Genealogy Chat

when you pay for credits..and you find a relative on one of the records, it gives you a ref ie 6d 154.......am i right in saying that if i went along to that district i would be able to view the birth cirtificate with that reference number??? or am i totally on the wrong track also how can you find out cause of deaths?? i'm interested in stephen pawley dies dec qtr 1852 billesdon 7a 23 this would make him only 27 leaving my great grandad when he was only 1 1/2 years old. also how can you find out if they were in the military as great grandad william j pawley born 1850 in stapleton disappears on the 61/71 cencus??? thank you for advice and guidence or info in advance..

Marie I am afraid you have to buy the certificates for £7.00 each. from the General registry office. Before you spend money here it is worth checking a site called free BMD which lets you search the index free of charge. Anne

Please, do as I advised another member recently. If you are new to research, go to the library and borrow a book on family History research, there are plenty to choose from. There are always plenty of people willing to help, but nothing beats reading up on the subject yourself. You will find the answers to so many of the common questions, and can save yourself many wasted hours of research and a lot of money. Good luck, Jennifer

Marie, With that GRO reference number you can buy the certificate which will confirm cause and place of death , age at death and who was with him at the time. When researching check and re-check. Birth certificates are good as they give parents names and place of birth. Be sure you have the right person before you buy. Ancestry has free BMD. Marriage certs give the fathers names and occupations which is helpful. People do seem to disappear. Some emigrate, some die and some just vanish. If this happens try a different approach such as researching brothers and sisters. Put your names into a Google search or put messages on the rootsweb message board. Others may be researching your names. Start with what you know and Good Luck! M

For free, you can look at baptism and burial entries in parish registers - these are usually in the local county record offices for where the event took place. The only free civil registration events you can look at are church marriages (but not registry office marriages) - again in the record offices. Because the events may have taken place in a different area from where we live, most people find it easier to buy the appropriate birth, marriage or death cert. (Scotland has a different system, I understand) Jay

scotlands people is great you can view the whole cert, but it does cost but in one after noon i was able to get from 1901 to1760 and view b and m cert in whole except for the last one which is on parish reg .i also found a web page with the history of my family name and there was a notice board which i posted a notice 5 days ago yesterday a nice woman from the USA e-mail me and swapped notes and we are related but i will have to find out in which way