Genealogy Chat

Thank you very much BrinsleyS
I see the logic you have used
I shall endeavour to duplicate it.
Thank you again.

David, ok based on your last post lets try a few things.

First of all, the deaths for your grandparents are unlikely to be on Free BMD as, with a few exceptions, this is only complete up to about 1930-35.

So, lets start with John Atkinson b1843(?) m1867 Mary Scott b1848(?) d?

First of all I look to confirm their marriage - this puts a stake in the ground, so to say. Using Free BMD I put in both their names only. This comes up with about ten couples ranging in date from 1841 - 1936. From the other information you have provided the only one that fits is

Marriages Jun 1867
Newcastle T. 10b 31
ATKINSON John
Scott Mary Ann

Armed with this we can go to the census returns which should show the couple unmarried in 1861 but married in 1871. The reason I do this is to add more corroborative information about the couple, their ages and places of birth etc.

Indeed, the 1861 census shows John, aged 18 living with parents Joseph age 48 and Alice aged 50 at Pilgrim St Newcastle - his place of birth is given as Newcastle.

Moving on to 1871 we find the family in Byker, as they are in 1881 and, your grandfather has just arrived. At the same time we can confirm John's birthplace and occupation as Waterman to corroborate we have the right family. And again in 1891 still in Byker and 1901 in Church Walk Newcastle. Johns age has slipped a year so his birth year is now estimates as 1844 which is a good reason for allowing +- 2 years when searching even if you are certain of the actual year.

Ok so apart from building up a good picture of the family, who their children were, their addresses etc we now know with certainty that John was alive in 1901, so can look for deaths after that point. You should do the same for the 1911 census, but as I don't have credits I can't do that.

So now back to Free BMD. As we know John was alive in 1901 put this as the start date, leave the end date blank. Put in his birth year as a range a couple of years either side so lets say 1841 to 1845. You enter this as @1841-1845 We'll also enter Newcastle as the District.

This will bring you three results, dating 1901, 1908 and 1935. You are then down to sending for the cert - if you have any other family information which may help you decide roughly when John's death was, then use this in making your decision as to which one is the most likely.

I have several Helen
My grand father Thomas Atkinson b1880 - d1958
m1928 Janet Stewart nee Dodds d1944

was the son of John Atkinson b1843(?) m1867 Mary Scott b1848(?) d?

John Atkinson was the son of Joseph Atkinson b1816 d?
m Alice Storey 1838
Alice Storey born about 1820 d?

These in NE England

Hi David, give us an ancestor and we can see what might be readily available for you to follow up.

Do you know for sure that he was alive when the child was born?

Gwyn

I apologise
The boxes were there so I "thought" the more volunteered about the person I was searching the death year of the more accurate would be the result.

All I know for sure he was alive at time of his son's birth. Search around that ?

As I said earlier, the trick is to put in less search criteria, not more, to start with then add more criteria if you get too many results.

What do you mean about parents / spouse names? They are not relevant when searching for deaths.

on freebmd if looking for a death when you know the birth year

put in surname, first name

and in the dob / age at death period put in a date span e.g. if you think your ancestor was born in 1850 put e.g. @1845-1855, this will then bring up all deaths with births in that period

remember for a death cert you didn't have to prove dob, and if the informant didn't know exactly they would guess (I still have rellies now who say they don't know their exact date of birth and what they think it is is different from their birth cert)

Ive been trying the kindly given advice.
On Free BMD

Been volunteering all the info I have about an individual, name, birth year, wife's name, mothers name etc and it's not delivering the reqested year of death.

Either the dates I thought were true for birth and marriage are not true OR Ive following the wrong lineage, which is not impossible.

Well I do all of my death searches with the birth date/year.

Yes a framed period is fine. As with all searches start wide and then narrow down, rather than the other way.

Thank you, I hadn't thought of using the census.

Thank you Kathleen.
If I don't know the death date (purpose of search) what date do I put in ?
Or is it a framed possible period ?
Still learning.

What I do first is to try and establish an approximate date, possibly from the census returns, if they cover the period. Then using Free BMD / Ancestry try and find the entry for the death at the GRO. Obviously easier the less common the name is.

Depending on the area, there may be other records that will help, such as burial records. I have relatives from Honley in Yokshire and the local cemetery plots have been transcribed and are on the web.

Some areas are quite well covered by the National Burial Register

You could look on the IGI, although only few deaths seem to be recorded there, or on Free Reg which also has burials, or Local Family History Societies may have something.

There are some deaths on FreeBMD but they don't go as far as the births and marriages.

Ancestry have deaths up to 2005.

From 1837 up to 1915 they are the same as on FreeBMD.

They are transcribed from 1984 to 2005. (searchable by name)

The dates in between have to be searched qtr. by qtr. and year by year looking through all the deaths for the name you want.

It depends on what dates you are looking at just how easy or difficult it is to find the death.

Kath. x

I have 4 generations of ancestors in my tree beyond my parents.
I know their names, dates of bith, marriage dates.
To further add information where do I find the dates of their deaths ?

Apologies if the question sounds morbid