Genealogy

Where do you come from?

BMDBMD

BMD

Genealogy

YourInformation

Find itYourself

Known Relatives Information

Ask them

New relatives Information

Genes Reunited

BMDInformation

CensusInformation

ParishRegisters

Information

Other SourcesOf

Information

Genealogy

CENSUSES

CIVIL BMDRECORDS

About 1840

PARISHRECORDS

GENES REUNITED

GENUKI , FHS, GOONS, ETC

GOOGLE, ROOTSWEB and OTHER LISTS

Ancestry.co.ukLDS 1881

Findmypast.com

FreeBMDAncestry

Findmypast.comLocal BMD

sites

LDS Microfiche

LDS IGI / BVRI

Genealogy

Life Events

• Births / baptisms

• Marriages

• Deaths / funerals / wills

• Adoptions

• Job changes

• Going to war

• Moving house / parish / county / country

Genealogy

Births, Marriagesand Death Records

BMD

Genealogy

Civil Registration

• Civil registration refers to when certain life events, including birth, marriage and death, are recorded by the state.

• In England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, civil registration for these life events started from different dates.

Genealogy

Births and Deaths

Marriages

England and Wales

1837 1837

Scotland 1855 1855

Ireland 1864 1845

Source: http://www.familyrecords.co.uk

Genealogy

Approximately when?

• After 1837, there was civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, you can get a certificate if you find the record in the indices

• Before 1837 there were parish records that recorded similar, but different information, namely baptisms, marriages and burials. There are no certificates to get for these events

Genealogy

What information is on birth records?

• Child’s forenames• Sex• Date of birth• Place of birth (including address)• Mother’s full name and maiden name• Father’s full name and occupation (if

married to the mother)• Name, address and relationship to the

child of the person who registered the birth

Genealogy

What information is on marriage records?

• Date of marriage• Place of marriage• Whether by banns, licence or certificate• Name and age of bride and groom• Occupations of bride and groom• Marital status of bride and groom• Current address of bride and groom• Names and occupations of the fathers of

the bride and groom• Names of witnesses

Genealogy

What information is on death records?

• Full name of the deceased• Date of death• Place of death• Given age• Cause of death• Occupation (or name and occupation of the

husband/father if the deceased was a married or widowed woman/child)

• Name, address and family relationship (if any) of the person who reported the death

Genealogy

Where to find BMD records

• You cannot view the actual birth, marriage or death certificates online or at local record offices, copies must be ordered from the General Register Office, either by post or online.

• Certificates are significantly cheaper if you provide the Register Office with some basic details about the certificate you require, referred to as the ‘GRO index’. You can get this information from a number of places.

Genealogy

Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates

• General Records Office (GRO) for England & Wales (1837 onward);

“www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/”• General Records Office (GRO) for Scotland (1855 onward); “http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/bdm.html” or

“ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk”• General Records Office (GRO) for Northern Ireland; “http://www.groni.gov.uk/index.htm”.• Cost of Certificates from these sites is normally £7 and take about 5 to 10 days to arrive

Main sources of actual copy certificates:-

Genealogy

Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates

• Local County Records Office (CRO); personal search of an individual county’s records on Microfiche

• FreeBMD.co.uk website; partially complete records of BMD with good search facility

• Ancestry.com website;

• Birth Index data included “Mother’s Maiden Name” from 1912

• Death Index data included “Age” of deceased from 1870• Death Index data included “Date of Birth” from 1970

To help one find the correct BMD index ref:-

To Obtain a Certificate, you need to accurately identify the District (Parish), Year, Quarter, Volume and Page of the appropriate Index for the person you want

Genealogy

Free BMD  This free website for post 1837 events is

being developed by volunteers and already includes many millions of entries copied from the General Register Office indexes of births, marriages and deaths. With over 170m records, it is not yet complete.

We typically use Free BMD via the internet to identify these events

Genealogy

Registration Quarters

• The indexes to the registers are quarterly rather than annually - the four quarters being known as March, June, September and December. Each of these covers the month itself and the two preceding months, as follows:

• January, February, March registrations in the March quarter

• April, May, June registrations in the June quarter • July, August, September registrations in the September

quarter • October, November, December registrations in the

December quarter

Genealogy

Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates

• Use data from other Certificates – • mother’s maiden name from Birth certificates • age at death to determine year born – not always accurate but a good guide

• Use the Census data to understand when someone was born and from the age of eldest child possibly determine marriage date.

