Genealogy Chat

Can anyone tell me the best route to go down when trying to establish when ancestors got married, tried guess work, taking into account the ages of their children but no luck, any help would really be appreciated, as you have probably gussed, I am new to this.

Best thing is to start with the year of the eldest known child and work backwards using the Complete Marriage Index on Ancestry (it's free to search even if you don't subscribe). This is the address you need:- http://content.ancestry(.)co.uk/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=8965&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0 remove the brackets first. If you give some names and dates, someone will try to help. Got to leave the computer for a while, but I'll check back later and try to help if no one else has found anything for you. Kath. x

If the marriages were before 1901, the best way is to find the people on a census, then work out dates of possible marriages from the ages of the children. Alternatively, search the bmd records on Ancestry website..........they are free. Reg

Best way depends on whenabouts. 19th century is easier than 20th century in some respects, as you can find families on censuses and also use Freebmd. nell

Sharon, a lot of people when they start out, assume that their ancestors' eldest children would always be born at least 9 months after the marriage, but it is always worth starting to search for a marriage in the same quarter that the first child's birth is registered, and then work backwards from there. Believe me! Kate.

I've got a few who didn't marry until several years AFTER the first child was born. One couple had 3 kids before getting married, then went on to have several more. Richard