Genealogy Chat

has eny one eny advice on searching 1837 online i dont seem to be getting enywhere unless im doing somthing wrong many thanks sue

Sue I think it was set-up purely to annoy us!! I don't think there is an easy answer. Have you tried FreeBMB as an alternative? Gerry

If it costs money, use it as a last resort (or final solution). Try and find out as much as you can for free before spending any money (OK, if its after 1910 it's gonna cost ya). The more you "know", the less you have to guess FreeBMD 1901 census (using decoder) 1881 census IGI Request lookups on here for Ancestry (1871, 1891), BIVRI, NBI etc If you know where your person was born, find out the name of the Registration District BEFORE you look for him/her. If you know your John Smith had a brother called Zachariah, it will be easier (ie cheaper) to find the latter on 1837 to get the parents names.

Sorry Geoff, 1837 does not give parents names in the early years. Neither does BMD give them.

I'm well aware of that. I acknowledge that, in the end, you will probably need to buy a certificate. I was trying to point out that there are a lot of things you should do before you start spending money on 1837. The more you find out beforehand using the free resources the better. I followed a family from 1851 to 1901 using FreeBMD and censuses. My gg-gmother was not on 1837 (I found to my cost!) but her sister was on FreeBMD. I could have saved my 1837 search money by sending for her sister's certificate in the first place. I suppose in the end it depends exactly what you want to find out and how much you want to pay for it. If I have a census age and a baptism date in close agreement, I'm afraid I wouldn't pay out seven quid just to confirm she was born about 3 weeks before her baptism.

thanks everybody glad its not just me just seem to be wasting money with it sue

One of the best things to do is to quiz all your relatives for any little scraps, Having said that my father thought his father was born in Chichester in 1900 in March and it turned out that he was born in Eastbourne in 1899 in October, I searched for his sister my great Aunt first because she had 3 first names and was easier to trace, her birth cert gave me her parents names, to go looking on the census for. They were mistranscibed on both census but I found them by entering the daughters first name only and where she was born. Kim

Hi Susan, You could always join your local Family History Society. I paid £8 subscrption for a whole year and as well as access to all the BMD's you will find on 1837 online there are parish records, helpful advice and a host of other information to look at. The Doncaster FHS has its own research rooms open all day, most days and information is free to look at at any time once you subscribe. I only did this though after spending quite a bit of money on 1837-online. Now I look first on the internet and if I can't get the information one way or another from there I go to the History Society. Jenny

Don't forget you can spend as long as you want for FREE at your nearest large library or archive or LDS centre. The GRO indexes are on fiche and are the SAME as the 1837online. OK I acknowledge there is the facility to enlarge the print on 1837. I have to remember to take the right glasses with me to the library. I also acknowledge that if you don't live near one of the above it will probably cost less to use 1837 than travel to the library. You will have to decide! Anne