Find Ancestors

Wish I had the time to go to local hsitory centre but mainly open when I am at work, so rather difficult. Guess what Joy, used nearly all my credits on Harnby and found the right one on my last credit on Hanby (name transcribed on one of the census), have copied all for my relative, but guess what the one I wanted did not copy and had not taken the GRO number, have put out an appeal for one credit, hope someone will take pity and look it up for me. Thanks for all your comments. Nice to know I am not alone. Maureen

Hi all I too would recomend if you can go to your local history library. They have the whole indexes on microfiche and are very pleased to help you in any way they can. Very easy to use and very quick to look through. This is how I found my Griffin relative who had been mistranscribed on the index as Griffen. So bear in mind when you are paying out to look at one page of possibles, it could be under something totally different! Angela

The reason for the three-letter index codes is because that is all the indexing that appears on the original documents. Re-indexing would be a very large exercise. It is not as bad as it seems. For example, if I want to look up 'Mary Ann Smith', I might find 50 pages of SMI. But M is half way through the alphabet, so I would start with page 26. In practice, M is past the middle, as U, X, Y, Z are little used. So I might find the entry on page 28. In the next quarter, there would be a different number of pages, but I would go to 28 50ths, e.g. page 31 if there were 55 pages. On the other hand, there may be only three pages with the letters TOW, so 'Toward' almost has to be on the first of these every time. This works very well, and I have rarely had to look at more than 2 or 3 pages to get the result I want. If you are working back from a census, normally held around the end of March, then the five quarters April one year to June the next year should produce a result for the majority of people who knew their age and reported it correctly, even allowing for the six weeks given to register a birth. There are always the exceptions, of course, who chose to lie, or genuinely didn't know when they were born, but by and large this research is manageable on 1837. Stan

I know what you mean about sooo many results after entering ONLY 1st 3 letters.. I think that was a stupiest idea .. But course, guess it's there way to make us pay for more.. Not likely THANK YOU! Why not get some of us to email them and complain?.. The more people complain the more they have to listen/read lol T

Many thanks Irene Have tried Free BMD but not located them, will try your suggestion Thanks Maureen

I have found like Helen, when you get more than 2 pages work out where you think they may be if not go the half way mark, then forward or back depending on the letters. Make a note of the page number and how many pages there are so next time you can be nearer the page. More often than not I use to find I get the page right 1st time using this method. But always check Freebmd first. Irene

Hi Jools Thanks for contacting me have e-mailed again from my own e-mail address, hopefully you should get it this time. many thanks Maureen

Maureen Go to your local main library or county record office that has the GRO indexes on microfiche. You can search these for as long as you wish for free. Exactly the same info as on 1837online. Even if you have to travel it will still be cheaper than paying out for 1837online. Not all research is done on the Internet

Hi. I've had this problem looking for Harris - same 3 letters, most I've come across is 44 pages in 1840, but I take an educated guess and start in the middle ie page 22 and then look forward or backwards - you don't need to look at all the pages. As for Brotherton - BRO - most of those pages are probably for Brown.

Many thanks to all of you, glas it wasn't Smith, the problem being since I have so much on her mother's side through about 8 years of my own research into my family, I think she thinks I can produce the same for hers in a couple of weeks, as she is in her 80's don't like to let her down but cannot afford to spend a fortune, but nice to know I am not alone. Many thanks Jools for your kind offer have e-mailed you direct. Thanks to Rose as well. Would love to do some transcribing but at the moment, work full time, as well as looking after my mother in her 80's and grandchildren every other weekend, so not much freetime and I expect that they do not want some one to tke 6 months or so, hopefully in a couple of years time I can volunteer. Maureen

Hi Maureen, Don't know if this will help but there are a couple of Brotherton's on the Yorkshire BMD site. No Harnby's though. I can understand your frustration with the 1837 site. Rose

Why don't you do some transcribing for freebmd? The more people who transcribe for it, the more information there will be on there free. I have been doing it for a few months now, and once I got the hang of the computer side, I really enjoy doing it, and feel like I am putting a little bit back in to help others. One perk is that it has also improved my typing!! Maggy

Isn't there a rival pay site, that is offering full surname searchable indexes. Can't remember the site though

I think 1837 should be like Freebmd by name search, It's awful the money they get out of us but the thing is they know that we will use it no matter what the cost. Debbie

hi maureen im trying to find my g grand parents marraige both had common names Taylor and Brown and i dont know the year could be anywhere between 1920-1928 to many pages to look at, they must make some money on this tracy

MAureen - I have births all quarters of 1856, 1857 and q1/1858 which cover Harnby. What are you looking for? Jools

There's no magic trick Maureen, just educated guesses I'm afraid. This is the big disappointment with 1837, only being able to enter the first 3 letters of a surname,I hate to think of how much I have spent in comparison to the relevent info I have obtained. Just think of the SMI & JON searches, it must be a nightmare not worth attempting. Wishing you luck Sam

Hi I have just been on the 1837 site to look up information for a relative in Australia tring to trace her and her husband's family tree in the Name Harnby apparently their are about 55 to 65 pages per quarter for every birth in the years 1856 -1858 and 40 -60 pages in the name Brotherton, how ridiculous is that, has anyone else encountered this problem it would cost £5 per quarter and could cost over £100 to find one relative from each side of her family. The GRO can not find them and may have used a second name as first also not absolutely certain where in Yorkshire and Durham born, she was quite dispondent but I told her I could probably get something from this site now I am going to have to disappoint her again, unless anyone knows a magic trick of how to narrow the search down to two or three pages.