Genealogy Chat

Loobylou - on the Tips for Newbies it does tell you that registration (certificates) didnt start til Sept 1837 and even then events like births werent compulsory to register until 1875.

To find people before the 1841 census - first you hope that they were born after 1837 and that their birth is registered (check freebmd) and you buy the certificate which will give the parents details.

If no birth, you hopefully have them marrying after 1837 and you look for and buy the marriage cert.

If you come to a complete impasse - you look at parish records. Very few are on the internet - you will at some point have to consult the local office and look at films and fiches.

Yes use the parish records which are free to search on the IGi. that is what the thread at the top of the tips page is about. Look for his children's christenings and his marriage.
When you use freebmd to look for the births and marriages it was supposed to start in 1837, but until the mid 1870's many events were not registered so you won't find them. You will only find them in the parish records.

I posted this this morning to help someone else, so I will put it here as well

The 1881 census is completely free to view on the Mormon site
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng

Also on this page, you will find the IGI, this lets you search for births marriages and deaths transcribed from the original parish records. You need to be careful though because some of the records on this site have been submitted by ordinary people and can be wrong.

To search for say a christening fill in the information on this search page on the IGI tab. It will come up with some suggestions. If you find one, you can also look for siblings. Open up the info on that child and look to the bottom left, where it will say batch number. Click on this number and a second search page opens. Fill in just the fathers name and search. It will show other possible siblings born in the same church.

Sometimes you get no results from the IGI. This may be because that church may not have been transcribed for the years you want.. To find out if it has been, use the Hugh Wallis Batch numbers.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm#Menu
Choose the country you want and then the county. Then the place, you will see which years have been transcribed, click on one and a search box opens, put the surname in, or leave it blank to see all the events in that church.

As you get further back, you will need to look at the original parish records, very few are available on line, you usually have to visit the county records office. To find out where your records are use.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/

Choose the country you need, then the county. The county pages are different, depending on who compiled them, but most have lots of useful links on them.


If you find the records you want are not on the internet, you have to go to a county records office to be able to look at the film of the records yourself. If you can't do that because it is too far away, you can sometimes order a copy of the film to be sent to your nearest LDS centre. to do this read below

LDS centres

Open the page www.familysearch.org/Eng/
From the blue bar across the top, choose Family History Library Catalogue, then place search.
Use the search box to look for the village you need. You can then see which films the LDS hold, but have not been transcribed yet (compare them with the Hugh Wallis Batch numbers).
You can then order the relevant micro film to your nearest LDS centre.
To find your nearest centre, go back to the original blue search bar and choose Family History Centres. You need to go in person to order the film, there is a small charge.

thanks i have now been trying to read someof the info about searching etc.
can you tell me how i would find out details before the 1841 census listed on here please?
everything i have searched for on freebmd comes back negative! the only time it was a positive was when i gave all the info - i was just checking it did work!
i am trying to find out about my g g grandfather, but the only info i have is on the 1841 census and it does not include his wife, just some of his children.
any tips on how/what/where to search gratefully appreciated.
many thanks
Louise

i hope im not in your little black book ive tried to answer all the posts i put up and so far all you good peeps have been very good to me. keep up the very good work and thank you very much
fran

Have you read the Tips for Newbies thread?

Louise look at the very first thread on the top of the Tips Board,
it is called Newbies and the IGI. It is there permanently to help new people

Linda

ok, just been reading through all of these - apart from the ones that have been deleted (is it because they are naughty messages or what?).
i am very new to this and have had help already, but i have always posted thank you's via the thread - because apart from anything else it was the only way i knew how to do it!
but a question from glen in the worrying knickers(!) what is IGI?
i think sometimes you forget when it comes to dealing with novices that your lingo can leave us guessing. i only worked out what pm was the other day - thought it was something to do with the afternoon if you see what i mean.
i have had help, as already said, but i have also asked for advice about where to look for missing info etc, as i said in my thread, it's great to get the missing stuff but it is even more thrilling if you can find it yourself.
i have been onto the freebmd site, but have not yet managed to come up with any answers for questions when i only have partial information.
anyway, i would just like to thank everyone again who has taken the time and trouble to help me and i will probably have to ask again in the future, but please do remember us newbies are not au fait with the lingo.
Oh and thanks for the tips about the board i now don't have to search through all the messages to find mine due to all this i have just read.
please keep helping
Louise

Blimey Glen, it must be a week for it, threads are disappearing quicker than a rabbit in Paul Daniels house.

