Genealogy Chat

A very kind gentleman (Robin Haigh) has found a marriage for my g.g. grandfather. He can read the year and the volume but not the page number. What does one do when faced with this obstacle? Your help with this difficulty would be very much appreciated as I'm up against a brick wall and feel like banging my head against it!! Best wishes Helen, Maidenhead

I think i'm right in saying that if you know the registration district where the cert. was issued originally you dont need the GRO ref. They only apply to the GRO NOT the registration district. I applied to Uckfield for my fathers B.Certificate with the date, month, year and his name and got the reply by return of post. It cost me £7. and an s.a.e. Sue.

Someone will correct me if i'm wrong! S.

If you now know both parties for the marriage check the entry for the other half which, hopefully, will be legible. (I had the same problem with freebmd where an entry was keyed twice with different page numbers. By going to the spouseI got a clear reference).

Alternatively, let us know the details so someone else can have a look and see if they can read it any better - I am a transcriber and wouldn't mind checking it out for you.

Thank you everyone for all your replies and advice. I know Eli Humphrey was married to Charlotte but unfortunately I do not know her maiden name. I have copied and pasted Robins message to me and it is set out below: there's a marriage at 1859 Jul-Sep Humphrey Eli Tiverton 5b * From the 1881 it looks like they were in Uffculme at the time, and that was in Tiverton registration district. Can't decide the page number though. Could be just 75, allowing for the crossbars on the 5s being loose, or there could be part of another number, which mostly hasn't come out. Ouch! Had some bad ones, but not had one before where I couldn't decide at all Again, any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Helen Strong, Maidenhead

I think you will find that the Number/Letter part of the Index is locational and all 5b entries would be the Tiverton area. I think 10a is the Hartlepool area if I remember correctly from visiting Somerset House in the late 60s. Jim

Many thanks for your help Elton - it was kind of you to 'have a go'. Thanks too James for your advice. I'll try and apply for the marriage certificate but I really don't think I have enough info!

Hi, When you apply you can specify some search requirements to the GRO before they issue a certificate. If you know Eli's date/place of birth, the GRO would check this matches the details on the marriage cert before they issued it. The only problem is, they will only re-imburse you with half of the £7 as the rest is taken for administration if the certificate is not the right match. I did this for my Grandad's birth certificate as I only knew his name and date of birth. He had actually been registered in the following quarter, but I got the correct certificate back from them! Good luck Tracy

Helen, Normally when I want a certificate and I am not sure about the info, I just write to the Registrars (for where the event occurred) and give them all the info I have and ask if they can find a certificate for it. The last one for example, I wanted a birth certificate. I said the year was either 1880 or 1881, I didn't know the quarter, I said probably in Darwen, Lancashire, parents are Thomas Quinn and possibly a Betsy, didn't know her surname. The reply I got was that they had found the one I was after and they would send the certificate to me upon receipt of my cheque in the sum of 7.00GBP so..... if you give them all you have, they usually find what you are looking for. Good luck.