Genealogy Chat

If you are looking for BMD on the Isle Of Wight the mothers surname is on all births from 1837- 2002 unless illigitimate http://www.isle-of-wight-fhs.co.uk/
Jenny

n

Thank you Jan, I have bookmarked this so I can refer to it at any time. Info like this is very helpful : )

Some records earlier than 1915 have the mother's maiden name.

Have done so, thanks.
Jan

It might be worth reminding folk that it (the Free BMD Index) is not yet quite complete.

n for Mark

By co-incidence Jonesey has started a similar thread!! Might be better than this - it's on the Tips Board too, have a look.
Jan

Lots of people come on here asking for birth, marriage and death lookups. It's fun for us to do, but easy so why not have a go?

Freebmd stands for free births, marriages and deaths. It covers England and Wales Sept 1837 to about 1930, but there are some records after this so always worth a look.

NOTE: it is not yet 100% complete (thanks to Elizabeth for that).

The site is:
www.freebmd.org.uk

The search page is self-explanatory and often you will find what you need first go, but if not there are things you can try.

Advice - start off being specific for name, birth year and place - you might strike lucky first time - then widen search one thing at a time.

1. Give a wider range of years for the search - ages can be deceptive on marriage certs and census returns. e.g. if you think your ancestor was born 1885, search 1883-1887. If unsuccessful you might need to widen it further than that.

2. If you have specified a registration district and have no luck widen it out to the county instead, then anywhere!

3. Try leaving off the first name completely - many people went by their 2nd names. You might then spot Eric Brown as he is John Eric for example!

4. Try phonetic search for surnames as variations in spelling were common.

5. You can also search by 1st name only - can be useful if it is unusual.

6. After 1911, mothers' names are transcribed so you can search for births by surnames only. Siblings are often found this way.

7. Similarly for marriages - after 1911 you will see surname of spouse on the record.

To see the original you can click on the little spectacles next to the entry!
To find out about the registration district, just click on it.
To see other names on the page click on the reg. number.

Example
Marriages Jun 1912
Brown Annie M Taylor Loughbro 7a 337

If you click on the number you will see who Mr. Taylor is.

Just visit the site and have a go!

Jan