On top of that, why is it some people refuse to see the facts - like they have decided what the line is and then try to force bits of sky jigsaw into the cottage roof

Scream ............................

Come on then H,

found a bigger book seeing as you have found some more to add. PMSL.

Glen

Thank you keith

I read the threads often, and i know how hard people work on these look ups, I tried it myself I just could not get used to the way ancestry worked, many people have helped me in the past for which i am greatful for.

When naming my thread temptation got the better of me as I thought it was funny, and would bring a smile.

No offence taken GG.

sorry i thought it was funny, thought it would give you a chuckle

no offence intended.

Never seen that one before Glen lol

Just to clarify the Glen/Glenda question.



I'm not the Glen that became Glenda, i look better in tinsel knickers than she would anyway!!!

I have been researching my tree for just under three years, had a good year off from Genes and came back a few months ago, it just seems to you lot that i have been around longer than i really have. (is that good or bad?).

Most of the time now i spend working on some bits and bobs for another site as well as researching my tree and adding to stuff on here from time to time.



Now my tu'pence worth;

The reason i stumped up the sub again was in response to a thread where a well intentioned piece of advice was so badly wrong it was almost a crime to post it.

I pm'd the thread originator with a couple of links to guides elsewhere and some general advice, three weeks later i had a reply to let me know the outcome, All sorted and proven with two hours in the bmd, one cert plus an electoral roll lookup for 1921.

Now my gripe,

Regularly the advice given re missing bmd entries and the source of certificates is "suspect" and often folks are led to believe that if the answer isn't on the internet then it doesn't exist. Before the internet was around folks still researched their trees, admitedly it was a lot slower process but the internet is just a research tool, it doesn't have every answer to every problem but you would think otherwise when you view the boards.

The problem with helping though is that often unless you give the 100% accurate answer with a cast iron guarantee that it is exactly right then folks don't want to know how or where to look for themselves, they just want the answer.


At the risk of upsetting folks i do find the "can't look, won't look" brigade are more prominent on the boards now then ever before.

Ancestry isn't cheap but libraries often offer free access, certs aren't cheap but folks throw money at ref checks through the GRO when they are free at local offices but from the replies you see on the boards you would think that the GRO is the only place you can order a certificate and the IGI is the only source of pre 1837 records.

I have certs from local offices that never made the GRO index, without using the alternative option (that is rarely mentioned on GR) my tree would have stopped at my great granparents (it goes back to my 8xgrt g/parents on one line and 6xgrt on another)

Apart from the internet i have used records offices, libraries, local newspapers, family history societies and local history groups, sometimes directly and sometimes via other folks on internet sites but the internet iwas used as a tool to locate sources of info, it wasn't going to get me the answers.

Above all, when i need the assistance of others at least i try and give them some help (information) in order to help me.


UPDATE


We now appear to have a sea front brickwall posted in one thread. Is that a first???

Glen

If any acknowledgement is posted directly on the thread then everyone can see you have checked back.

Although I love getting a pm it is not always obvious as to which thread or which person I have helped.

Which way does ones reply to say thank you? I always click the reply button but would people prefer a personal message by clicking on the name?
I just know that I say thank you and hope that I can help others the way that the brilliant people on here have helped me.

So many of the requests are like doing a jigsaw but with a piece missing.

You hunt high and low for the missing piece, asking questions, then the member has one more piece of info that was not given in the original request.

Margaret,

I wonder if it's because they maybe cannot find the information you want, despite searching.
Even for the more experienced members, they can't find every single thing they'd like, because sometimes the answers are just not there!

K

Edited....Margaret I've just seen your thread of last night asking for help, and some kind folk have provided information of where you can search.

Edited later....this was in response an above thread which Margaret has since deleted.

Can I just say......What may seem a simple exercise to the more experienced researcher, can seem like a mountain to the less initiated member.

I do not think laterally, the cryptic crossword is beyond me until I read the answers, then the clue seems so very obvious. So please understand that we all bring differing skills to this hobby and that way we can help each other.

Not so bright at times, Kathlyn

Nope he isnt - Glen has spent years tracking this huge family of half siblings down and done a fantastic job. I have to say guys, Ive seen Glen in the flesh and he definitely would not pass as a Glenda.