
Version 2020.08.22.1810
22 Aug 2020 
UKBMD have updated some of their sites. This script enables you to extract the information from the results page of the following sites:

Bath BMD, Berkshire BMD, Cheshire BMD, Cumbria BMD, Lancashire BMD, North Wales BMD, Staffordshire BMD, Shropshire BMD, West Midlands BMD, Wiltshire BMD, Yorkshire BMD, and the main site at UKBMD Search

Enter the search details as normal and you will see a 'Copy' link at the right-hand side of the table of results - if there are any! Click on the 'Copy' link to place the data for that row on the clipboard and from there to your application.

Not fully working yet ... but you can get the same information from FreeBMD!

© RottenSod 2010 - 2024 
34. WikiTree 

Extract data from WikiTree pages 
Version 1.02
5 Jun 2019 
The WikiTree website is a free family tree where genealogists collaborate.

This script adds a handy button on a person's profile page enabling you to copy the data to your clipboard for use in your own application.

© Phil Williams 2019 - 2024 
35. Wiltshire OPC 

Not ready yet! 
Version 0.1
 
 
36. World War Two Nominal Roll 

Extract data from ww2roll.gov.au 
Version 2018.02.01a
1 Feb 2018 
This script allows you to copy the data from the World War 2 Nominal Roll.

When you have completed a search for a particular person you will get an extra link enabling you to copy the record to your clipboard.

© RottenSod 2009 - 2024