Genealogy Chat

Francis..
The Norwich Reg Office are really good..I always order from there
Kayx

Jacki, you could try telephoning or emailing the register office.

I have learned nowadays to look at the register office's web site before applying for a certificate; recently, I had sent a cheque payable to the superintendent registrar and had to write another one made payable, instead, to the London Borough of Lambeth.

As a guide, look at this site -
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/CommunityLiving/Births/BirthCertificatesHistoricalSearches.htm

With this particular register office, one can pay by credit or debit card if one wishes.

That's good to know Kay, I have to get a Norwich birth so I will go local ;-)

I read today that some small churches had so few marriages that they have not yet filled up their first book of records, and they have never been submitted to the GRO.

Does anyone think that is true? Could it be why lots of us cannot find marriages of our ancestors and have assumed they never married?

How do we go about finding out?

Margaret

Having read this thread I thought I would try my luck with Derby Register Office. I sent them an email giving the year, quarter and name. I had a response from them within 24 hrs advising they had found the cert!( The GRO said it had been mistranscribed and could not be located.)
A big hug to Derby register office!!!

given a nudge for new readers.

I recently got a marriage cert from the gro, and the writing wasnt all that clear, i found out the actual registrar office and phoned them, and they confirmed/amended over the phone what I thought was written....
cheers, tower hamlets....
Bob

- for new readers

Brought forward.

WEll done Joy.

I still rate the local Register Office.

Little story to prove their worth. Lady I am helping at the moment has the original cert of her mother's marriage (you never get that from the GRO), with her signature. 1927, so she could write.

Only trouble was, her mother deserted the first husband, and married a further two times. My contact isn't at all sure about the further two marriages. She's got the certs from the GRO, but still isn't happy. Had she got the certs from the local Reg Office, she'd have been able to compare the signatures and see if we are right.

Meg

Thank you, Meg :-)

Brought forward.

nudged for future ref

I guess I have been lucky so far, the register offices at Wigan and Leigh, and surrounding area have been extremely helpful because with the difference in bounderies now to the 1800's it is not always easy to tell who to apply to, having said that I have also found the GRO on line service to be good too, they charge £9.25 but you don't need to send a stamped addressed envelope.
happy hunting :-)
M.

I recently ordered a cert from Lancashire bmd, you can order online for some of the districts, I paid 9 pounds and recieved it within 2 days.

This site gives A-Z of Register Offices and shows those where you can order online.

http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/regoff.html#L

:-)

Hi I have been looking for my grandfathers birth certificate for 2 years sent to GRO for broad search, nothing. Thought I would read your thread and maybe ask the local office to do a better search and something made me look at a different channel. My information was 1857 Paddington William Adams I had looked for mothers maiden name etc, however I have found him William Jeffrey 1857 Islington GREAT Looked on Freebmd it shows a male Adams and also a William Jeffrey do I get the certificate from GRO or Islington and has anybody got an address for Islington the one I found on Google was for certificates after 1910. I am living in Spain but I am willing to ring, write or do it online. I am so happy Sheila (Sorry my ggrandfathers middle name is Jeffrey this being his mother maiden name)

When this thread was started by Joy five years ago, the use of e-mail to contact register offices is noted. Like many folks I have used e-mail extensively with great success! Regardless if I contact an office by e-mail or telephone I always whittle my request to the year and the quarter for a birth or death. I never ask for a marriage unless I know the parish - staff don't have time to check entries for (the many) parishes.

I also never telephone until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest - there is a lot of 'traffic' that has to be documented from occurrences over the weekend. Staff seem very grateful for that 'delay' on my part.

However, I have noticed in the last year or so that my e-mails are not answered - they are not rejected, simply not answered! While this is very disappointing - and I often think also rude - I suspect this may be due to the volume of requests many offices receive with the growth of genealogy from TV etc. Add to that the usual downsizing, staff reduction, and amalgamation of offices - Hampshire is the most recent, I understand - there is no time for staff to respond.

Have other GR members found the above scenario not receiving reply to e-mail?

To answer Sheila, above. I noted the following in a couple of threads on GR:

''Over several years I have been in contact with greater than three dozen register offices by telephone. With one exception in London, these ladies have been the absolute best!

I have remarked to many of them:
''You and your colleagues are the best ambassadors the British Government doesn't know it has." ''

Indeed these ladies are the finest in my humble opinion.

Until I read your post, Sheila, I never noted the 'offending' office on my post; it was Islington, in 2006. The lady I phoned told me I was the genealogist and it was not her job to confirm data for me! She refused point blank to budge. Wow! - and Ouch! Thanks so much, love. Good on ya, and you have a nice day, too!
So that was that confirmation well and truly out the window - regardless my pleas from so far away, and with the year and quarter to hand to assist confirmation! Some you win - and some you don't.

Sheila, I really think you will be wiser - and it will be much quicker for you - to order your certificates via the GRO. Many of these larger register offices really don't have the staff and therefore the time to answer requests.

Oh, just to put the icing on the cake, the surname I was checking in 2006 was Jeffrey(s) spelling varies - 1904 or thereabouts. This family was mostly born at Islington, I recall.

Good luck in your research.

Barry

Thank you Barry but I am unsure if there are two certificates or one Male Adams and William Jeffrey I really need confirmation for payment etc Any ideas anybody Sheila