Genealogy Chat

I agree ..get all the certs you can! I had a marriage certificate which did not seem "right" and I put it away. Some months later I looked at it again and noticed that the name of one of the witnesses seemed rather familiar, also the actual signature. After some frantic searching at home, I found a book which had been given to my Gt. Grandmother by this same person and the signatures matched. This has enabled me to link two branches of my family, one previously totally unknown, through a single name.

I find ancestry invaluable for the census coverage. There are lots of transcription errors but I can usually find people and being able to search the whole country means that I can find people in completely unexpected locations. Certificates - I would not write off certificates as one contributor did. Sometimes you don't learn anything new but other times you can get very valuable information even if it just confirms what you already knew. I made a major breakthrough last week from a single Birth Certificate for a child who died before he was a year old. Censuses are only every 10 years and a lot can happen in the period in between. Martin

thanks for the advice everyone. Eve

Hi Evelyn It is possible to get by without the certificates, perhaps using the censuses, IGI and parish records. However, these can be rather inaccurate and make it that you often have to guess maiden names of mothers. The certificates are the ultimate prize of the genealogist as they are scans of the original documents and provide the proof to the assumptions you've made. You also feel like you've physically found the person(s) you are looking for (i guess this is what they call "closure"). The information is usually much more accurate than the censuses (although not always perfect and sometimes prone to fibs about ages and parentage). Obviously, if you are going back before 1837 there won't be any certificates to collect, but to get safely there in the knowledge that your info is correct, its best to collect as many certificates as you feel necessary to accurately develop your tree. You don't need every BMD certificate, just collect them as you need them. Mind you, I'm a certificate fan, others may disagree! Jonathan

Hi Eve When I initially joined I joined on the (.)com site. I have since discovered that my username/password allows me access to the (.)co.(uk) site as well. It has been well worth it for me. I believe you can get a 7 (or it is 14) day trial so perhaps you could try it for yourself before joining. Sam

evelyn- you may find this site useful for ordering your certificates www(.)gro(.)gov(.)uk/gro/content don't forget to remove the brackets! simone

Hi Eve, welcome. Ancestry com has the U.S. records and co.uk has only U.K. records. If you log on to the sites it should tell you what is availabe. Good luck Janet

Hi I am a newbie and just starting out. I have a question about Ancestry(.)com is it the same as Ancestry(.)co(.)uk and is it worth joining? I am in the states so its hard for me to go to offices to do my family all in england Also what do I have to do to get a birth cert? Any other advice would be most welcome. Thanks in advance Eve