Genealogy Chat

If you go to www.ukbmd.org.uk it has a list of local RO websites with online records searchable to a greater or lesser extent. You end up with the local reference which isn't valid for GRO - but you can order certs from a local office - same fees. Service quality varies - some are really excellent... I gather Lancashire tends to be more than a bit slow. But the sites themselves sometimes give more info than the GRO lists: a one-to-one name match for weddings plus the specific place (the particular church or the register office) where the ceremony took place. Like FreeBMD, the transcriptions aren't complete yet, but they often do cover more modern dates. Christine

Sorry Babs, I was just trying to show that by ''up to date'' Alter meant after 1984!! To many of us this is ''recent''! Merry

this sounds cruel but if youre looking for someone born between 1910 and 1983,its brilliant if theyve died after 1983,because you get exact birthdate and month of death all in one go.

Ancestry has most of the English and Welsh BMDs from FreeBMD up to about 1910. It isn't complete and I prefer to go straight to FreeBMD anyway. Since 1983 BMDs have been digitised and Ancestry has those too. If you are searching for anything between 1910 and 1983, you won't find them on Ancestry and you will probably have to go to www(.)1837online, unless there are local records online. One site I know of (although it's not 100% accurate and not complete) is Tees Valley Indexes, which covers Redcar, Middlesbrough and Stockton.

Excuse me for being a bit thick Merry but I thought Alter meant Ancestry had up to date records ; Yet when I tried to hep someone yesterday from boards I could not find out birth in 1968 on there, and would love to help peeps with searches if I could;;; No Jess will have to carry on with you ;;;; babs

hello Babs, If you enter a name on the Home Search page of Ancestry (where it says Ancestor's name). Then on the next page that comes up, second section down, Birth, Marriage and Death Records, at the bottom of that section it will tell you how many results there are for the name. If you do it for John Smith (for instance) it says: ''view all 121,984 Birth, Marriage, & Death Records results >>'' Click on that, and amongst all the results (in this case for John Smith) you will see: England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index: 1984-2000 5,154 England and Wales Civil Registration Death Index: 1984-2002 7,369 England and Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index: 1984-2000 2,203 I think these are the types of recent entries Alter means.... Merry

Babs it took me ages to understand ancestry getting better now though, I am sure someone will explain it better than I could

Alter ,, where do you go on Ancestry to find up to date records on people ???? I can never seem to find them I car`nt be using it right !!! Babs

Thanks for the suggestions Leeanne

Ancestry has up to date records and there are county bmd sites on the net,some are ongoing projects-just google cheshirebmd or lancashire bmd and so on.cambridge has one called camdex which is the only one i know that is up to date and easy to search. People born in the early part of the 1900's and who died after 1983 have very good coverage.

GRO indexes would be on film at LDS libraries or pay-per-view on Family Relatives and 1837online (and u to about 1910 is free on FreeBMD. Electoral Rolls and Directories are at local libraries. They will often answer fairly simple queries by email (who lived at 22 High St in 1922? or whatever) Something called the National Probate Calender lists all wills proved in a given year in Alphabetical order. Once you know that someone made a will you would have to write to the Sub Probate office in York to to get a copy of the actual will (costs £5, maybe more for overseas postage). They will also search for a will five years each way from a given date, but keep the money even if they don't find a will (this, obviously, might occur if you have not looked in the Probate calender, but believe a will would have been written by an individual. Also, you can post on here for ideas with the names and details of your rellies to see if any other ideas crop up, depending on their circumstances. Good Luck Merry

Thanks Merry...are they at the LDS libraries?? I'm in Australia Thanks Leeanne

Success depends a great deal on how rare/common their forenames/surnames are and whether they moved around a lot etc But - GRO indexes in full available after 1901 on Family Relatives, up to 1920 and on 1837online until almost up to date. Also Electoral Roll and Post Office street directories are at local libraries.... Also Wills can be useful.... Um, that's a start! Merry

How do we find relatives after the Census is finished??? I have relatives..a fair few...and wondered what happened to them.... Any ideas