Find Ancestors

Fuerther to Sylvia's advice re seaching GRO's new index.

Set the date range at +/-2, and go thru the base date in steps of 5years, e.g.:
1839+/-2, 1844+/-2, 1849+/-2, 1854+/-2, 1859+/-2, etc..
Don't put in any forename. You have to search each date twice, once for males and once for females.
If you're getting too many hits - they come 50 per page - you can limit it to some rego district, like, say, Wigan.
However, if you suspect some births were in Wigan and some in the adjacent Leigh, then you can use their common volume number to limit your hits.
The volume number in this example was 21 thru 1851q4 (usually written in roman as XXI in the printed index, then 8c from 1852q1 thru 1915 (when the new index stops). This doesn't always work nicely, e.g., 25/10b covers Northumberland (including the detached portion of Co Durham around Berwick pre-1845), plus Cumberland and Westmoreland, whilst 24/10a covers Co Durham (with the aforementioned exception) - I have several rellies who lived at various times in Newcastle and Gateshead.

You might also check out the local indexes at http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd
Some of these have the mum's maiden surname pre-1911q3. For Wigan/Leigh, these are now in a common rego district, and the local indexes give the mum's m.s. thru 1950-ish at http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/
If I search there, I don't have to worry abt sex of child, and can search for a block of years by clicking on the first year, and holding the shift key down when I click on the last year.

Similarly, post-1911q2, I can search on FreeBMD, and click on Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and hold the control key down when I click on Gateshead - alternatively, I can click on Northumberland and hold the control key down when I click on Co Durham.

This use of the shift/ctrl keys is common PC stuff, so apologies if it's a bit egg-sucky, but I'm sure there are some folk who don't know this.

Many thanks for your help. Helen

If the children were born after mid-1911, go to the Freebmd site

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

It's free

Click on Births

Enter father's surname and mother's surname, and a year range.


You should then get children born.

The only problem is if your great uncle and greeat aunt have common names so there are several couples.


If the births were before mid-1911, go to the new GRO Index which has just been issued and shows the mother's maiden name from the start of registration on July 1 1837 to 1915/16.

.gov.uk/gro/content/

You have to register, but it is free

Click on Order certificates online, and then follow instructions

Helen, if you give us some names and dates, I'm sure there are those only too willing to help
Derek

How best do I find children of an ancestor? Im trying to find children for my great aunty and know there are two. I can find details for both the parents but have no idea where to go to find children..

Thanks in advance.

Helen