Genealogy Chat

I am quite new to the site and struggling to find information about my father. He was called Thomas Joseph Wood and died 2-10-1968 aged 45 in Burnley. He married my mother Audrey Orrell in 1946 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Ribbleton Ave; Preston in 1946. I think he was born in Preston but i'm not sure. He had a sister called Agnes and I believe his father came from Blackburn. I cannot find a record of his birth and nobody alive in his family to ask. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you searched the BETA images on ancestry?

Hi Christine You really need to search the full images (beta) on ancestry for his birth and marriage references. The searches are free but a little time consuming if you are unsure as to the exact time that an event occured. The births are indexed in quarters (4 per year suprisingly!) but if a birth,marriage or death occurred in the second half of a quarter it might not appear until the following quarter to what you may think. If you haven't done so already it would be wise to read the getting started section in the home page and the thread 'tips for newbies' by grampa Jim. And as always there is lots of help on this board and the records office. Glen

Do you have the marriage certificate? If not you need that first to get his father's name. Then you can look for a birth. There is this one:- Thomas J. Wood, mother's maiden name Davies Dec. qtr. 1922, Salford, 8d, 150 This birth would be about the right time for his age at death. You could order this (or any other birth certificate you think might be him), and give the father's name as a checking point, so that you only get the certificate if the father's name matches. Kath. x

Hi Kath, I only found the marriage details this morning and have ordered the certificate. What really baffles me are the birth details. I have searched the BMD from 1921 to 1925 and cannot find anything. Talk about frustrating!!!! Christine x

hiya, sorry to butt in, but it depends WHERE you were looking for his birth details, if you were using freeBMD, they are by no means complete, if i were searching for a BMD, i always use Ancestry's FREE complete index, this index is complete from 1837-2002 sometimes even later, my son is on there and he was born 2yrs ago. www*ancestry*co*uk replace* with dots hope this helps Julie (it used to be called the BETA index, But now is called the Complete index)

I would suggest keeping a record of any likely birth reference and then when the marriage cert arrives see what it says.Perhaps the age (if stated) may come as a little bit of a suprise (he may be slightly older or younger than you might think.)The details for fathers to the couple and witnesses might well give you a clue as well. Certificates can be very revealing documents sometimes.Just a shame you have to sit patiently until it arrives. Glen