Genealogy Chat

ALL I HAVE IS NAME AND PLACE OF BIRTH KNOW WAS MARRIED TO MY MUM BUT ONLY FOR A SHORT WHILE BUT DOES NOT WANT TO SAY ANYTHING ALSO BEEN TOLD IN SUROUNDING AREA SOMEWHERE ! NEW TO ALL THIS WHAT CAN I DO ?

go to trying to find board and put all the info you know and someone might recognise and message you kimx

Haley Your first step should be getting a copy of the marriage certificate. If you dont know the exact date they married its still possible to find. You will first need to search the General Records Office Indexes (usually called the GRO Indexes) to find whats called a 'reference' for the marriage. Your can use either 1837online (which you hav eto pay for - but you can do it right now from the comfort of your home) or you'll need to find a records office or library near to where you live that has copies of the indexes. Once you choose which way you want to search for the reference you will have to systematically search each quarter of each year fr the names you are after. If you have a rough idea of when they married start there. If you havent a clue but know they were definiteky married by a certain year start there and work backwards. Each year is split into four quarters (March, June, September and December) and you will need to search each quarter of each year until you get a hit. Pick the least common of the two surnames you have (i.e. dont search for a John Smith if he married Ursula Andress as Ursula will be easier to find). I'm assuming the marriage was after 1911 in which case when you find one of the names that matches yours there will be a spouses surname alongside it like this: Andress, Ursula London 1a 123 Smith When you have a the right name with a matching surname you then look in the SAME year and quarter to see if the first name of the other persn is the right one. Once you have found a couple with matching names you can then go online to the GRO ordering service to get a copy of the marriage certificate. The info you will needto give them is: Year and Quarter . Area Reference brides full name the cost of getting the certificate is £7.00 What this certificate will give you is the the same for both bride and groom: Name, age, occupation, address, name of father and fathers occupation. There will also be witnesses that may be related somehow Once you have the certificate you will then know the age of the groom and his job - which will help you make sure your tracking down the ight guy. if you need any help as to what to do once you've completed this first step put up another request on teh board. Best of luck Zoe