Genealogy Chat

First thanks to all of you who answered my call for help on the Free BMD index, I would like to impose further and ask someone to explain the layout of the index. First they generally show in groups of four but the listing doe's not seem in any order, the one I am on about go's......... e.g. William Martin 1905 Thomas Moffatt 1905 Margaret Jane Nicholson 1905 Mary Agnes Quayle 1905 who is married to whom,

As far as I'm aware, only the cert will answer that for you; unless you can find children of either marriage born after 1911, when MMN is included in the index. Reg

You will usually find 4 or 8 names to a page on marriages. If the marriage was before 1901 you can usually check the census for the male name and see what his wife's first name is, which can give a clue to who married who. However in 1905, you would have to buy the certificate for the name you want to see who the spouse is. I think you can also get the spouse's name on the family relatives site (a pay site) for marriages up to about 1920. Kath. x

You say the entries don't seem to be in any order but in fact they are in alphabetic order. When we transcribe the indexes we only see the index entries so cannot show who married whom (until 1911 when spouses surname is included in index). As has been mentioned above the census can sometimes give a clue but the only sure way is to view the certificate or marriage register entry.

As it goes, we actually do transcribe from the GRO Index. We are given a set of images, exactly as you see them on Ancestry BMD's. We copy these into a file which then makes it searchable by name, through the FreeBMD site. The other question, as already explained, the groups only show other marriages on that page, which may be between four to eight names long. There is no indication as to who married whom, but if you know the name of one, then you can order the certificate to confirm the spouse. OK now and then it will result in a wrong certificate being ordered, especially if everyone in your family is a William married to a Mary, as in so many other families, but for the most part, it will be the only way to do it.

Ann, its because we transcribe the whole index, including volume and page number. When you view marriage in groups, you are viewing all those listed on that page. So...if in the index you have Smith, John, West Ham, 4a 249 as a random example, you will search for John Smith in the West Ham area about that date....and there he will be listed. Then you click on the page number, you will see a group of all others listed in the index on THAT volume (4a) and THAT page, (249). Chances are, one of the female names will be the spouse, if the whole index for that quarter has been transcribed. Purchase of the marriage certificate will confirm.

Ann, When you click on a page number on FreeBMD, it searches the database for that page number and groups all records with that page number ( and district). Hope this makes sense Pam

have looked on the familyrelatives site for births with mothers maiden names Quayle and Nicholson, both using the males surnames - Martin and Moffatt. found no births with maiden Quayle with Martin or Moffatt. found these with mothers name Nicholson and fathers name Moffatt. No Surname Forename1 Forename2 Forename3 Mothers maiden name District Page No Event Quarter Year View Image 1 Moffatt Annie B Nicholson Whitehaven.10b 1174 Birth 3 1918 2 Moffatt Isabella Nicholson Whitehaven.10b 1380 Birth 2 1912 3 Moffatt Mrgaret J Nicholson Whitehaven.10b 1288 Birth 2 1916 4 Moffatt Sydney T Nicholson Whitehaven.10b 1274 Birth 4 1913 I would say that Mary Quayle married Willam Martin. Hope someone can make sense of this. Marie

Sorry I didn't respond to Ann's question but I only just came back online. Teresa and Pam probably explained more clearly than I would have anyway:-)