General Chat

Thanks all. I have seen the box for "phonetic" search, but haven't used it so far. In my head, all my ancestors spelt their name correctly on censuses and such, but then I have to remember that they weren't necessarily filling in the form themselves. I have only got back to the 1800's on my tree, and imagine that, when I am looking for earlier records, the phonetic search will come in very handy.

I know what you mean about Lilly etc Mr IGP, I eventually found a birth for one of mine, and her actual name tuned out to be Lilla. :-D

I had similar problems with other Lilly`s in my tree as well, they seemed to be spelt differently in every census... :-S

The trouble is that many people assume that search engines on Genealogy sites work like google. which attempts to find anything which vaguely resembles any of the criteria you specify.

They dont.!

With minor exceptions, they will only return a result when ALL the criteria you enter is matched in full, which is why less is often better.

Always use wildcards where you can. I spent years looking fro someone called Norah, only to learn she was actually called Nora. Nora* would have found her straight away.

Lil*y gets you Lily, Lilly. Liley, Lilley, Bag*t get Baggott, Bagot, Baggot, Bagott, . Bet*ridge Betridge, Bettridge, Beteridge, Betteridge, and so on and so forth

Free BMD has a bulilt in wilcard for christian names, but not surnames, in that it effectively adds an * to anything you type in, so typing Lil is in effect Lil* which get Lily, Lilly, Lilian, Lillian etc.

Family Search also uses a type of soundex search, unless you specify otherwise which can be a mixed blessing.

Thanks PigletsPal.

Good point PP,

I also use the "Phonetic search surnames" I when i cannot find someone that i no should be their

Roy

Another thing to consider when using FreeBMD is that less is more

So you have Sarah Jane Smith born Battersea 1875

I would recommend that you only put in Sarah Smith for location choose Surrey (if using counties) and then a year search from 1873 - 1876 - then form there you can shorten the odds again

it is often the case that you will need to put in several search options for some people whereas others will turn up with little or no effort.

Another thing to consider when using FreeBMD is that less is more

So you have Sarah Jane Smith born Battersea 1875

I would recommend that you only put in Sarah Smith for location choose Surrey (if using counties) and then a year search from 1873 - 1876 - then form there you can shorten the odds again

it is often the case that you will need to put in several search options for some people whereas others will turn up with little or no effort.

Potty. Thanks very much for that. I have tried the freebmd site again for births, and had great success, so my earlier attempt must have failed because the records are not on their system yet.

I will have a look at the other sites you mention and see if I can get my family further back. I think it should have been law from the year dot that every family kept their birth, marriage and death records in a well-preserved family bible, to be passed down to each generation! If only ...

Gillian, freebmd is not complete look at the coverage statistics on the site to see if the years you are looking for covered.

There are free sites to help before 1837/1841. As well as freebmd, there is freereg (parish records for baptisms and marriages) and familysearch, also for baptisms and marriages. Some areas also have "online parish clerks" with transcriptions of parish records (Lancashire is expecially good) - google "online Parish Clerks" to find them all.

Parish records do not give as much info as later BDM - mother's maiden name is not usually given for baptisms and fathers are not given for marriages.

As mentioned above, if you need specific help, post a request on the Find Ancestors board - lots of people on there ready and willing to help.

LollyWithSprinklez. Thank you. I just tried to find my cousin's children on FreeBmd, by putting in the family name and the mother's maiden name, as you have suggested. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but FreeBmd showed no results, yet I know my cousin had two children. Am I doing something wrong?

PigletsPal. Thanks for your advice. Yes, maybe I should have taken out a subscription, but, at the beginning, I didn't know that it would cost so much to find so little out. Neither did I realize how many relations I would have in my tree!

I'm virtually at a standstill now, because, with no censuses before 1841, I can't trace the parents and families of the oldest ancestors I've got. That being the case, my expenditure with GU should be considerably reduced!

Seriously if you are paying out a lot of money for credits on any site - you really need to look at how much you are spending on these and consider the cost of these against taking out subs for 6months or 1 year to a site like Ancestry or Findmypast (personally would not waste money on this site!).

When I first started out I too was paying out a fortune in credits then sat down and worked out that I would have SAVED money if I had just taken out a sub.

I now have subs to both Ancestry and Findmypast and could not do without either. I have just the basic membership in here. :-)

FreeBmd is also useful for looking for children born to the couple after Sept Q 1911,

Use the family name and the mothers maiden name and all likely births for the area will come up, You may have more than you bargain for with common names and have to narrow it down.


Edit: Sorry Roy just spotted you added that info

jax. I might have gone to the wrong place. It was the Find Ancestor website at www.findancestors.co.uk. All that happens there is, they give you a list of websites offering the service you want, like census searches, and you have to pay if you want to see who else is in your relative's house at the time.

Porkie_Pie. That was a really useful tip. Thank you. I've already found my great-great uncle's wife. freebmd here I come! Well, tomorrow, anyway, it's way past my bedtime now.

Thanks both again

If you go to freebmd then as with GR the mmn for births and names of who married whom

these are available because what was recorded on the index changed in September 1911 to include mmn for births and spouse surname on marriages

this info is free on freebmd

to find out the full name of who married who click on the page number on freebmd

Roy

Thats why it is best to have an all inclusive subscription in the long run

Not sure what you mean by you went to the ......Find Ancestor page and saw a site advertising free census details. I tried it, but as soon as I asked to see what was under my ancestor's listing, up came the box, asking me to pay.

Where on the find ancestors page was this?

To jax and Cynthia.

No, wait. I can get birth and death records for free, as long as I don't want to look at the actual record. I could do the same with the marriage records, but with later marriages, you can sometimes see who married whom when you pay to see the record.

What I've paid a lot for are the census records. You have to pay to see a note that says that your ancestor is in a particular year's census. Then you have to pay again to see the typewritten transcription of who was in the house with them. Then you pay again to see the actual census form, which sometimes has more information on it than in its transcribed form.

I've also spent a lot looking at newspaper archives. When you look at the list of entries for a particular name, some listings are pretty garbled, presumably because the scanner had difficulty reading that part of the newspaper. If you think it might be interesting and connected to you, you have to pay to see it.

I went to the Find Ancestor page and saw a site advertising free census details. I tried it, but as soon as I asked to see what was under my ancestor's listing, up came the box, asking me to pay.

Are any of these sites really free?

I have given you the birth, marriage and death one above

Familysearch is another good one

https://familysearch.org/

Just to add I spend over £300 a year on subscriptions so not everything is free

Thank you, Cynthia and jax, but oh no, I've spent hundreds on finding all my relatives! I didn't know there were free sites. Can I be cheeky and ask you to send me a link to a free site? Ooohhh, I could kick myself!

Gillian, like jax, I never use the records on here - there are loads of free sites.

if you get stuck, why not post a query on the Find Ancestors board? Lots of members willing to do searches for you. Good luck.

If these births, marriages or deaths are before 1960ish you should not be using credits on any site when it is Free here

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/