Genealogy Chat

Can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to trace death records? Birth or Census seems easier as theyre linked to another person you can trace, but not death death records. Any tips appreciated in advance

all you can do is go to www.freebmd.org.uk for deaths between July 1 1837 and about 1940/45 .... enter the name fo the person, approximated date range, and countyif known


then sort through the entries.


freebmd is a free site .... and volunteers are working hard to get the entries up to 1983.

For deaths after ca 1940/45, you need to go to www.ancestry.co.uk and do the same thing on there



The records here on GR only lead you to an index .... which is hopeless to sort through




sylvia

thanks for your advice it does get confuing especially when it's a common name kind regards

As you maybe know, you can buy BMDs thru the GRO or the local register office, and some local offices have their indices at least partly online.

http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/index.php?form_action=local

Since the registers are organized differently at the local level from the GRO's, the indices have different info. Sometimes the local indices have some valuable clues.

So lets look at an example - I've got William Atherton on the 1841 census for Pemberton a=25. I think this hasn't been rounded down as there's 4 other adults with ages not a mult of 5 living with him.

From the local index, I decide this is him - there's one other 1850 death in Wigan.

Lancashire Death indexes for the years: 1850
Surname Forename(s) Age Sub-District Registers At Reference
ATHERTON William 34 Pemberton Wigan & Leigh PEM/6/24
ATHERTON William 3 Pemberton Wigan & Leigh PEM/6/117

Now, it's a bit awkward buying a local d.cert if you live in Canada - how awkward depends on the office, so how do I match my William up with the GRO index:

Deaths Sep 1850 (>99%)
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 505

Deaths Dec 1850 (>99%)
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 563 [old mistranscption of p=565 awaiting removal]
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 565

So click on the page # to see who else is on page - a subset is given below:

Deaths Sep 1850 (>99%)
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 505
BARTON James Wigan 21 505 PEM/6/21
BURGESS Ann Wigan 21 505 PEM/6/17

Deaths Dec 1850 (>99%)
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 565
BANKES John Wigan 21 565 PEM/6/119
BIRCHALL Nathan Wigan 21 565 PEM/6/118


So I've added some other local refs - it's no biggie to guess I want:

Deaths Sep 1850 (>99%)
ATHERTON William Wigan 21 505



The local registers are of the sub-districts, so the local index must have those. The year and age are not necessary, but they do help people look up the right ref.

Years, rather than quarters, are typical. A ref like PEM/6/24 indicates this is entry 24 in the 6th Pemberton rego.
Some locals use entry #s, and some page #s - LancsBMD tells you PEM=Pemberton - Newcastle leave you to guess BYK=Byker and LBN=Longbenton
Others can be quite cryptic like C4/6/24 -leaving you to guess what subdistrict C4 is.
(South Tyneside have a link for marrs that tells you CF=St Hilda's, South Shields etc)

Incidently, marrs are usually indexed by entry #, so there's no bother deciding if Wm Atherton wed Mary Smith or Mary Jones.


You'll have noticed that I've assumed the GRO go thru the deaths from Wigan working thru the districts one by one, so the GRO pages 531-536 will cover Ashton-in-Makerfield, 537-545 Aspull, etc (this subdistrict order can vary),


Although there aren't local indices online for most of the country, if you're in the lucky districts, they can be very useful.

but youu do have to remember that information such as age or date of birth (even full name!!) is only what the informant knows .


.... and may therefore not be accurate.



sylvia

wow many thanks 4 ur help i will probally need 2 revise this 2 get it right lol many kind regards lisa ;)