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M,

You have to do a bit of detective work! Can you give the names you had a problem with and I will see if I can help?

You buy the cert........or you look at all the names for the qtr and reg'n district......and do some detective work.............based on known info

Reg

How do you get on when there's an odd number on the page, and the missing bride or groom's name is the one you are after? It's happened to me twice.

................... or their names!

Ray

What the person who did the lookup for you could have done on freebmd was put Stoneadge as the Surname and Louisa as the Spouse's first name which would probably have just brought up the one result. The search facility on freebmd is very versatile.

Also, never assume something happened in a particular place - our ancestors had a habit of not marrying where we thought they would have and even changes their places of birth from one census to another - not to mention their ages!

Hi Debs
+ others

I think the person that did the lookup knew that the brides first name was Louisa from the 1891 census and I asked for the surname Stoneadge so they put 2 and 2 together. I think I expected them to marry in Hampshire which is why I couldn't find the marriage on freeBMD.

Thanks for explaining what ancestry do have.

I think I am wise in not subscribing to something that is available free elsewhere.

Cheers

Ray

Although Ancestry claims to have all bmds up to 2006 it isnt complete or there are mistranscriptions.

I cant find a marriage in 1940 that I have found on the local reg office site

Ray


What ancestry carries is downloaded by them from www.freebmd.org.uk .......... and they are always a few months behind!! Thy have not done any transcribing themselves .... and I think it is cheek for them to charge for something that can be accessed for free on the original site!!


Ancestry does have the1983 to 2006 bmds, which are yet not uploaded on freebmd. I am not sure who has transcribed them.

And ancestry does have the Complete Indiex to all bmds .... which is just that an index.

It has to be searched quarter by quarter year by year for the name.

If you are looking for a marriage, the Index has to be searched twice, once of each partner. The early records on the index are just like the bmds on frrebmd .... they do not show the name of the partner in a marriage and they do not show the mmn until after a certain date.


I prefer to use freebmd for the 1837 onwards .............. it is more upto date than ancestry, and why get it second hand?? Thye have currently transcribed up to about 1920, and even 1930 for some areas.


Freebmd is also free!!!


You find the possible second partner on freebmd (or on ancestry) by clicking on the page number. That takes you to a second screen where there are (usually) 4 names. Then it is a matter of elimination to find out who goes with who ..... usually by checking on the next available census.


hope this explains things


sylvia

Hi Ray,

This is what comes up.


William Barker 1890 Apr-May-Jun Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


William Jonathan Breed 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Maria Jane Catlin 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Maria Jane Cattin 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Henry James G Fairfield 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Maria Gibson 1890 Apr-May-Jun Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Lucy Mary Hiver 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Lucy Mary Hives 1890 Oct-Nov-Dec Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Ada Emily Illman 1890 Apr-May-Jun Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex


Louisa Kidgell 1890 Jan-Feb-Mar Islington Greater London, London, Middlesex




We have 3 couples here. As you can see, some of them are double-ups due to spelling errors.


Whoever did the look-up for you would have looked for your man's name and his wife's forename from this list.


Ancestry doesn't figure out who married who. They just simply transcribe names with same index references.

It's the GR members who do the look-ups who match up the couples, usually from a later census record.



Hope this makes sense.



Deb:)

Ray,

Not sure what your request was, but sometimes it's possible to work out the correct bride and groom by using the census records also. Perhap this is what your helper did.

Rose

Hi Deb

They must have more access than just the Volume and Page Number. I went and looked at the volume and page number on freeBMD after someone had supplied the details on GR and your try and work out how they knew which was the bride and groom:-

1890 Islington 1b 345

There is no way you can work out who married who.

So how did ancestry know?

Ray

Hi Ray,

What ancestry transcribes from marriages pre 1911 are the names of all who marry in same district, quarter/year. They all have the same registration details.

So, quite often you'll see 2-3 couples listed under the same ref index.

Ancestry doesn't have access to the actual certificates.




Deb:)

Hi Deb

The reason I specified 1837-1911 is because the mother's maiden name and spouses surname were added after 1911, so it is easy to work out who's who.

To work out that information from the GRO index before that period would mean that someone would have to buy the certificate, it therefore follows that ancestry must have access to certificate information prior to 1911 doesn't it?

Ray

Most of them are now transcribed up to the late 1920's. I've even seen some up to mid 1930's. They're slowly getting there!



Deb:)

But not all of the indexes have been transcribed, so a lot of them means trawling through page by page

Hi Ray,

Ancestry has the complete collection of BMD indexes from 1837-2006.



Deb:)

Hi

I asked for a marriage lookup yesterday and the date was 1890. How did ancestry.com get that information? Have they got access to all 1837-1911 certificates?

Just curious.

Cheers

Ray