Genealogy Chat

Good Morning do you think all death records are recorded on ancestry come to tink about even some births records.
Margaret

Hi Margaret,
I don't think ALL of any records would be recorded anywhere...especially depending on the time frame and area.

Kellie

All BMDs registered with the GRO are fully transcribed at Ancestry from 1837 to 2005

Some BMDs may not have been registered for whatever reason, there were no penalties for not registering a BMD until 1875c

Generally it is considered "good practice" with FH to find the death of each person in yr tree though it can be very difficult. Far too many people consider data sources such as FreeBMD to be perfect and full inclusive. They are neither. Additionally remember they are INDEXES not the actual GRO certs which are currently hidden away in a Dorset archive with no public access.

Many GRO BMD records have typos where the name has been spelt incorrectly.

The most frequent error is the mother's name for births and sometimes the female's name for weddings. There are further errors with C19 typesetting and C20 typewritten records and transcriptions.

Modern computerised BMD records are if anything worse for data errors and there is no image view!

Estimates for age and DOB on death certs are often wrong - birthday ok wrong year. Married women deaths are generally recorded under the married name and the maiden name may be unknown and/or the woman may have had an earlier marriage(s) not disclosed.

On top of that there are FreeBMD and Ancestry trans errors. The FreeBMD data is NOT exactly the same as Ay - Ay are more complete, FreeBMD corrections are often not assimilated by Ay. In any case corrections take a few weeks before becoming effective. I have made about 25 successfully.

Death records are complicated by the fact that quite often full data on the deceased was not known. The deceased person may very well not have known his/her exact date of birth or even where he was born. Even if they did that knowledge may not have been available to the informants. This especially applied when the deceased dies a long way from their roots, is of a great age or in cases of accidental death.

Unfortunately most coroner's records have been destroyed. The logic behind this when minor villainy long ago at the Old Bailey is preserved is beyond me. Fortunately in some cases the majority of the coroner's evidence is preserved in the press reports.

It is well worth the trouble of obtaining the death certificate as it will have the cause of death, address at time of death and the informants. There are some curious cases where GRO will not release the death certs or they are redacted.

If you are in the area and have a lot of time to kill then the local paper microfilmed obits have a lot if info. A few are available online.

Do not overlook the possibility that a death record is "missing" simply because the person(s) emigrated.

There is a national burial index for the UK which is quite good.
http://www.ffhs.org.uk/projects/nbi/nbi-v3.php

Should you have to make recourse to public institutions be aware that some are endlessly obstructive however far back you go.

I think that the 1875 penalty watershed applied only to births.

Rollo.....

Is 'Ay' Ancestry?

If so, please just say so

I think that the 1875 penalty watershed applied only to births.

Rollo.....

Is 'Ay' Ancestry?

If so, please just say so

Stop repeating yourself Reggie ;-)



My mistake, I should have just added births and not BMDs.....doh

I have found some missing from Ancestry but recorded on FMP and freebmd or the age at death as 32 when it should have been 82.... which can also make it difficult to find the death if it is a common name

Well, there you go, Ancestry profess to have them all!

Is it a specific area Jax?

The 1874 Act (which came into force in 1875) applied to births and deaths.

People could be prosecuted for not registering birth before 1875 it's just that the onus was on the registrar to register births, after 1875 it was the parent's responsibility.

People could be prosecuted for not registering birth before 1875 it's just that the onus was on the registrar to register births, after 1875 it was the parent's responsibility.

People could be prosecuted for not registering birth before 1875


Hang on....now Im confused!

Before 1875, it was the parents' responsibility to answer any questions the registrar put to them. It was up to the registrar to determine there was a birth or death to question them about. Before 1875, most cemeteries required a d.cert before they would bury someone, so naturally, deaths were more likely to be rego'ed.

Pre-1916, Ancestry uses FreeBMD's transcriptions, which aren't complete.
Abt a third of the quarters for the 1950s are not yet completed, and there are 13 incomplete birth quarters in the 1940s. Earlier, all the quarters are essentially complete except for:


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Births Dec 1918 (98%) *
Births Dec 1939 (52%) **************
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Marriages Dec 1920 (95%) **
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Deaths Dec 1844 (99%) *
Deaths Sep 1879 (99%) *
Deaths Dec 1879 (99%) *
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Not all deaths are registered. There is a burial record in the parish register for a great-grandfather of mine but his death was not registered; this has been checked by the local registrar.

Ancestry's 1837-1915 Death Index is provided by FREEBDM.
That is why it is called
"England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915 "

FREEBDM's disclaimer even states "We make no warranty whatsoever as to the accuracy or completeness of the FreeBMD data. "

Sorry Gins, I worded that badly. Thank you mgnv for clarifying it.