Genealogy Chat

Can anyone give me advice on visiting one of the LDS centres. I have found a record that I would like to look at, on Familysearch and wanted to know if I'd be able to view a copy of the marriage at the LDS centre, would it have more details than are listed. How much do they charge for the service? Any info, gratefully appreciated. Lynn

if you go on your lds family search page you can type in your locality and it will tell you where you nearest lds centre is

Thanks Alice, I have already done that and know where the nearest offices are, but not what I'd be able to see when I got there. Lynn : )

They each hold records for the local area, so mine in Sheffield has the Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley PRs, Census etc. The whole of the GRO BMD records are held at mine. If you want to look at Parish Records for another area you have to order the film in. It costs about £2.50 and takes a couple of weeks to arrive. They keep the film for you for a month so you can go back and search as much as you want.

Thanks for all that info. My nearest office would probably be Sheffield, but the record that I want to look at is from Lambeth, so I'd probably need to order it. Would I then get to view the record with all the details, rather than the short version on the IGI? Lynn

Hi Lynn, The amount of information depends on the date of the marriage. What was the date? Heather

Hi Heather The marriage was 1832, so before registration, the parish records are my only hope. Lynn

If the PRs are Bishops Transcripts (you can look on the LDS site by clicking on the batch number and viewing details) they will have bride and grooms name, details of their Parishes, whether by banns or licence, the names of the witnesses. True PRs, copies of what was recorded in the Church, vary a lot depending what the local clergy felt like recording. Some marriages just have bride and grooms names, most say 'of this Parish' or state the Parish they were from if different, some recorded occupations, addresses, parents names. It's a matter of luck really. The Sheffield Office is at Grenoside and there's usually someone there who's pretty helpful. The blokes tend to know more what they are doing, some of the ladies are a bit old and doddery! LOL. You usually can get a bit help from the regular visitors, Thursday mornings was my favourite, some nice freindly people who were there every week. We sometimes got glared at for giggling. Don't expect it to be state of the art, most of the film readers and fiche viewers are donkey's years old, as are the wobbly chairs.

LDS Centres are well worth a visit. That's where I started my research before I found Genes and Ancestry etc. They are very helpful and don't charge to use the Centre, although you do have to pay to order filmed records that they don't already have there. Each Centre has different things but they usually have a catalogue of what is and isn't available, and they will try to obtain most things that you might want to look at. They are not allowed to mention their religion unless you ask about it. You have to book and they usually have either 2 hour or 3 hour slots available. My local centre opens 10a.m. to 1p.m. then 1pm to 4p.m. and 6.30p.m. to 9.30p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then Thursdays just for LDS Church members. Kath. x

A marriage of that date should have name of groom , bachelor/widower, parish where he was living name of bride, spinster/widow, parish where she was living whether married by Banns or License Vicars signature Signature or x of bride and groom and two witnesses. Hope i haven't forgotten anything, Heather

Many thanks for all the responses. I think that I will definitely pay them a visit sometime. Lynn : ))

I use the one in Coventry once a week and have done for the last 8 years. The staff are helpful and friendly and the machines are pretty good. There is a photocopying machine so that parish record entries can be copied from film. In addition they have 3 fiche readers, 5 film readers and 3 computers all of which allow FREE access to Ancestry with facilities for copying census records (these have to be paid for). On film/fiche they have the entire GRO index up to 1983, some Irish GRO records plus a random collection of films on permanent loan. It costs £2.70 to order any film from their central library and it is kept there for a month for you to search. Our centre is open 10am till 2pm Mon to Fri and 7 -9pm Tues, Wed and Thurs. It is essential to book a reader or a PC before turning up as they can be very busy. They book in 2 hour time slots. The LDS volunteers who run the one I use never discuss their religion unless you ask and are really lovely. Gwynne