General Chat

Has anyone any suggestions on where to find BMD records prior to 1837 ?

I have come up to brick walls going back any further....Being in Australia I am not too familar with places in the UK and so can't pinpoint different shires and counties...
The internet is great if you know where to look, but otherwise....???.

Wendy

The IGI at Family Search is your best bet- they have parish records going back to the beginning.

Thanks Mick,

I will give it a go...

Wendy

Keep an eye on FreeREG --

http://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl

It's totally spotty right now, but one day. I actually had the huge and amazing great luck, just a few weeks ago, to find that my greatx4 grandparents' marriage in a little place in Wiltshire in 1781 has been transcribed into the database! And that he was a witness at another wedding, and there's another marriage for the same surname in the same place 25 years later that I have to try to figure out.

Also, try county-specific organizations and sites.

The only one I'm really familiar with myself is the Devon Family History Society, which has a discussion board where people will do lookups in the parish record collections that the DFHS itself sells. Just google the county name and "family history".

Or, of course, the On-line Parish Clerks --

http://www.onlineparishclerks.org.uk/

Once again, I had the huge good fortune that the OPC for a tiny Cornwall parish where another family of mine had long roots has transcribed and made available on line every BMD in the parish records.

You never know, you might be as lucky, or almost. ;)

Hi Kathryn B...

As before, you are a wonderful font of knowledge...and that is meant in the most nicest way...What I would do without your help, is not worth mentioning...
Thank you, thank you, thank you..

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

There's this site you could try

http://www.cyndislist.com/

or there's a thread on here you could try

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=972327

Thanks DiddyDoris :-)
Wendy

Which county are you interested in Wendy?

Hi Susan,

From what I have found so far, most of my rellies seem to have come from Brighton, Sussex and Leeds in Yorkshire. They mostly settled in London, Lewisham and Deptford...Although I do have one of my great Grandfathers born in Africa...I haven't looked too much in that area yet!

Wendy

Belated yr welcome, Wendy -- I only know the stuff I need to know, that I've stumbled on or some other kind soul has passed on, and we don't seem to overlap in terms of regions. Amazing, since I have Cheshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Cornwall, Devon, Essex, Wiltshire, Bristol, Surrey ... and of course unknown ... and that's only back to about 1800!

You could also try

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm#Menu

This will take you directly to the Individual Parish registers of the IGI

Thanks Susan, I will give it a try...

Wendy

Are you having problems with one particular person Wendy?

All I can say Kathryn...is thank goodness people like yourself are around, and so helpful, knowledgable and sharing...I don't know how I would find anything without the guidence so freely given...hopefully one day I might be able to help others in the same way...Kudos to you..

Wendy :-)