Genealogy Chat

Its a misconception to believe that BMD's are records that will provide 100% certainty about your family tree.
I have come across a few BMD certificates that do not tie up with the facts.
For example the age of a bride and groom on a marriage certificate relys on the correct information being given to the registrar at the time of registration. I have some instances of ages given by bride and groom on a marriage certificate showing to be incorrect. Was this due to illiteracy, concealment or some other means. The same with registering deaths. The information is only as accurate as the person providing it when registering an event.
Equally, you can look at a census record for a particular person and in the following census you can see that person, who you expect to be 10 years older, out by upto 3 or 4 years. Again such records relied on someone in the household entering the information correctly in an era when many persons literacy was well short of what we would expect today.

To believe that BMD's are going to be 100 % accurate as a means of providing an accurate tree is questionable. BMD's will contain errors but these are normally of less frequency that other records but the level of errors will increase with time for the reasons given above.

One strategy I have got is to draw out a basic skeleton tree of direct ancestors. Then I colour in each person that I have a birth certificate for and draw a box around the couple for whom I have a marriage certificate. So then I can see at a glance what certificates I have got, what I haven't got and then I weigh up which certificate it would be most useful to get next.

(Say, I need a marriage certificate for my 2xgreat grandparents on one side and have identified their parents on the census but on another branch I have another 2xgreat-grandfather who was at work and away from home in 1841 - personally, I would prioritise the second one because I might find a lead to a new generation. With the first example, I already have an idea regarding parentage so that is less "urgent".)

Sometimes - if you're lucky - once you get back before 1837, you can also find birthdays on the baptism records of babies (and adults - sometimes you get an adult baptism) so you have a kind of birth record you can note down from the pre-certificate era.

One other thing that's worth bearing in mind is that, post-1837, if you can get to the relevent record office, you can often look at microfilmed church marriage registers which (after 1837) follow the same format as the marriage certificate and contain basically the same information. (These can be good if you want to find details of, say, a great-great aunt who got married but can't justify spending the £7 on the certificate. If I have information passed on to me about where great-great aunty married, I can locate the relevent records in the local records office - if it's close enough to get to.)

Agree with all that has been said on certs - pretty much a must if you want to be sure that you have the right line.
It's also worthing remembering that, unlike in WDYTYA, you don't have to get all your research done in an hour. After all, the rellies were searching aren't going anywhere. I get a few certs at a time, when I can afford. I try to keep a couple of branches on the go at any one time, so while I'm waiting to get certs for one line, I can be doing some background research on another.

RobG

I'm a firm believer in getting certs. Most of my family are from Scotland so I have the added advantage of Scotlandspeople, plus I live in Edinburgh which is where the main records office is situated. Its never been a problem to get certs.

I even have most of the certs for my english side, and I even tried to get certs for my Irish side...it didnt work out cause I couldnt find him, but at least I tried.

My cousin has recently started looking into the family history, and I leant him the fairly recent paper copy certs I had to get him started, not wanting to throw all the information at him and leave him nothing to do.

I had to bite my tongue though, when he said he had got back to the 17th centuary with his mothers family, without purchasing any certs. I cant see how he can guarantee that everything is right. I didnt want to say anything though, if he wants to do it that way he can. At least I know that if he looks at my tree, its all correct and backed up

Thanks Christine i'll investigate...it would make sense to pool all our info....especially for the dodgy connections or where there are several possibilities!!!

On a few occasions when I have gone by census alone (not on direct lines) I have been shocked to find later on that Ive gone astray because someone has the same name, year of birth and same place of birth.

Without certs you cannot be 100% sure you are researching your direct line and it would be a waste of time if you werent. Cant agree it is a very expensive hobby - £7 is what a pack of ciggies virtually now days - or a couple of drinks at a pub.

If you are lucky enough to live in the same area as you ancestors and if you have time to spare, you can get copies of parish records from your local records office.

That's how I did it for my mother's family.

I was really lucky too that my paternal grandmother saved documents for that side and I have a lot of original certificates for my father's family.

You really do need to have as much proof as possible. I have an online friend whom we thought was my relation. We shared an ancestor.........until she finally bought a certificate! We then discovered that there had been two women of the same name and born the same year in the same area.
My contact had been tracing the ancestors of my family but hers were actually the other woman's.

So at all stages and for all ancestors try to back up your own research with documentary evidence. If you get a long way back you will even have to weigh up the evidence and see what evidence seems more reliable.

Sue

You can find BMDshare by Googling it. You register (free) and can then enter all the details from any certificates you have. Very quick and easy.
I have also entered those I ordered in error. They do have a section where you can sell or give these to anyone who wants them. Worth checking to see if the one you want is on there before sending for it.

