Genealogy Chat

Still very much learning, so please bear with me if I don't make this clear friends. I have ordered Marriage and Birth certificates in the past and so far have found them really helpful in discovering or confirming mothers maiden name and/or dads full name, area they lived etc. They always move me on in my journey. Now,I found my gggrandmother Ha(r)riett Kirby (born c1848) aged 32 alive and well in 1881 census. Married to Albert and with children. Rg11/530 Folio 10 GSU 1341119. By the 1891 census Albert was a widower at 42! I have been searching for ages for the date of her death. I have found a few possibles, but how do I know it is her? On a census I can view the rest of the family. On a marriage cert I can check the surname of the person they marry. But what can I check, or cross reference for a death? Even if I gambled on buying several death certs, how would I ever be sure it was the correct one? Does a death cert state any other details (eg spouse, place of birth) that could help me to confirm it? How would I ever know it was the right one? Hariett was my granddads nan and he was born in July 1890. I know that this sounds daft, but I would love to think that she lived long enough to see him. Thank you all. TGx

As far as I am aware, you get.. the cause of death, their occupation, where they died, the age of the person, the marital status, and maybe next of kin the informant,(likely to be a relative,) Bob

hiya tiger-lily, dont be afraid to ask, is why we're all a big happy family, it should state on death cert, date of death, place of death, and informant of death, which more than likely will be her husband, OR one of her children, so if you know these, and rough idea of where she lived at the time of her death, her age, roughly, then i'd say 99% that it is your rellie, if you need help locating it, please post all details you know on thread and i'll try and help julie

A death certificate gives place of death (and often usual address if place of death is different). For a woman, it would usually say 'wife of John Smith, labourer'. The informant also gives an address and often their relationship to the deceased. It might be difficult to put checking points, but you would usually recognise whether you've got the correct certificate when it arrives. NB As the information is not provided by the dead person, the age may be out by a year or two. And besides completeness, death certs can give all sorts of useful snippets.

I see they had a child born in Gravesend District.....I wonder if this is her? It's the only one I can find of the correct age: Deaths Mar 1882 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KIRBY Harriett Eliza S 33 Gravesend 2a 296 Did she have all those names when she got married? Merry

Yes, she did!! Marriage: Name: Harriett Eliza S Edgeler Year of Registration: 1870 Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun District: Lambeth County: Greater London, London, Surrey Volume: 1d Page: 482 Spouse Albert Kirby Merry

I just re-read your message......what a shame she didn't live longer :o( Merry

Thanks to all of you who made such rapid and helpful responses. I am pleased that a death cert has more info on it that I feared. It means that I may well waste a few certs, but will have enough info to know which is correct. TGx

I think I've posted the right one!! Merry

hiya tiger-lily, having just checked on here again, i noticed that your harriett had a really unusual name, merry found the enrty of death so you can be pretty sure with a name as long as hers, it has to be same one!!! lucky you julie

Dear Merry, Yes she gave birth to Henry (b1873) in 'Fleet N Kent'. There is no Fleet in N Kent- but there is a Northfleet very near Gravesend, Kent. (Like being a detective isn't it! Thank you so much for the marriage info - I never knew her maiden name before. How do you do that so quickley? regards TGx

Well, having begun with her death reg....I looked at the 1881 census and saw that they might have been married up to about 15 years (going by the children's ages and the age of the parents)....I then looked up all the marriages for men called Albery Kirby from 1865-1875 and plumped straight for the right one as it was the earliest one in the London area.....as soon as I saw the spouse name I knew it would be ''the one''!! Didn't look any further after that!! Merry

Hi If you have more than possibility of a death certificate and you write all the reference numbers down the records office will do a check on these. You have to give them some extra information e.g. husbands name. They will charge you three pound for everyone they have to check and they will send you the one that you need or they will write to you to tell you they cant find it. The extra money sounds a lot but it is a lot cheaper than having to buy several wrong ones before you get the right one. Hope this helps