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Use of genealogy section

Here's a quote and link from the government page.

"The GRO provides a public index that lists basic details of every marriage recorded in England and Wales since 1837. The index is divided into four quarters for each year and can be viewed in microfiche format at certain libraries (see our leaflet ‘Discover your Family History’). Marriage indexes are also available to search on FreeBMD."


Like I say, I'm new to this game and the penny may be dropping. I take that as being available to view online but
maybe it means 'in person' at a location which for me would be impracticable as I live in the sticks far south west (UK).

If that is the case, it's not worded very well and had me going round in circles for some time.
Searching on Google also keeps repeating that quote.
 
RRJ said:
Here's a quote and link from the government page.

"The GRO provides a public index that lists basic details of every marriage recorded in England and Wales since 1837. The index is divided into four quarters for each year and can be viewed in microfiche format at certain libraries (see our leaflet ‘Discover your Family History’). Marriage indexes are also available to search on FreeBMD."
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The key words are viewed in microfiche format at certain libraries.
Your best bet is to search on FreeBMD or, if subscribed on Ancestry or FMP.
The GRO itself has no such searchable list.

If you want help with getting ref details to order certs from GRO then post names and rough dates on here and one of the members will look for you.
 
Thanks Janice , (big thumb)

I already have all the names and dates/relationships etc. Just me needing to check for accuracy before submitting
it all to a digital file. Once done I'll 'Join' Ancestry to flesh out the bones so to speak.

Going to be a long haul, the tree starts in 1614 !

I've already ordered some death certificates from the past hundred years for family members who died young which I'd like to know why/how.

It also doesn't help when there are spelling mistakes of names on the certificates made by the registrar.:confused:

Thanks again.
 
Glad to help. That small print is a nightmare. I am not sure why births and deaths are searchable on GRO and nor marriages. Same as you can't have pdf's of marriage. Must be linked to legality.
 
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Searching the GRO index leaves a lot to be desired, not sure why it's so limited. There are many times when someone is on freebmd but for some reason is not findable on the GRO and as you're not allowed to search without the person's surname you can't use a work around - frustrating.
 
I have found a selection of Birmingham marriage certificates on Ancestry. I already had several of the originals from the Birmingham Register Office in the days when you could go down there with the details and have them in an hour! Happy days! It might be worth signing up for a free trial to see what they have.
rosie.
 
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Im doing my family tree via ancestry website (my lovely motherinlaw is letting me use her account), I've found out some bits I didnt know like my paternal great-grandfather being born where the arcadian centre is now, he was the 1st gen to be born here, my great great grandfather was born in germany, i hated history at school but im loving it now im older, showing my kids where their family came from, I'm struggling with my great grandmothers line though, theres been some conflict as to who her parents were, i dont know if she was born jewish or converted to marry my great grandfather, her name was Ramah Rachel Wright before she married my great grandfather
 
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Valkyrie said:
Im doing my family tree via ancestry website (my lovely motherinlaw is letting me use her account), I've found out some bits I didnt know like my paternal great-grandfather being born where the arcadian centre is now, he was the 1st gen to be born here, my great great grandfather was born in germany, i hated history at school but im loving it now im older, showing my kids where their family came from, I'm struggling with my great grandmothers line though, theres been some conflict as to who her parents were, i dont know if she was born jewish or converted to marry my great grandfather, her name was Ramah Rachel Wright before she married my great grandfather
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hi and welcome..if you would like any help for ancestors born in the uk can you start a thread under our surname interests of the forum please...thanks

lyn
 
I signed up to Ancestry about three years ago and family research has proved to be a wonderful 'new' hobby for me. I've found out so many things I'd never dreamed of in the past, things like my father having a sister he never mentioned who died of flu in 1919, to two Army Captains who died fighting in Virginia, a family member deported to Tazmania who's wife joined him and lived there for the rest of their lives.

One other thing not mentioned was that my grandfather was born in Maryland USA and lived there for his first three years before returning to brum. You find something new everyday there on Ancestry.
 