The more people who use it, the more useful it will be!

How does that work christine? I've not heard of that...

I have found that a combination of both will work. I have used the info from the censuses and then sent for "strategic" certificates to confirm the information or otherwise. I too am unable to afford certs for everyone, but just one here and there can keep you on the right track.

Incidentally, I have been putting all my certificate information on BMDshare.com. If we all do it it could save someone a fortune! There are over 8000 on there now.

Well, I've got a lot of certificates for some direct lines back - I've got my great-grandad's birth certificate (on one line - I've actually got certificates for all of my great-grandparents except one) for instance, and his parents' marriage certificate but I haven't got his parents' birth certificates because they weren't registered (this was the 1840s/1850s), and I haven't got the birth certificates of his siblings because there were twelve of them.

Sometimes in parish records (both before and after 1837) I have found birth dates noted next to baptism dates so for distant cousins on the tree that are not really major enough relations in my direct ancestry to justify buying a certificate, I consider those details sufficient for now.

I only tend to get certificates that aren't on the direct line back from me if I am having trouble proving what relationship someone is to someone else. (For instance, on the 1871 census, my 3xgreat-grandparents had a gandchild living with them but none of their known children were married at the time and only two were old enough to be the grandchild's parent so I bought the grandchild's birth certificate to solve the mystery and it turn out to be my 2xgreat grandma's illegitimate son.)

I'm aiming to get as many certificates as I can for my direct ancestors but I can't afford them all at the moment so I make lists of which ones I think are most important.

Hi Norm,

Unfortunately you need to get proof of things by some means, otherwise you could be following totally the wrong family. It may not have to be via certificates, but via a visit to the local records office - but if that is not local, it is going to cost you more than the £7 to have the certificate posted to you.

I followed the wrong Holland family for ages, found a likely birth in Lancashire and chased it relentlessly, convinced it was the right family. It wasn't. Yes, my man was born in Lancashire, but his parents were totally different from the ones I was chasing.

At some point you have to spend money. Think of it like this, for every 10 hours you spend searching for the wrong person you could have earned £60 on the Tesco checkout and sent for 8 certificates instead.

Much depends on what you want from your research, and I want a complete record, so I have certificates for all my main lines and some extras (e.g. a sibling born 1838 when my relly was born 1835).

I am in the fortunate position of not being strapped for cash, cos yes it is expensive, but I liken the cost to the equivalent of my husband's football season ticket and a lot more successful!

Love

Margaret

Cheers Everyone.

I agree that Certificates are the only way to do it right. Its a shame It is such an expensive Hobby I have found!

Oh yes, as well as verfying information, the certificates are wonderful sources of extra info, names addresses, witnesses etc..and the excitement when they arrive in the post is like someone said -like christmas......my mum's being doing this for years now and i caught the bug whilst whispering at the archives, rumaging round graveyards and finding the holy grail - churches with parish registers, as a little girl. Must be in the blood !!

Slowly working back and getting certificates for my direct ancestors, as i want to know my tree is right and not just a pretty work of fiction.

Not odd at all; there are many more just like you ie me and my other half who is an OPC for some Cornish parishes. ... :-)

I agree, Keith ... :-)

The Internet is a wonderful tool for research, but, for me, and I can still recall the excitement when I said there he is!, when I found the registration for my great-grandfather, in the big book at the FRC!, nothing can replace the personal searching - though I realise that it is not possible for everyone to do this - such as when I have visited a records office and have turned over page after page of the marriage register, when I was allowed to copy as much as possible as it had not been microfilmed.
Also, nothing can replace the emotion I felt when visiting a church that still had the parish register there; actually seeing in front of me the writing. Wonderful feeling! ... :-)

Same here Joy, I started before it was all online as well. The joys of visiting the records offices and the fantastic finds like my 6x ggf second marriage licence that gave times for the marriage to take place "between 8 and 12 o'clock in the forenoon".
Also lucky enough to find the wills of my 7th and 8th x ggf the same week.

The internet makes it very easy.

I started with certificates, without which I could not have discovered anything else, and I searched for registrations for them on fiche, film or in the heavy books in the FRC; then came the census searching, before there were census online, ie searching fiche or film at records offices, libraries, the Family Records Centre in London and the three-counties CD etc.
Friends had the BVRI on CD and the 1881 on CD which were brilliant helps.
But before any of that, I read books on how to research, and I still refer to reference books.

This site: I use mainly to help others, if possible, and have made some good friends from here. My research began many years before this site was formed.

Hi Norm,
Unfortunately without certificated proof, how can you be 100% certain you are following the correct family?

I have all the major certs for my direct line and also some of the certs for the branches, such as children born and died between census dates etc found by checking parish records and then confirming with the certs.