Genealogy Chat

If they died after 1858 and made a will you can get the date of death from the probate calendars without having to buy the will. The probate calendars are published every year and have an alphabetic list of all wills proved in that year. NOTE this is note necessarily the year in which they died it could be several years later if the will was not proved immediately. The probate calendars are available at county record offices - they are national lists so any record office would do. If your ancestor left a will before 1858 you might be lucky enough to find it on the PRO website mentioned above. You can download it for £3. Otherwise the record office local to where the person died is the best place to ask. Anne

Hi Simon I recently had a brainwave on finding an ancestor death. I suspected he was buried at a local cemetery and e-mailed the council offices asking for details of his burial plot. The lovely guy at the offices managed to give me a date of death and plot location. Thinking that once I found the plot (so to speak) I would find his date of birth etc on the stone, I was disappointed to find the stone so worn away that nothing could be read at all!

Amanda I have the exact same problem. I don't suppose you are looking for Ferguson's or Guests? A tip to all those above........... you should always kill off your rellies first once you have found them to prevent you following the wrong one.

I've just discovered the National Burial Index and found several pre 1837 deaths I think are my ancestors....going to be hard to prove that though, I think. I'm going to look at the relevant parish registers to see of they give just a liitle more info! Joan

try finding a will. if you think they died before 1858 then go to documents online gov uk (puts dots in the gaps) . you could also try the access to archives site to see if any probate records come that up here for after 1858. youll have to ask some one else where the probate records are after 1858 cos i cant remember off hand. if they are not on the last web site.

Hi all Wish I had. I seem to have a g\grandmother, on one side and g\g grandparents on the other who seem to have vanished in the midst of time. One grandfather who was married but not born.and another g\g\grandfather who cames from somewhere in Ireland to settle in Congleton, I think I shall just concentrate on my husbands side of the family. Can you guess who's stressed???0Trish

Deaths on 1837online after 1984 have the date of birth shown (I assume the notifier gives this, so double check), so if you can find the death your birth date problem is solved at the same time.

Simon, quite a few years ago my dad went to the LDS Centre and researched our ancestors who lived in Sussex and Surrey. He ordered the films and poured through them. It was time consuming (he was looking at original records), but he found quite a few deaths that way. A couple even had cause of death. I don't know if the LDS still has those types of records, but if they do and you have a Centre near you, it would be worth your time. Not to mention that we now have photocopies of the burial records, birth records and marriage certificates with our ancestors' signatures on them! Good luck. Amanda: I know the feeling. My ancestor was apparently never born.

This is the stage that we are at too. What I do is this - not necessarily always in the same order! Depends on common-ness of name and whether they lived in a small village or a city ! 1. census - try and find widowed partner to narrow gap to 10 years 2. check FreeBMD 3. try and find burial of one of the family - the others may be in the same grave or close by in same cemetary 4. check for a burial entry in the parish of residence 5. if all else fails, move on to another branch ! Good luck! Maz. XX

Funny you should ask! I was just thinking that I've concentrated far too much on the births and marriages. I haven't managed to find that many deaths. Some of my relations on my family tree package are nearly 200 years old. The best clue I have is census data and whether the surviving spouse is recorded as widowed. Gives you a 10 year window to search on FreeBMD or 1837 on line. It's something I keep meaning to do but I get put off by it appearing to be a costly business. Best wishes Ann

One aspect of my tree so far that is rather lacking is details of when people died. If a search on FreeBMD etc brings up a few possibilities, is the only way to pinpoint the right oen to speculatively order possible certificates to check the details ? Any tips ?