Genealogy Chat

I am thinking about paying GRO for 3 years search to find Harriet Wilson’s birth certificate.

I believe her mother’s maiden was Godfrey, according to Harriet’s uncle Henry Godfrey (my gg grandfather) left some money in his will to her in Tasmania. I have her daughter’s birth certificate from Victoria that her mother Harriet was born in Middlesex around 1838.

Harriet was married to John Jeffries in Tasmania in 1862, however there is no mention of their parents in a marriage certificate. Henry’s death certificate was appeared no names of his parents.

I am trying to find Henry and Harriet’s mother’s parents. Henry was a convict from London and I have lots of his convict records and nothing about his parents. I have his court records from Old Bailey that he had a large family with a mother and a father in 1832.

Many years ago I remember I saw information about 3 years search without registration numbers from GRO. But now I can't find it.

Anyone paid GRO for 3 years search? Was it worth? I could not find any information about it in GRO website. How much to pay for it? Can I use it in GRO online? What will GRO give me some information if they found it?

Thanks, Steven.

I'm confused!!

You say:-

I am thinking about paying GRO for 3 years search to find Harriet Wilson’s birth certificate.

I believe her mother’s maiden was Godfrey, according to Harriet’s uncle Henry Godfrey (my gg grandfather) left some money in his will to her in Tasmania. I have her daughter’s birth certificate from Victoria that her mother Harriet was born in Middlesex around 1838.


..... so are you looking for Harriet Godfrey b. ca 1838 or Harriet Wilson b. ca 1838?


First, you know that registration only began on July 1 1837, so any search could only be done from that date.

Secondly, it was not compulsory to register births until 1875. It was required, but not compulsory ..... and many parents did not register their children.


Have you looked on the IGI to see if there are any suitable candidates on there? Extracted records only of course!!




sylvia

Hi Steven
Just clarifing some facts.

Is this the marriage of Harriet Wilson the niece of Henry Godfrey daughter of Harriet Wilson nee Godfrey.

WILSON, HARRIET
Gender: Female
Birth 1839 -
Marriage/Relationship: 1862 - WESTBURY,Tasmania ( JEFFRIES, JOHN WILLIAM ) [@]
Death:

JEFFRIES, JOHN WILLIAM
Gender: Male
Birth 1838 -
Marriage/Relationship: 1862 - WESTBURY,Tasmania ( WILSON, HARRIET ) [e]
Death:

Could one of these be Henry's marriage

GODFREY Henry Georgiana LEMON Matilda free 19 AUG 1841 CON52/2 p65
GODFREY Henry Georgiana PICKLE Sarah free 25 MAR 1835 CON52/1 p65

Could this be Harriet's death

WILSON, HARRIET
Gender: Female
Birth 1838
Marriage/Relationship:
Death: 1875 - MORVEN ,Tasmania

I have three possibles for Harriets birth, this is saying she was registered.These fall in or near Middlesex.

Births Mar 1838 (>99%)
WILSON Harriet Bloomsbury 1 66

Births Sep 1838 (>99%)
WILSON Harriet Elham 5 146

Births Dec 1838 (>99%)
WILSON Harriet Medway 5 329


Cheers
Ingrid

The GRO will only check the index anyway, which is freely available for you to check yourself. In other words, if her birth is not on FreeBMD (which is more or less complete for those years), then the GRO are not likely to find it.

The only two Harriet Wilson births in Middlesex between 1837 and 1839 are these:

Births Mar 1838
WILSON Harriet Bloomsbury 1 66

Births Dec 1839
Wilson Harriet St Geo Han Sqr 1 2


Have you checked either of these? You could do a normal GRO reference check on the mother's maiden name for these two, it would cost you £3 per check if the reference does not match, and they will only send you the cert if it does.

Richard

Hi Sylvia, thank you for your help. It is Harriet Wilson b. ca 1838 (not Godfrey). Her mother's maiden could be Godfrey. Yes, I have checked her in IGI, however there is nothing to be match.

Hi Ingrid, thank you for your help. Yes you are correct that you have found her. Yes, this is the marriage of Harriet Wilson the niece of Henry Godfrey. But I don’t know what Harriet's mother's name was. I am not sure if it was Harriet. But yes her maiden could be Godfrey.

