Genealogy Chat

Hi - thanks Heather, now understand but I take your point, we are normally ordering the certs. to clarify a maiden name or such like - have had same thing on another set of family, looked forever for a George only to discover him on the 1841 cencus when I joined Ancestry that he was a John!!! but suspect his father was a John so guess he liked George - so I think I would rather spend the £7 and keep to 1 side. regards Gill

Hi, well when you order through the GRO site you can ask for a check on points - like if you order a marriage cert and def know the father of the groom is called Alexander,(youve seen it on the census as that) you can specify that as a checking point.. They check if the father is shown as Alexander, and if not, they dont send the cert and only deduct £4 from your credit card saving you 3 quid. Trouble is, sometimes this could lose you a correct certificate when you have the wrong info. Say dad is really Fred but likes the name Alex and uses that in every day circumstances?? For example, as I mentioned, I sent off for a Birth Certificate for an Ellen Jenkins, (father Thomas mother Ellen). I got the certificate - aaargh, mother shown as Harriett. Bunged it to one side then went back over the information and now that I had 'Harriet's' maiden name, Hutton, traced her backwards. And erm, yes her name was indeed Harriet not Ellen and she was from the right village in Berkshire but living in London and yes she would have been near Windsor when Thomas Jenkins was a guard stationed at Windsor Barracks. I then found and sent for their marriage cert - Thomas Jenkins to Harriet Hutton. So, if I had specified I only wanted the birth cert if it had 'Ellen' as mum I would never have traced Harriets line at all. Not to mention trawling for ever for a marriage between a Thomas Jenkins and a non existent Ellen.

have just got my first cert. thru - pleased to say mine was correct one - needed to confirm which Louisa was my Gt. Grandmother - I notice that you are talking about checking refs. and refunds if wrong certs ordered???!!! Can someone explain about this for me? thanks Gill

Sharon isnt it a shame we cannot just ring the GRO and ask them to check the details for us before they take the money, I know some do but some are very unhelpful.

Valerie, Done the same myself....... :( David blinking Dean.... Grrr..... I don't think anyone registered him before he married.. Maybe I should have added his name to my son but how was I to know 15 years ago! Really felt like GRRRRR........ He doesn't want to be found :(

thats so easy to do isnt it , I have already ordered the certs and I nearly did the same thing .I would have really been fed up .

\\\\\ Me Too, I bin there..........waited three weeks, then got the dreaded email............refund,,,,,,,,,,,I'd put her Pluudy maiden name instead of the name she died with.. Bob

you are wonderful I have never been able to confirm which birth is his but now I see the H in his name I reckon you are right so will be sending for his birth cert and their marriage cert too blow the expense I need to know the minute I do I shall put a post on here , either good or bad thanks so much..

Valerie, have you ever seen this birth entry (on FreeBMD)? Births Dec 1872 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knight John Thomas H Islington 1b 329 And this marriage: Marriages Dec 1897 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edwards Walter Joseph Bethnal G. 1c 318 GOOZEE Alice Bethnal G 1c 318 Knight John Thomas H Bethnal Green 1c 318 LAPPING Esther Bethnal G. 1c 318 What is the mother's name on the birth certificate that you are unsure about? Is it Alice Knight, formerly Goozee? Anyway, the birth entry certainly makes it look possible that your John was a John Thomas Henry, doesn't it? So don't despair just yet! Kate.

sorry late replying got so despondant did some gardening instead, now that is bad. I am trying to find what happened to Sarah Emily Sigston Born 1851 Regents Park St Pancras to a John Thomas Keen born 1850 Bethnal Green married September 1869 St Pancras then no trace of them on any census cannot find a death for either of them. Several people on here kindly found a Sarah Emily Keen had married in 1877 to a Samuel Scott so we thought oh she had remarried but its the wrong Sarah. The other one would you believe is a John Thomas Knight born 1873 Islington I thought I had found his marriage to a Alice but could not find the marriage cert so sent for a sons birth cert instead which I am still not sure is right ,as the father is a John Thomas Henry Knight and I have never seen Henry in his name before but he is a Cabinet maker Journeyman and his Father was a Cabinet Maker, trouble is there are so many Keens and Knights , trust my lot to be common. I would love somebody to find either a marriage for John Knight or a death or cesus for John Thomas Keen with Sarah Emily or without each other.Thanks for listening feel better now.

If its any consolation, I just ordered 3 certs to help with moving my research on. Felt very smug, especially as delivery time is 28th June, so not too long to wait. I remembered to make a note of what I'd ordered. New bank card too so glad new number worked, etc. then i realised on one of the certs I put the WRONG surname. Dumb or what! nell

DON'T DO IT VALERIE !!!!!!!!!!!! Just think - You can make at least three people VERY happy if you put the details up on here !! - Worth the £21 I think. I only had 1 wrong one (which wasn't my fault - It was GRO who didn't do what was requested, BUT - It linked up with 2 people on here and that made me feel MUCH better. - Not the wasted £7., but 2 people moved forward in their research. Perhaps I am sad, but £3.50 each, to make people happy made it seem worthwhile. Dea x

I've ordered my first 6 or 7 from the UK so I hope they're right. The couple of ones I ordered in Aus were right but they were only for marriage and deaths, births are back in the UK. Talk about my family making it difficult for me. I've more family in the UK than in Aus. Keep your chin up, there's likely to be a link somewhere. Especially when you had cousins etc with the same names. Gypsyjoe

I'm just waiting for my first 2 certificates to arrive, oh God I hope they're right......

I stupidly did not give a checking ref I will do in future though thanks for al your help it has given me new hope

morning Heather. I wouldnt really do that too much of a coward I am. Whats strange is one of them a birth cert names the father as a Cabinet maker journeyman, and he was. Oh my God it is the right one I think !!!!! I am so stupid hoorah hoorah hoorah

Valerie It may not be quite as bad as you think. My cousin sent off for a cert got wrong one. Hers was sent to someone else and vice versa just a possibility this may have happened with yours. Pat

Oh Val! What a terrible thing to say! As Kate says, you have paid out to eliminate - put a positive slant on it. But hang on to the certs because Ive discounted one totally and then later gone back and realised that the daft girl (named as mother) had given a different name on all the census but in fact it was the right cert.

I am only back on here because I didnt have enough Tablets to do it. Thanks for your responses isnt it terrible when that happens?? I am usually very impatient and sometimes do take a chance, but this time I didnt I have been checking them for months , finally arrived at what I thought were the right ones and it isnt.I am so disappointed today I could cry BUT I WONT I WILL GO ON

Oh Val I do sympathise, same thing happened to me a few weeks back, only the one though, but still a pain!! there were four to choose from and I picked the most likely one, got the GRO to check out the other three, and it was none of them, the damn child wasn't registered!!! Grrrrr