Genealogy Chat

Hello,

Is there a site where one can look up a birth just on the mothers surname.

Thanks

Both FreeBMD and Ancestry will do that -- if the birth is in 1911 or later.

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8912 (to 1915)

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8782 (from 1916)

At FreeBMD, just put the mother's surname -- a given name or date range or county will help enormously to narrow the results. Births at freeBMD are currently transcribed up to the mid-20th century. Later births won't show there yet.

At Ancestry, select "exact search" and enter similar details. At Ancestry, if you haven't paid to subscribe, you will not be able to see details, however. But yuo can take out a 14-day free trial subscription for access to all records (just remember to cancel in time to avoid a credit card charge).

You'll probably be buried in results at either place. (And at FreeBMD you may have to go with a few years at a time, since there is a maximum number of results it will show you at once.)

I just searched post-1916 at Ancestry for a surname of mine that is certainly not the most common in the world, as mother's surname, no other search criteria, and there were 17,000 results 1916-2005.

It sounds like you have a particular birth in mind maybe, though, so just put a narrow date range and if possible a location and given name and you may have reasonable luck.

Thanks for that.. perfect.

you might also find that where a mother had a child,before wedlock and the subsequent husband took the child as his........
the childs'registered fathers' name might come through......
Bob