Henry was married to Mary Clarke in 1843 and they had 5 children. He asked for a permit for a marriage twice to LEMON and PICKLE. Both were unsuccessful

Harriet Wilson (married to John Jeffries) was buried in Auckland. I bought her death certificate and I am disappointed that her father was Wilson and her mother was unknown.

Few years ago, I bought Harriet Wilson's birth certificate of Bloomsbury and it is wrong one. I did not know about WILSON Harriet, Elham and WILSON Harriet, Medway. I will keep it in case.

Hi Richard, thank you for your help. There is four of Harriet Wilson in Middlesex. I could not afford to pay all this registrations. It is difficult to find which one.

Births Sep 1839 (>99%)
Wilson Harriott Stepney 2 442

Births Dec 1839 (>99%)
Wilson Harriet St Geo Han Sqr 1 2

Births Jun 1840 (>99%)
Wilson Harriet St Geo East 2 81

Births Dec 1840 (>99%)
Wilson Harriet Louisa St Geo Han Sqe 1 3

Cheers, Steven.

Hi Reggie, yes I know. We never know if there might be one. Get a luck.

I have one of my ggg grandparents' marriage certificate that was on Sep 1837. It was luck :-)

Cheers, Steven.

I did a 3 year search on my elusive grandfather. I wrote to the GRO with his birth date and his father's name - they searched 18 months each side for me. No joy so I assumed he was not registered but at least it stopped me faffing around looking for him so that was something. (This was 1884 by the way!).

As far as I remember it cost about the same but takes 2-3 weeks. It would work out cheaper than ordering all of the certificates you have found. That is assuming that none of the others have fathers of the same name.

Jill

Hi Steven

I have looked some more but have only found your submission on Rootsweb which is a little misleading at first. The only thing I can think for you to do now is buy certificates to confirm, I know that some times it is costly.Maybe as Jill suggest a search by GRO might work out cheaper in the long run.

Cheers
and Good Luck
Ingrid

Hi Jill, that's what I wanted to know. So is that right to write a letter and a payment to GRO? How much for 3 years search?

Hi Ingrid, yes I have not done with Rootsweb for a while. I will fix it up to add Harriet's parents soon, I think I will put "Father Wilson" and "Mother Godfrey". I agreed with you that it is better to pay 3 years search for a birth certificate.

Thanks, Steven.

Steven

Have you seen this marriage, on the IGI? Right sort of timeframe and roughly the right area (Horsleydown is Southwark, which is just south of the Thames from Middlesex):


William Wilson
Spouse: Ann Godfrey
Marriage: 01 OCT 1821 Horsleydown, Surrey, England


... also this christening:

HARRIET WILLSON
Birth: 25 JUL 1834
Christening: 17 AUG 1834 Old Church, Saint Pancras, London, England
Father: WILLIAM WILLSON
Mother: ANN


So maybe she was older than what was stated on her daughter's BC! If this is her, then you won't find a birth cert of course as they didn't start until 1837.

When was brother Henry Wilson born, and which one is him in the Old Bailey records?

Cheers
Richard

Hi Steven I beleive it is £11..50 for a three year search

Margaret

Hi Richard, thanks for your time. It could be. But I have her marriage and death certificates, her daughter's birth certificate and a passenger list (to Auckland) that her birth of year was around 1838.

Henry Godfrey was born around 1811 in Shoreditch. He was arrested at Hackney so he might be lived close to Hackney.

Here is his court records, http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18320517-17-defend364&div=t18320517-17#highlight

He was very lucky to be alive and transported to Tasmania for a life. Around 1854, he and his family moved to England, however, his wife Mary passed away on Jan 1855 at Walworth, Surrey (I have her death certificate.) He and his children returned back to Tasmania via Melbourne that I have their passenger list in 1858.

Cheers, Steven.

Hi Margaret, okay thanks. I have decided to pay it soon.

Cheers, Steven.

Hi Steve

As far as I can remember I filled out the form as best I could and included it with a covering letter. I found the cost on the GRO website. I think Margaret may be right - I know it was more than the £8.50 they normally charge for a postal application.

Jill