Genealogy Chat

A much overused term

You are not stuck & you do not have a brickwall if you have not ordered the relevant certs.

Please be aware that your research needs to be backed up by a number of certs which can be bought from the GRO for £7 each

EDIT

I do indeed mean the ones where the registrations can be found in a matter of seconds but no certs have been ordered.

Hi Claire

Beg to differ on that one.

I have a g uncle who is a complete mystery to say the least, can't order any certs as I can't find him at all.

Meg

I agree Claire, I have seen the phrase 'I've hit a brickwall! so many times, then when you ask what the fathers name was from the marriage cert or something similar, they will say 'I don't know, I haven't ordered it yet'!

Meg, I think cases when you genuinely can't find a birth registration to order a cert is slightly different and could well be a brickwall. I've got a huge one with my G-Grandmother who I swear was dropped on this planet by aliens in 1880!

The term is more often used by people who haven't even looked for a birth/marriage/death, claim they have a brickwall and then someone else finds said event on FreeBMD in about 10 seconds!

Sam x

Hi Meg,

I think Claire was meaning the people who say they have hit a brickwall and then say they haven't bought any certificates.

If you have tried to find certificate references and haven't been able to that is a different matter.

This is an expensive hobby and a lot of people don't realise this.

Some people will happily pay £20 - £30 a month to go to a gym or to the cimema etc. but then think a few pounds a week spent on family history is too much.

If you put the details of what you know about your great uncle I'm sure someone will try to find him for you.

Kath. x

Claire

Sorry, but have to agree with Meg. My g grandma's birth (1857) was never registered. Know her father's name from her marriage certificate, but neither of them appear anywhere in the 1861 and 1871 censuses. Also have a g g grandpa who simply vanished into a parallel universe sometime after 1851.

David

I think your preaching to the converted Claire.......there`s been a lot of "Brickwalls" lately, most simply removable by a £7.00 payment, I know this isn`t a cheap hobby, Iv`e been doing this 5 years now, and still havn`t got ALL the certs. I want, but I carefully chose to buy the ones that remove obstacles, and let me proceed further, if the surnames arn`t common., with census returns and freeBMD you can sometimes pinpoint the correct people back to 1841 quite easily,even if you don`t have the exact date of birth. The marriage certs. I feel are the most useful for giving you information on both parties, and checking you have the correct line........ I agree with you....., that saying "Brickwall" should be banned.........


Nicky

My gt gt grandfather was b pre 1837 so I cannot buy his b cert. I do have his m cert from 1839. I have looked on the 1841 census for him but he wasnt to be found. A relative did find his wife for me. He died before the 1851 census and I have his d cert. Unfortunately I have no idea where he was born and I dont get much chance to go to the LDS to research now. I much prefer to go there to see the films of the original rather than rely on transcripts on computers.

Huia.

I do indeed mean the ones where the registrations can be found in a matter of seconds but no certs have been ordered.

My own brickwall is Janet Brown, known to resident of Glasgow in 1819, no further details on the PR's, dead before the 1841 census.

Huia...... Yes we all have problems with those born before 1837.......I`m sure Claire just means, people asking for information, for say a" John Smith who married Jane Brown in 1875", can anyone find out who their parents were?, and any other info .......... when to purchase a cert. would be all that required to get the correct line, occupations, addresses and ages at time of marriage, not to mention witnesses, who are often family members, so tie it all in together..... no ones having a pop at anyone with a genuine brickwall, Claires just asking people to look at what information they already have, and purchase the relevant certs. to enable them to progress, before asking for help with their "Brickwalls"....


Nicky

EDIT..... You confirmed my thoughts while I was typing Claire.!!

I saw the other day that someone had come to a dead end.........that was in 1927

Had my cousin not required a passport, her birth would never have been found by future researchers...she was never registered and so never had a birth certificate, and she was only born in 1950. However she was able to take posession of her passport last year because she had, fortunately been baptised and 'officials' accepted her Baptism lines as a 'record of her birth'

My great Gran does not seem to have her birth registred in the 1890's.
Am Waiting on her marriage certificate.