Find Ancestors

Hello! I have just joined Genes Reunited and am very much the new boy in researching my family tree. I am doing very well but have a particular question that I would appreciate help on.

How can I find out the names of children born to parents, particularly after the 1911 census?

Two examples from different ages:

1. I know the names and date of marriage (1943) of two individuals but do not know how many children they had, if any. Both parents are now dead so this appears to be a dead branch of the tree unless they had offspring of which I am unaware.

2. I know from the 1891 census that other relatives had 4 children, 2 of whom had died. I know the names of the ones living from the census but how do I find out the names of the ones who died in between censuses?

grateful for any guidance

Dave

In answer to your first question, if you use Ancestry then you can use the birth index and put in the surname and mother's maiden name and see what births come up for that combination of surnames. You then look for births in the area they lived at some time after the marriage of the parents.

As for finding children who have died between census dates - that is more difficult. You can only really narrow it down by area and hopefully forenames that are used in the family on a regular basis. It's not an exact science unfortunately.

Kath. x

Thanks Kath. When you say Ancestry, do you mean Ancestry.co.uk? Have I subscribed to the wrong site? Does Ancestry give more access to records than Genes Reunited?

Dave
X

You can use FreeBMD:

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

Click on births, enter surname and mother's maiden name.

After 1911, the MMN is on the birth index.....as is the spouse's surname on the marriage index.

freebmd has records from 1837 until approx 1940 - although new records are being transcribed and added all the time

However, freebmd is unlikely at present to give you the answers you need with regard to any children of the 1943 marriage - for those you will probably need Ancestry..........or ask on here for lookups. Just give the surnames and location................

I hope that you have only taken out GR's BASIC membership...............

It does work for some, Flick. I just checked my own family using surname and mother's maiden name. It came up with my sister born 1950 but not my brother or myself.

'fraid not. Took out gold and then upgraded to platinum the day after when I found I needed access to the 1911 census. Own goal?

Interesting that Margaret. I have just done the same and, despite my being the oldest of 6 children, only the second born 1950 showed up.

however, the freebmd site seems useful even though I have not get anything out of it yet. Thanks for the lead Flick

xx

Just tried my details for 1947 both on freebmd and genesreunited. They appeared on both.-jl

freebmd's home page has a link to charts showing what has been transcribed.

David,

Will send you a private message regarding your own birth in the index. I think it is there if you are the eldest of 6 children - you will be able to say if I have the right family or not.

Kath. x

Mine isn't there, Kath, or my brother's and we're both older than sister who was born 1950 and hers is there.

Hi Margaret,

Have you tried putting your own name in the search without mother's maiden name. I only ask because I am one of 5 siblings and putting in our surname and mother's maiden name only brings up 4 of us. However when I put in my sister's name (the own who doesn't show up) on it's own without mother's maiden name she is registered - it's just that on her record our mother's maiden name is spelt with two of the letters transposed, so it doesn't come up in a search with the correct spelling of my mother's maiden name.

Other than that it could be that the two births were missed off the record sent to the GRO, or (and no offence intended) were you possibly registered in your mother's maiden name?

Kath. x

Margaret -- the spotty results for your family will be a result of spotty transcription for later dates. They're appearing on the site as and when the transcribing is done.

I sometimes check whether a particular quarter has been transcribed by just searching for "John" born in that quarter. Try that for the quarter your birth would have been registered. You may find that none have been transcribed, or just some bits of the alphabet.

Have you searched for yourself at Ancestry, MM?

David - yes, own goal. ;) The search function at this site is utter pants, and a lot of time all it gets you is access to images where something you are looking for would be, *if* it were there. Looking for children born to parents married in the 1940s is tricky as they'd still be living and so it's not really appropriate to post the parents' names here -- but anybody in this thread would likely do lookups at Ancestry if you sent a private message with the info. (Not me, I'm coming down with my No.1's bug I think, so am heading home soon, hoping it don't develop the pneumonia he has ...)

David -- actually, you can maybe do the search yourself at Ancestry even without paying. It's good to learn tricks!

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8782

England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005

Use "exact search". I searched for surname Smith, mother Jones, 1950 +/- 5 years. I got 978 results. They show the full name of the child and the county of birth, but not the year or city, and you can't see the registration details.

With less common names, you could actually just search year by year, using "exact search", in very little time. For example, surname White, mother Brown, 1950, gets me only 10 results.

A very big thank you to you all. Kath in particular has been very helpful via private e-mails and I am most grateful.

I have also subscribed to Ancestry today in the hope that I will have all bases covered. These things are not cheap and I am not entirely sure yet that they are that much different from each other. However, I have a particular problem tracking my grandfather as he does not seem to exist other than on my fathers birth certificate. My dad was born illegitimately so I am not even sure the details on the certificate are accurate. Those of my grandmother are but I have hit a major stone wall when following up on my grandfathers.
Nevertheless, I am very encouraged by the kind and generous responses I have received from the Genes community. God bless you all.

Dave
xx

Oh Kath, are you suggesting I'm baseborn? Don't you love that word? It's better than the alternative ba***rd. No, I have my parents marriage certificate, also their beautiful wedding photo. No, I think it's just that records in the 40's haven't been entered yet on FreeBMD although 1950 seems to be. No I'm just not there even entering it without MMN.

And, JC, I can no longer check Ancestry. As of today I'm no longer subscribed.

MM -- check back at Ancestry. When I expired once, they left me going for a month!

Dave, if you browse some threads on this board, you'll see that your problem isn't unique, and you'll get an idea of the things that can be tried, to find answers.

Is a father named on your dad's birth certificate? Does it match the father's name on your dad's marriage certificate?

If your dad is deceased -- or agrees, if he's living -- we could help (or at least try) a lot more if you give us the actual details: names, dates and places. Many of us have long experience with people who cover their tracks and a good track record at uncovering them, and have ideas about what to watch for, and so on.

My bugbear was my gr-grfather who didn't exist before his 1883 marriage. It took months -- and 6 years later I'm still working at it -- but I have identified him, traced his ancestors, found living descendants of his siblings -- he's a well-known tale here at GR. ;)

There's no guarantee anyone could ever solve your mystery, but we're here to try if you like!

David, my advice.....

If Janey is offering to help - take it up quick. It's about the surest bet you could have!! :0)

The researchers on here are people just like yourself and do not work for GR but give of their time freely. They are amazing and its worth subscribing to GR even if only to get their help!

Its not a cheap hobby but you will definitely get lots of help & steering here :)

Marriages pre-1912 are easiest to search on FreeBMD. They are essentially completely transcribed thru 1920q2.

For births, there are 7 incomplete quarters (in the 98-99% complete range) thru 1918q4, plus 6 incomplete quarters in the 1930s and 26 in the 1940s.