Genealogy Chat

Im hoping somewhere out there may have some answers to my questions: I have spoken to my mother and Aunties who have been able to get me back to their G.mother and i have been using the 1837 + ancestry sites to find info. How reliable is this information, it costs so much to get cert's for all the BMD's. Other probs i have encountered is not being able to trace other ancestry siblings. I can not obtain a copy of the birth cert for my own g.mother as i am told there was a fire @ Somerset Hse (London ?? )destroyed alot of records. ??? Whats the significance of looking a tombstones? if relevant go do i go about this if i dont know where people were buried? I have also been told that some of my g.dad's siblings emigrated to canda after he passed away. Any idea's how i might go about tracing them at the moment all i have to go on is their first name + maiden name. Any help would be very grateful Thanks Amanda

Hi, if you have a sub with ancestry, you can enter the possible emigrants to Canada in a search, just like you do for England. I found several family members in census over there. Have you read the tips for newbies? If your grans birth cert was destroyed ???? then there should also be a copy of it at the office local to where she was born.

I would be very surprised if your grans birth is not recorder on the GRO register - though several people say that they have been unable to trace an event - but, as Heather has said, the local registry office should have the original. You have not given the name, probable date or location so unable to help in that respect. My opinion is that the town, county or national registers are the final verification of b m or d until you hit June 1837 and back. Prior to 1837 you then spend some time looking through the LDS sites - Family Search, IGI etc., but even then I believe that a trip to the archives to SEE the actual entry (which you can photocopy) is further proof if you are treating the subject seriously. Unfortunately the LDS record baptisms for the most part - and in some cases the dates of birth may never be known and that is unfortunate as the date of christening can be at any time after the birth - I had one recently where the entire family was christened at one sitting - and that may be due to lack of funds ! but that can distort the tree when you find a son and all siblings PLUS mother and father all have same christening date. This distortion can be overcome if you are able to trace the death which may show the actual date of birth, or at least the year - that is one reason to tramp through graveyards and cemeteries. Good luck and hope your tree blossoms. As for tracing siblings since 1841/51 you have the censuses which should be able to assist and give you an idea of where to look in the BMD registers, and also where to look if the ages of the parents are pre-June 1837. From 1912 you have to trawn the birth register for surnames alongside which you should be able to identify the surname of the mother - once you have found one skip the next 3 quarters for any further additions to the family. For Canada there are a few sites but easier to assist you if the period is known - there have been assisted passages throughout the ages.