• Use occupation to confirm identity• For Marriages, click on “Page” to see who else was married on that day; compare Christian names.

To find BMD index information:-

Genealogy

Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates

You may not be successful because:-• The ages may vary widely from census to census.  • Registration may occur up to 3 years after actual birth• Spelling and juxtaposition of Christian & Middle names.  • The Parish in the census is not the "District" used in the BMD Index• Parish boundaries changed over time; use something like

“Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers” or the “District Description” in FreeBMD to check changes• You don't get any other info from FreeBMD with which to

check whether the person you found is correct.    • The birth certificate was never raised; it was not compulsory to register birth until 1875.

Genealogy

FreeBMD Coverage Chart

Genealogy

The name, year and quarter, district, volume number and page number are the details you need to include on the application for a certificate. In many cases, FreeBMD have also made an image of the original index available to download free of charge.

Genealogy

Genealogy

Tips for searching Births indexes• Always search the quarter following the approximate birth. The legal

registration of a birth is required within 42 days so could occur in the following quarter. After that a fine could be issued – it is worth checking the next couple of quarters if you still cannot locate the birth.

• If a relative has given you the DOB of a deceased relative (e.g. 25 December 1915) and you cannot find the person in the indexes it is worth searching the same quarter in adjacent years (e.g. 1913-1917) because people tend to remember birthdays but get confused about the year of birth.

• If you are trying to work back a generation to discover a mother’s maiden name from an ancestor’s birth certificate but are having problems locating the certificate because of your ancestor’s common name (e.g. John Thomas), then search the indexes for a sibling with a more unusual name (e.g. Elias Thomas). There is more chance that you will order a correct certificate. N.B. Look on the census for siblings and approximate ages.

Genealogy

Tips for searching Marriage indexes• The indexes record each marriage under the names of both

bride and groom, so for every one marriage there will be two entries in the indexes.

• From March 1912 the spouse's name was recorded on the indexes so, if you know both names, the correct entry should be immediately identifiable. Before that date, where you know both names you will need to cross-reference any candidate entries against the other surname to see if there is a match.

• You are looking for a name match first and foremost but need to verify this against the registration district, volume and page number, which will always be identical.

• It is sensible to search under the more distinctive of the two names, unless you believe that this surname is at serious risk of being mis-spelt or being subject to spelling variation.

Genealogy

Tips for searching Deaths indexes

• A death should be registered within 5 days but again late registration can occur as a result of e.g. an inquest.

• Deaths are registered in the district the death occurs not necessarily where the deceased was buried or lived.

Genealogy

Explaining unusual things that come up on birth certificates

• No father listed (illegitimacy)• Informants - the informant of a birth was usually the

mother. The father, if married to the mother, could also be the informant.

• Anyone present at the birth such as a female relative, or the midwife could act as informant.

• The owner or 'occupier' of the house or institution where the birth took place could also register the birth.

• Names can change, i.e. a child may be registered as ‘male’ or ‘female’ or be given additional names later when baptised.

• All the mother’s previous names may be given (i.e. maiden, previous married name)

Genealogy

Explaining unusual things that come up on marriage certificates

• ‘Of full age’ (means over 21)• Ages may be wrong (i.e. bride may give her

age as 21 as she did not need her parents’ consent to marry)

• Father may be recorded as ‘deceased’, but if father is not listed as deceased it does not necessarily mean he was alive at the time of the marriage. Don’t assume!

• Marital status of couple is given, e.g. widow, widower. But do treat with caution – remember bigamy can occur!

Genealogy

• Decay

• Wasting

• ‘Old age’

• Phthisis (tuberculosis, consumption, TB)

• Syncope (sudden loss of consciousness)

• The genealogist's resource for interpreting causes of death: http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/

Causes of death – commonly used terms on 19th century death certificates

Genealogy

Where do you come from?