Genealogy Chat

Why is it that I can only do a search for one person at a time? It offers for you to put in two names but then it doesn't seem to be able to search for them both at the same time. Am I doing something wrong or is the site just badly designed to fool you into thinking you can search for more than you actually can?

You can only put in one person (surname/first name) and spouse (surname/first name) together if you are searching for a marriage, otherwise you can only search for one person at a time. Hope this helps. Maz. XX

Maz, that's what I was doing but it would only come up with errors (despite what time of day I'm searching). Not once have I been able to search for a marriage using both names and have any results. Is it me? :o( Caroline

I've tried the search for both, but I usually only put in the first name, you can alway check by clicking on the page no and up will come all the names on that page, 4 for the later one's 2 male and 2 females. the earlier one's there are 4 certificates to a page so 4 males and 4 females. I don't think it will show both name's on your screen you will have to click on the page no to view the others. Is that what you were expecting for both names to show you your screen. That's if they have been put on. Irene

If you want to search, say, for the marriage of Joe Bloggs to Eliza Doolittle, then you put in Bloggs: Joe: Doolittle: Eliza. If FreeBMD finds a match, it will just display Joe Bloggs and the reference numbers. When you click on the page number, Eliza Doolittle should be in the list. Remember that there are usually four or six names per page, and they are listed in alphabetical order, not in pairs. I found my gt grandparents' marriage just by putting in the two surnames, which was just as well, because what I thought was his first name was in fact his third name. Jan

Reading Jan's message I realised I should have put full name for the first search and for the partner just the first name. But I think you will find that up to about 1870 (not sure of the year they changed it) they had 4 certificate to a page so 8 name then they reduced it to 2 certificates per page - 4 names. The reason why there are less is because they haven't finished Freebmd transcribing yet. But if you find one name on freebmd you could always check on 1837(.)com to see if the other name matches the details for the same qtr and year. Irene

I have found freebmd very user friendly when it is not too busy. Once I even got a result from just putting two surnames in a marriage search (unusual ones , it is true!) I always go there first before other search facilities because it is so easy to use. Good luck hunting. Joan

Thanks all, I think I just have to keep trying. I suppose it doesn't help that the names I'm looking for are quite common and it doesn't help either that I have no ages. Oh well...I'll get there in the end! LOL Caroline

Having used FreeBMD an awful lot, I do usually find that the less information you put in, the more successful your search. Jan