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Keith

Keith Report 28 Oct 2006 23:30

John. Just to add, very important you give the correct QUARTER when ordering certs. Good luck Keith

An Olde Crone

An Olde Crone Report 28 Oct 2006 23:19

John DOH! Sorry about that, I was going by my (much earlier) relatives who married in Prestwich. Still - bookmark the site, it is useful. Lots of little goodies down the righthand side of the main Lancsbmd page. OC

John

John Report 28 Oct 2006 22:58

Tried your advice OC No luck, cannot see any James William Barnett listed for 1907 in Lancashire Looking at it, it looks like the prestwich office has not been indexed yet.

An Olde Crone

An Olde Crone Report 28 Oct 2006 22:39

John You are in luck - your ancestors had the decency to marry in Lancashire. Go to ukbmd.org, select Lancashire as a county, then select Lancashire BMDs. You can easily find the marriage of your GGF as you know which year - the bride's maiden name will be given on the list. You can then download a form to order the cert (you will notice that the ref numbers are NOT the same as the GRO) OR, to save money, if they married in church (which will be stated on the list) you can email the Lancs records office (not the Register Office) and ask for a photocopy of the marriage entry. And in the meantime, as you will have the bride's maiden name, you can play about with the 1901 census to see if you can find her. Good luck OC

Janet

Janet Report 28 Oct 2006 22:38

John Yes just make sure you have the correct GRO number before you send off. Janet

Heather

Heather Report 28 Oct 2006 22:35

John, yes, go to the GRO site that someone has kindly given you and you can follow through the simple form to fill in. You will also need the year and quarter with that ref. It will cost £7 - where it asks you for a ref at the end - just put something you recognise it by for future ref. Keep a copy of the confirmation.

Glen In Tinsel Knickers

Glen In Tinsel Knickers Report 28 Oct 2006 22:33

John Birth certificate will tell you; Date and place of birth Name of mother (including maiden/former names if applicable) *Name of father* (could be ommitted if child illegitimate) Occupation of father Name address and qualification* of informant (* could be mother, father, grandfather etc) Marriage cert Date, place of marriage. Name of couple Age of couple at time of marriage (might be a year or two out) Names and occupations of fathers (may be omitted as per birth cert) Death Cert Name,place and date of death. Age at death** **only as accurate as the informant states so treat with caution Cause of death Name,address and qualification of informant

John

John Report 28 Oct 2006 22:32

Do i order the copy of the marriage certificate from the General Register Office using the reference of: Prestwich Vol 8d Page 558 ?

Janet

Janet Report 28 Oct 2006 22:26

Marriage Certs will give you Fathers' names and occupations of both Bride and Groom, which takes you back another generation. Birth Certs give mothers' maiden names corroborating info you have gleaned from marriage certs and census help to cement the relationships further and may also give you sibling names unknown to you, boarders, servants etc as well as ages which may or may not be correct. The 1841 Census often rounds ages up and down and only says whether born in county of Census or not . All other census gives you place and county of birth usually but there are exceptions. Do this all the way back to 1837 and then you are into parish records which as Glen says is researched through County Record Offices. Janet

Heather

Heather Report 28 Oct 2006 22:22

If you have their marriage reference you can buy the marriage certificate and get both fathers names and occupations (plus the occupations of bride/groom and the address they used when they married. You also get helpful clues from the names of the witnesses). From there you can look for the family in the census from 1901-1841, tracing them backwards through marriages, deaths and births and census records. If you have their ages (which hopefully will be on the marriage cert) you can look for them pre marriage in the census now. You could make a guess now at their families by looking for them in the 1901 but to be absolutely sure you need the certificates. (There is an 8 year old Emily M G Keeling living with dad Joseph and mum Emily in Blackpool in 1901 - if it is her, she married very young!). Get the marriage cert - its incredibly exciting when things start to come together through the certificates.

John

John Report 28 Oct 2006 22:20

OK, thanks for the replies. To give an example I have this information. James William Barnett (my great grandfather) was married to Emily Keeling on 20th March 1907 I have found them both in the index under the same Volume 8d Page 558 for Prestwich, Manchester I dont know who James or Emily's parents are or their names. I guess i would need to find their birth certificates first.

Janet

Janet Report 28 Oct 2006 22:16

Would like to also add to Glen's points. TNA, otherwise The National Archives does have the Index to the GRO as well as all the Census but TNA is not necessarily the place to go just for these items, because TNA is so much more than just a repository for those documents. If I was visiting a place for BMD Indexes I would either go to the FRC(Family Record Centre) in London, any big library anywhere in the country, any LDS Family Centre (Church of Latter Day Saints) anywhere in the country and the various online services that are now available. I would be inclined to visit TNA for research into all the Armed Services, Militia Records, Company/Business Records/Passports/Immigration and hundreds of other historical facts going back many centuries. For more information on what TNA provides try: www(.)nationalarchives(.)gov(.)uk Remove brackets If you look at their holdings you will see that there are at least 100 leaflets that you could download on all sorts of subjects that can be researched through TNA. It is our National Historical Treasure. And, yes, do obtain as many BMD as you can afford, but most certainly you must purchase the mainline Certs otherwise you could just climb the wrong tree. The more info you will end up with, the more believable and acceptable you will be to others researching the same tree. Janet

Glen In Tinsel Knickers

Glen In Tinsel Knickers Report 28 Oct 2006 21:56

We just need to verify a point here to avoid confusion later. Register Offices hold copies of birth,marriage and death certificates. Certificates were issued for events from July 1st 1837 to present day in England and Wales and from 1855 to present day in Scotland. These are the civil registration dates. Records Offices hold the parish registers, those relate to events that occured BEFORE civil registration. Glen

Uncle John

Uncle John Report 28 Oct 2006 21:53

I can't stress enough - only go with what you are sure of, and start with what you know - You. Work back one generation at a time, making sure of your facts each time. It's so easy to go with what Auntie Lily told you, only to find she's made a slight error and you've ended up with the wrong grandparent. And if in doubt ask here. You'll be surprised at the help you get showing you where to look (and even looking, if your information isn't too vague). J

Jim The Ferret

Jim The Ferret Report 28 Oct 2006 21:42

Hi John. It really depends on the dates. Certificates cost money - so if you can build a picture first before you decide which you need, it is cheapre. Finding a family in the census pages can be very useful because you see parents and children together and sometimes other relations as well. The latest availabel census is 1901 - so you have to get back that far to use them Jim

John

John Report 28 Oct 2006 21:38

I have just started looking into my family history with the limited information i have. I can find some birth and marriage records in the indexes (Using the National Archives BMD records) and i guess the volume numbers and page numbers listed refer to the actual records held in a records office. My first question would be, what is the best way to find the parents names of an ancestor? Would it be best for me to obtain their birth certificate and how would i go about this? Thanks John