Genealogy Chat

John If you ordered online you should get an e.mail confirming why the search failed.....I should know I had yet another one yesterday for my William Cox :(( However I do agree with Carla that local ROs are more 'flexible' when searching. But when it comes to London Registration Districts one often doesn't have a choice but to use the GRO as so many will not issue certs for genealogy purposes :( Chris

Why does everyone get their certs from GRO??? I ALWAYS email the local reg office and find they are so helpful! It doesn't matter to them if you put someone's middle name or not, or 'Jim' instead of 'James'. They'd just email you back and say 'do you mean this one?' Because you're dealing with the registrar her/himself, you get so much more help. For instance, if they find 2 certs with similar details they'll look at things like father's occupation and ask you which one is most likely. I NEVER go to the GRO unless there's no other way.Use the local registrars, it works out much cheaper and is heaps quicker too. Carlabee

it pays to put less rather than more for instance dont put say Arthur George Miller the father ,as I did because if they did not use the middle name you would not get the cert it needs to match what you say so just put arthur Miller say.

Thanks for that ..... so unless you are 200% sure, it is better just to pay the 7 pounds and take a chance?

It means that the thing you wanted checked wasn't as you specified on the cert. ie if you asked for Fred Bloggs birth cert, and specified his mother was Eliza, and the cert said she was Elizabeth, you'd get a refund.

If you send away for a cert with reference checking requested and then get a 4 pound refund .... does that mean that the reference check has failed?