Ancestry is a wonderful tool if used correctly, the census are a wonderful look at our ancestors but a note of caution, the public members trees are often a load of nonsense.
Often people catch on to any 'John Smith' and have him as their own to add to the tree, so be careful and look at other records.

My great, great grandfather Matthew Brough b 1807 and his wife hannah had my great grandfather Edward in 1856,
a public family tree today had

Edward Brough b 1856 father JOHN b 1845 and mother Hannah, so his father would have been 11 years old.
Edward died in Cheadle, Staffordshire but the tree says Cheadle Cheshire
 
Alberta said:
Ancestry is a wonderful tool if used correctly, the census are a wonderful look at our ancestors but a note of caution, the public members trees are often a load of nonsense.
Often people catch on to any 'John Smith' and have him as their own to add to the tree, so be careful and look at other records.

My great, great grandfather Matthew Brough b 1807 and his wife hannah had my great grandfather Edward in 1856,
a public family tree today had

Edward Brough b 1856 father JOHN b 1845 and mother Hannah, so his father would have been 11 years old.
Edward died in Cheadle, Staffordshire but the tree says Cheadle Cheshire
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We took a class at our local library by an “ancestry expert” and a part of what he taught was exactly what you have described Alberta. He told us to take a little time to look forward & back from a subject to test the validity as you did.
A little trivia: during the American civil war many who lived in the boarder states, north vs south would change their town or state of origin depending where they were.
 
MWS said:
I blame Ancestry themselves for some of the errors on the trees on their site. Their hints leave a lot to be desired at times but I think that some people accept them without checking.
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To be fair I do not think you can blame Ancestry for some of the errors on trees on their site. A "hint" is just a hint and not a "fact" - and the onus therefore surely has to be down to members who accept "hints" without verifying such information.

William.
 
MWS said:
I blame Ancestry themselves for some of the errors on the trees on their site. Their hints leave a lot to be desired at times but I think that some people accept them without checking.
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That is exactly the advice we were given!
williamjukes said:
To be fair I do not think you can blame Ancestry for some of the errors on trees on their site. A "hint" is just a hint and not a "fact" - and the onus therefore surely has to be down to members who accept "hints" without verifying such information.

William.
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The errors on Ancestry are theirs, they posted and collected money for them. “Hint” is in my mind is a word smithing work around!
Sorry but Ancestry knows what their market is.
 
Regarding 'Hints' they are after all only hints and should be' investigated' or as in my case ignored because I know most of them are not in my tree..

On a different topic , it would be very helpful if there was a record of British people resident in this country but dying on holiday.

I have my family tree to leave to my descendants but although my dads cremation is listed on Birmingham burials for 4th month 1995. there is no record of his death because he died on holiday in Lanzarote.
Without my tree someone in the future would have no idea what happened to him.
 
I agree it is the responsibility of the individual all hints should be checked and no doubt they are by most people. The unchecked hints though that find there way on to someone's tree can lend credence to their validity to the next person that these hint appears to.

It's no doubt a tricky task to design a suitable algorithm to balance relevant hints with irrelevant ones but I'm not sure Ancestry have it right. And some people are all too eager to accept the more interesting hint.

We've all seen relatives in trees with a wide range of birth/marriage/death locations, some correct and others from all over the world, let alone the country. I suspect the only reason the more obscure places appear is because of hints from Ancestry, hints that have no real reason to appear.
 
I dont understand........if theres a Genealogy section and people ask for help in this section how does it impact on other sections?
Surely people who dont like Genealogy questions are not impacted when someone uses the section.
 
Charlie
Often it is the other way round. Historical sections very often provide information to those only interested in genealogy, and we are quite glad that they can help. However it would be nice if, voluntarily, those helped could contribute if they can only if they can. Sometimes we get short requests of the sort " Bill Jones Birmingham in 1900s " , with no" please could you help me" . If the person concerned does get any information , which given the paucity of information given, then that person disappears, possibly never to be seen again, having mined the forum for what they want. All that Alberta was saying was, if you have information you can give that might be of interest, possibly great interest, to other members, then please contribute
 
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