Genealogy Chat

Our State Library has recently obtained a copy of the St.Catherines Index. Does anyone know how this is set out ? is it similar to free bmd. Thanks for any help. Grace R

Hello Grace, They have probably got it on fiche. In which case, it will be set out by event (birth, marriage, death) These will be divided into years and each year divided into quarters. I dont expect they will have an index as FreeBMD does, you will have to physically search through the fiche to find what you are looking for, similar to 1837online. Hope this helps.

Grace St Caths Index is the old name for the present GRO. When the registers were in St Catherine's house in London it was always known as the St Caths Index and certificates were obtained through Southport but when the indexes were moved to the present day Family Records Centre at Myddleton Street London in the early 1990's it then became known as the General Register Office Index or GRO for short but still obtaining the certs through the Southport Office(which is the General Register Office- GRO). I think that countries like Australia etc still use the old St Caths name. But as it is the main Index for the Certificates it will therefore have fewer mistakes than BMD and 1837 online but will be on fiche. It is free to access, unlike 1837 online and will be more up to date than Free BMD, which only goes to about 1910, but it is not indexed so you will have to physically trawl through each quarter for each year as Carol has suggested. Janet

Thanks for your help Carol and Janet. To think I used to live just a couple of minutes from the Family whatsit Centre in Myddleton Street. Still I wasn't interested in family trees then, mores the pity. Once again - thanks you Grace R

I haven't used the fiches for a few years but each fiche is only indexed by the first three letters of the surname - same as the 1837online website used to be. You soon get a feel where to look for your surname in those three letters and can go through the fiche quite fast. Martin