Genealogy Chat

Hi, I wondered if anyone would be able to advise how I can find information about my Grand - father (Arthur George Taylor) he was born in 1909 and lived in Lansdowne Place in Aston and his Father was Edward George Taylor. I would love to find Arthur's siblings but where would you suggest looking? The family had connections with Banbury also? Regards, Bev

With a common surname such as Taylor, it won't be easy. If you have the birth certificate of your relative and his mothers maiden name, then you should be able to search 1837online.com post-1910 for any other siblings as the lists post-1911 use the mothers name as a checking point, and if you know the rough area to be looking in, you should be able to rule out most of the 'Taylor''s in the lists pretty quickly. It won't be cheap though to blanket search the years 1910-1920 like this, and finding any siblings before 1910 without the mothers maiden surname to help you will be even more difficult to make sure you have the 'right' ones. That's when it gets really expensive and you need to get onto the GRO and start ordering certificates.

Thanks Michael, so you think that 1837 would be the best site to go onto? My Grand fathers mother was Emily Eleanor Parsons so would I search on her name? Wish it wasn't such a popular name! Bev

Look for taylor if after 1911 parsons their mothers maiden name will be next to them. Jeanette

Pay your £5 for a bunch of credits, enter the surname 'Taylor' into the search engine specifying years 1910-1920 or whatever and then take each list quarter-by-quarter moving forward through all the Taylors, making a note of all those who have mothers maiden name noted as 'Parsons' - if any of those were registered in the same area as your grandfather then you can be pretty certain you have a match. Doesn't work as well prior to 1910 because you can't double-check the mothers maiden name, but you can still take a pretty good guess on possible matches. There are other sites with the BMD databases. FreeBMD is the obvious one, but their lists stop in 1910 anyway so will be no good after this year, while some people use others - some are easier to search. Personally, I've always used 1837. It worked pretty well for me in finding my grandfathers siblings from this timeframe - post 1910 anyway (I've still got a large gap between 1901 and 1910 that I can't do much about!!). Michael

If you can get to a Records Office or local Archives, you can usually search the GRO index for free. Will definately be cheaper than 1837online! Sam x

That's true enough, but if you take into account petrol costs or parking fees and the like then there's not really a lot in it. Very few of us are lucky to live that close to a Records Office. It's a bit galling to pay 1837online for something you can find out for free in person though. If you can visit a record office then yes, Sam is right - this is the way to go. If you're an armchair researcher like me, then its credit card time!!

For 1911 Q3 to 1920 Q4 it would be cheaper and much quicker to use Family Relatives.......I would look for you (would expect it to cost me only two units), but I cannot access the site today........don't know why?? Merry

Hi, Beverley, Merry is right, FamilyRelatives.org is the best for births between June 1911 and Dec 1920 because it's fully transcribed and you can enter mother's maiden name as a search parameter. There are 39 Taylor births in this period born to mothers nee Parsons; adding Aston as District reduces the number to 1, ie Elsie M Taylor birth registered 3Q 1913 Aston 6d 855. I used Aston as District because you mentioned Arthur lived there. There might be another child in 1910 but the only way to find out is is to pay more money and view the images or visit a record office with the GRO index on microfiche - best to check first, some only go up to 1901. FR is also good for marriages 1913-1920 because (for more credits, of course) you can get spouse's full name - really useful if you don't know who your rellie married. Happy hunting, Peter.

I may be speaking out of turn here, but I thought they moved to Oxfordshire?? Maybe that was on another of Bev's threads?? But I'm sure it was the Taylors......... Merry

Merry, What a lot of disconnected data ! Learnt my lesson here - next time I think I'll try to be helpful, I'll check for other postings from the Topic Originator first. No harm done, time to snuggle up with the wife. Bye, Peter.

Dear all, hope you are having a good day, thanks for your advice. Merry, you were right to some degree, because we couldn't find Edward on the census anywhere I am wondering that he may have moved to Oxfordshire or even came from there and he resided in Aston for a bit, all a total guess. As he married Emily Parsons in 1904 and she died in 1909, days after giving birth to my Gramp, I wondered where would be the best place to look for any siblings and possibly any data that would provide results regarding people born during the period of those years. Thanks again and take care. x