Genealogy Chat

Hi,Can anyone tell me If I go to family records office in london and search for my grandad's birth would i look under surname and year of birth or would i look under where he was born???? Am i living in a dream world!!! I'm struggling as his name was smith and i don't know where he was born although i do know his d.o.b. Also is London the place i need to go to find this info?? I live Blackpool so its a bit of a way to go. Any help would be much appreciated. tracy

Noooooo!! It sounds difficult, but tell us what you know! dob full name rough likely place of birth (London/Wales/Scotland/No idea at all!) do you have his marriage cert? (If you do, who was his father and what was his occupation? If you don't, do you know how to get it?) Merry

hi, dob 2nd jan 1884 or 1887 name Edward Smith dad's name Edward Smith / miner possibly born staffordshire( thats where he married) i have got his marriage cert- married annie maria wright- 4th aug 1913 he had a brother called joe and poss a sister called mary.(there is a mary smith on his marr cert) and thats all i know. hope you can help tracy

I've just looked at all the Edward Smiths aged 7 or 4 and living in Staffs on the 1891 census. Only one has a father called Edward and he isn't a coal miner. The trouble is, they might have come from anywhere, though likely to be the Midlands/Wales, with occ coal miner (or oop north!). What accounts for the three year age discrepancy? Merry

Hi Tracy,you don't have to go to London!! All the Births,Marriages and Deaths are free to search on www(.)ancetsry(.)co(.)uk the furthest you would have to go is your Local Record Office,they have the indexes for the whole of England and Wales. Do you have any idea where he was born?Have you found him on any census's? If you have an idea and find a possible match on the indexes apply directly to the local office where it was registered and give them as much info as possible(fathers name etc) and they will only issue the cert if the other details match-that way you won't have tons of unwanted Smiths' birth certs!!

The FRC in London only has the same records you find on Ancestry & 1837 online except they are in BIG leather books that you have to lug on & off the shelves to search manually . They have been photographed and this is what you search now online So no need to visit em, Ancestry is the better bet at the mo whilst the searches are still free for BMD,s Shirley

What was the occupation of the groom at the wedding? Merry

hi i have a 3 year diff because on marriage cert it says he was 26 1n 1913 but on his death cert it says he was 80 which was 1964. grooms occ was miner.

don't know if i'm missing something but i've been on bmd and as i don't know where my grandad was born how do i confirm which record is his? his surname was smith and so there are quite a few of them listed for his year of birth. is there anything that i could look at that would give info such as his date and month of birth or his fathers name.

According to Staffs BMD they were married at Chasetown St. Anne's, Lichfield, which may help to narrow it down a bit when you search the censuses: Staffordshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1913 SMITH Edward WRIGHT Annie M Chasetown, St Anne Lichfield 4PL/3/273 http://www.bmsgh.org/staffsbmd/

This one seems like a possibility: Albert Edward Smith, born in the Lichfield Registration district in 1884. In the 1901 census he was living in Chasetown, Lichfield. Occupation: labourer, coal pit bank.

Added By Tracy Bumby on 04/05/06 don't know if i'm missing something but i've been on bmd and as i don't know where my grandad was born how do i confirm which record is his? his surname was smith and so there are quite a few of them listed for his year of birth. is there anything that i could look at that would give info such as his date and month of birth or his fathers name.