Genealogy Chat

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I sent for a cert from the Ashbourne, Derbyshire Register Office. They rang me this morning and said that within two days, me and another person have requested the same cert. This person was in Bradford. She asked if I had family in Bradford that was doing the same tree. I replied, not as I know about. She has rung the other person as well and left a message and has asked my permission to give my address etc to the other person. Of course I said yes!!! As the registrar said, unless one of us is on the wrong track, we have a connection somewhere. So, anyone reading this: If you have very recently sent for a birth cert for Mary Ann Harrison born 1861 from the Ashbourne Register Office, hello cousin!!! Margaret

How cool is that! I wouldn't have thought they'd have even bothered about it. Just goes to show some people really do care about the work they do :)

Hi Margaret Very impressive! Then again, I've been incredibly impressed all round with the service from all the register offices within the Derby area since I started this. I mailed a request for a death cert on Monday and it came yesterday! Lou

Wonderful! In my experience they really seem to enjoy helping me! :) Joy

I really wish Manchester were that good. I sent off letter and cheque on 14th Jan. On Monday 31st I got a phone call asking which registration district the birth was in as their office covers Manchester, Chorlton and Prestwich. I told the lady Manchester, just as I had put in my letter. I had even given the GRO ref in the letter as a bit of extra info. I was expecting the cert on Tuesday as they were obviously dealing with my request. It's now Friday and I still haven't got it. It would have been quicker to do it online!

Why didn't my rellies come from that area?. Ive been waiting ages from certs from Liverpool.

How fantastic Margaret!! This sounds like a case of good old fashioned customer service skills!! We need more of it.....Brilliant!! Dawn

Helen - just to let you know that the GRO ref won't mean a thing to them - so I have been told. Suffolk and Buckinghamshire and Cornwall have been brilliant for me. Joy

Helen The GRO ref number isn't applicable when applying to a local register office for a certificate They have a totally different system for filing entries Lou

Barbara All you have to supply to the local office is the type of cert, name, when it happened (either quarter and year or just year will do) As much info as you know, if its a birth cert the parents (if you know them) If you give as much info as possible then they will refund in full if their details dont match yours. I have known in the past them do a 5 year search. I dont know if they still do this. They did for me years ago and didnt charge any extra either. Remember the London offices dont do this Margaret

Margaret, Are the certs you receive different in any way from the ones issued by the GRO? That was good of them though to have done that, Andy.

Andy Mine have certainly been no different to anything you would get from the GRO other than they arrive a lot faster! Barbara You can do it by e mail/over the phone with Derby as well, just the info that Margaret has stated and your card details and they mail them 1st class same day! Lou

Hi Andy, In my experience, the certificates you get from the local ROs are generally, not copies of the originals, like the GRO ones. The information is usually typed or handwritten, on to the certs, which does leave a small chance of a transcription error. I always use the local ROs where I can. Same cost, but the service is fantastic, and they go out of their way to help, if your info doesn't seem right. Debbie

My local registry office does my certificates while I wait. The quickest certificate I received was from Barrow in Furness. I posted the form on a Wednesday at lunchtime and it came back in the post on the Friday of the same week. Thats service for you. Kay

Hi I've had excellent service from a number of Local offices. Even when they said it would take several days, it still came by return! If you look on the Local BMD link on http://www.ukbmd.org.uk there's a list of sites which have on-line searching - often with a link to a part-completed application form for the cert you're after. The fees are the same as GRO, but the refs are different because the GRO is a quarterly trancription of all the Local RO lists. The GRO certs are usually photo-copies of those original transcriptions, the Local ones are usually modern transcriptions of the local record. Christine

Chris No dont think so. She told me that she hadnt managed to speak to the other person, just left a message. As she had spoken to me she asked would I like her to put me in touch with the other person as she couldnt tell me who she was. All she told me was that she had applied for the same cert as me and lived in Bradford. I'm not going to gain a lot from that info am I? Of course I said that she could pass on my address, tel and email. Margaret