Genealogy Chat

Can anyone help me? Does anyone know if there is a way of discovering info on birth certificates before buying them as I am beginning to get a collection of wrong ones not to mention a dent in my wallet!

No, thats why you have to buy them. But you can limit the damage to £3 bt specifying the names of the father / mother in the check.

If there is any information of which you are confident - father's name, mother's name, place of birth - you can add that in as checking info. Then you have to pay only the £3 for a search instead of the £7 for a cert you don't want. Christine

With very early births/marriages (close to 1837) you may find them listed on www.familysearch.org - which might help. But you can use various checking aids to ensure you get the right cert - Births - you can use mother's maiden name/father's name/father's occupation/exact birthdate if you know it marriage - father of bride/groom's name(s)/occupation(s) It's a good idea to check to see how many births for that person you have in the index and see which registration district is most likely - you can use info from the census to help work this out. nell

If you are not sure if you have found the correct entry, try applying to the actual register office with some checking points. If it is not the right one, and you have included a stamped addressed envelope, they will return your full fee.