Genealogy Chat

Can someone tell me which is the better one to order certificates from, I live in Australia, unfortunately the Birth Certificates I need have two or three options to choose from in the same year and two in the same quarter. I have the parents names so if I give the options would they search and send me the right one or should I request them all seperately.
Any input would be appreciated.

Chris

GRO won't search so easily as a local office, but having said that some local offices are not keen on issuing certificates for family history.

Perhaps you would like to outline here what you hope to find out and the background evidence to your search.
People might be able to help narrow the options.

Gwyn

The GRO provide the search service that you require and will refund your money,if not found.
Do not tick the box "reference known".

The GRO will do a search for a period of three years. Do not enter a reference, but enter the date of birth as 01/01/yyyy. They will search the year quoted and one either side. They look no further if they find a cert matching the info you have given and issue that cert. If nothing is found you get a full refund. Expect to wait at least 15 days.

The cooperation you get from local offices will vary. Smaller less busy ones are most likely to help.

Speaking from personal experience - i have found the certificates I've ordered from the GRO are copies of the 'original' certificate itself, as a photocopy would be, whereas those i got from a local records office were written/typed out on a certificate, so nothing like an original, especially those with not very neat handwriting. Generally I have found the old fashioned handwriting to be far neater!!

As for your dilemma of which to order from a possible few, I would take Gwyn's advice, post some details on here and we can at least try to narrow down the search for you, even if it bings it down to 2 possibilities that's better than 3. Certs aren't cheap!!!

K

Hi Gwyn

I am trying to obtain the birth certificate for my great grandfather Fred Jones, his parents names were William Jones 1847 - 1898 and Susanna Edwards 1849 - 1900. After his parents died Fred went to live with his sister Emma who married a William Gaskell this is shown on the 1901 Census. He married Annie Burns in 1907 and had two children my Grandmother Florence Jones and her sister Marion Jones. Marion's daughter Kathleen who lives in America has obtained the Birth Certificate for Annie Jones, other family members have obtained the marriage certificate and the death certificates for both, all these were obtained some 10 years ago, however there was hesitation on obtaining the birth certificate for Fred Jones, I have narrowed it down to four possible matches. See Below:

Birth Source: England & Wales Birth Index - Four Choices not sure which
1. Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Salford
County: Greater Manchester, Lancashire
Volume: 8d Page: 60

2. Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Barton Upon Irwell (1850-1934)
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c Page: 505

3. England & Wales Birth Index
Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Salford
County: Greater Manchester, Lancashire
Volume: 8d Page: 69

4. England & Wales Birth Index
Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Barton Upon Irwell (1850-1934)
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c Page: 598

Since it has been sometime since the other certificates were obtained and I only have copies sent to me via email, I thought I would try and see if we could complete the set and get Fred's Birth Certificate.

Chris

If it was me I would do it in two stages
Apply for the Salford first and if unsuccessful do the Barton Upon Irwell.

Thanks Sat Nav

Would you do it that way with the GRO or the Local Record Office?

Chris

Hi Chris
I only use the GRO or my local office.
I think ordering from abroad can be very difficult if you try a local office.

Both local offices accept credit cards.
The Barton upon Irwell registers are now split between Salford & Trafford, depending on where in the district the birth was rego'ed.


Salford The Register Office, Town Hall, Chorley Road, Swinton, Salford, M27 5DA
Tel: 0161 909 6501. Fax: 0161 603 6892.
E-mail: [email protected] (on-line ordering available)
http://www.salford.gov.uk/bmd.htm


Trafford The Register Office, Town Hall, Sale Waterside, Sale, M33 7ZF.
Tel: 0161 912 3026. Fax: 0161 912 3031.
E-mail: [email protected]

Thanks Sat Nav and Mgnv
I shall try the Salford Regtister Office, the family resided on Chorley Road Swinton so this may have some bearing on the result, seeing as it's local so to speak.

Chris

baptism for Fred

Baptisms: 24 Jun 1885 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England
Fred Jones - Child of William Jones & Susannah
Born: 18 Feb 1885
Abode: Swinton
Occupation: Collier
Baptised by: R. Dunn
Register: Baptisms 1876 - 1886, Page 179, Entry 1430
Source: LDS Film 2356299

edit - Barton reg district so more likely this one

Births Jun 1885 (>99%)
Jones Fred Barton I. 8c 505

Emma?

Baptisms: 5 Apr 1874 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England
Emma Jones - Child of William Jones & Susannah
Born: 7 May 1873
Abode: Swinton
Occupation: Collier
Baptised by: Charles J. Bayley
Register: Baptisms 1852 - 1876, Page 378
Source: LDS Film 2356299

there are also baptisms for William Edward, Joseph, Mary Alice & Harry at the same church

source lan-opc.org.uk

Thanks Ann

These are the people I have in my family, William and Susanna are Freds parents. I was sure I had searched the on-line parish records and got no result for Fred,oh well thanks for that now I have him. I have four options for births will order two at a time and see what happens.

Chris

I would definitely go for the Jun 1885 barton one first as that is the right reg district and the only one for reg of his birth within 6 weeks (just)

Thankyou Ann

I have emailed my mothers cousin in America who obtained the birth certificate of my great grandma Annie Jones and asked why she didn't try to get Freds birth certificate at the same time. It turns out that she did try but had no match and as she saw it at the time there were too many to be bothered with so she left it.

I'm waitng for a further reply to see if she has any information as to which births she tried.

Chris

This is the info I have been waiting for

1. Name: Fred Jones (No match)
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Salford
County: Greater Manchester, Lancashire
Volume: 8d
Page: 60 (Sent for not a match)

2. Name: Fred Jones (No Match)
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Barton Upon Irwell (1850-1934)
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 505 (Sent for not a match)

3. England & Wales Birth Index
Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Salford
County: Greater Manchester, Lancashire
Volume: 8d
Page: 69

4. England & Wales Birth Index (Think this one is the best bet)
Name: Fred Jones
Year of Registration: 1885
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Barton Upon Irwell (1850-1934)
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 598

Baptisms: 24 Jun 1885 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England
Fred Jones - Child of William Jones & Susannah
Born: 18 Feb 1885
Abode: Swinton
Occupation: Collier
Baptised by: R. Dunn
Register: Baptisms 1876 - 1886, Page 179, Entry 1430
Source: LDS Film 2356299


Only the two choices left, I think number four is the best bet, anyone else's thoughts would be appreciated.

Chris

I think that number two relates(Born: 18 Feb 1885) but if you order from the GRO without using their reference numbers but giving parent detail then you will cover both entries.

Thanks SatNav

But number one and number two have already been tried for and have come up as no match. Information provided from relative in USA.

The first two were their priority and they were quite surprised when neither came up as a match.

I 'm following through and think it must be either 3 or 4, as there doesn't appear to be a Lancs BMD record I think I will have to order the certificates from the GRO.

My only hesitation is that I have obtained a pre-paid credit card and monies spent cannot be reimbursed like on a normal visa credit cards from the bank. I'm afraid I am old school and do not trust transactions over the internet, unfortunately that creates problems for me as I purchased the card for the express purpose of obtaining certificates related to family history research over the internet and wasn't aware that monies spent were not reimbursable, silly me, it's age (well that's my excuse).

Thanks anyway
Chris

possibly the problem with that barton J/J/A one is that it has been mistranscribed. I have just looked at the original image as it is one that has not yet been verified and the page no should be 605 not 505 which is why the district is in italics - the page is out of the expected range for that district

ie

Births Jun 1885 (>99%)
Jones Fred Barton I. 8c 605