Genealogy Chat

Please read the first reply below

Many people do not seem to realise that you can search for births, marriages and deaths for free http://www*ancestry*co*uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx replace the stars with dots This is the address for the Ancestry website. To look up census details on Ancestry, you have to pay, but you can look up the births marriages and deaths for free, There is a full easily searchable index for 1984-2004 There is a partial index for 1837 -1983, this would always be your first port of call because it is searchable by name so quicker, If you are lucky you might find the person on that, but despite what it says the deaths have only been transcribed to about 1910ish,similarly the births and marriages stop way before 1983, I can't rmember the exact years. Some of the older records are not transcribed either. So sometimes you will need to search the complete indexes for 1837-2003, quarter by quarter until you find the person you are looking for Of course although bmd's were supposed to be recorded from 1837, it wasn't strictly enforced until 1875, so some events were not registered, so bear that in mind if you are looking for earlier records. This will give you the year, quarter, registration district and a GRO reference and from that you can order the certificate . Linda

Further to what Linda's said, you get different information in the index at different times, with a bit more detail being added in the later years. Sometimes this will save you the cost of a certificate! From the mid-1860s the death indexes give the age of the deceased person. Note that this is the age told to the registrar by the informant; they don't double-check it, so it might be out by a few years... or even a decade or two! From about 1911 the marriage indexes give the surname of the spouse. If the marriage certificate says something like 'Emma Smith, formerly Jones', then both surnames will be given. From about 1912 the birth indexes give the mother's maiden surname. From about 1969 the death indexes give the date of birth. As with ages in the earlier indexes, this is not double-checked so could be wrong. Note that what I and Linda have written here is only applicable for registrations in England and Wales.

No one should overlook the LDS site for free 1881 census data, either. You can't see the original images, but it is fully indexed, and FREE, and given that the IGI is one of the few online resources available for pre-1837 BMD (mostly births & marriages), the LDS site is probably the single most important site available for family research, and it's all free.

I agree that we should check original sources wherever possible, but it is astonishing just how much can be done without. My wife's family are local to the place where we live, and I can get to the county archive in a few minutes drive, and do so, regularly to check all sorts of things. However, my own family come from much further afield, and while I could order films of PRs to view at my local LDS centre, I have never done so. Getting to the archive would be next to impossible, other than as a special treat. However, I have not had notably less success with researching my wife's family for want of easy access to parish records, mainly becasue there are so many helpful people here on GR - not the people who respond to specific requests for help on these boards (athough they have been useful too), but help from the people that I have made contacts with through the exchange of material of common interest, and dare I say it, even the odd 'Hot Match' (not many though!). They have been hugely helpful, and there have been a fair few in retirement and with the time and opportunity to look original material up, and share the results. They are the stars of this site.

The IGI, can be found on www*familysearch*org replace the stars with dots. Sometimes you don't find what you are looking for because the years you want have not been transcribed. You can check this by looking at the Hugh Wallis Batch numbers. Either google to find it or follow this link http://freepages.genealogy*rootsweb*com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryEngland.htm again replace the stars with dots Choose the county you want, then the place. You can see which years have been transcribed. If you click on one of the year ranges, it opens a search page up. You can put your family name in the box, or leave it blank to see all of the events in that church Linda

Don't forget that there are several local BMD sites and you can find them on www.ukbmd.org.uk Some that spring to mind are Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Bath, Isle of Wight, Kent, Newcastle, Sunderland, and West Midlands, but no doubt there are some I have forgotten to mention. Kate.

nudge

This site has an index (free) to details held. Credit required for further info. Welcome to Family History Online We publish on-line records compiled by Family History Societies - quality data from experienced researchers with local knowledge providing more accurate details at fees that give value for money. You can now search over 64 million records including parish registers, memorial inscriptions, censuses, poor law documents and others. New: Several thousand photographs of gravestones are now available. http://www*familyhistoryonline*net/

For ancestors from the Medway towns (eg Chatham, Strood, Rochester, Dartford etc) go to http://cityark*medway*gov.uk/ Click on Medway ancestors on the left of the page - it should take you to Medway Ancestors Medway Ancestors is Medway Council's project to publish images of the original parish registers in its custody on the Medway Archives web site CityArk. The registers are held on deposit from the local parish churches and cover the Rochester Archdeaconry area, extending from Dartford and Gravesend in the west to Rainham in the east and focusing on the Medway Towns. The project has been made possible by a grant of £49,500.00 by the Heritage Lottery Fund under the Your Heritage scheme. Below you will find links to the parish register images, arranged by parish in alphabetical order. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I found the baptisms of my gggradfather's siblings in Chatham after his parents moved there in the early 1800s. Jan

Nudge again! Is is possible to save this link or info in it?

This is another good site for local (West Midlands) BDM information. Slightly more than can be found on GRO indices, and very easy to order certificates from local Register Offices. http://www.bmsgh.org/wmbmd/