Genealogy Chat

Hello
I'm wondering if anyone could give me some advice please. I'm trying to find the birth details of an ancestor: I have an exact date in 1875 but am not completely sure of the surname. Do the records at Kew enable a member of the public (me) to search by place or exact date rather than by surname?

Thank you.

Don't think so. Why not post the info you have, who married, where lived etc, and someone may be able to do clever things with the various search engines available.

Thank you. Because the ancestor's adult life was overseas and for various reasons records are scarce or destroyed, it was the English birth I was chasing.

If the person didn't go overseas until they were an adult, it may be possible to find them in a census and narrow the possiblities.

Would you like to give the name and what you know about family, occupations and possible locations?

Gwyn

Ancestry will let you search by christian names,but it will go though the alphabet in surname combinations so a long haul,,,.a given year helps a great deal as it lessens the amount of records.

something may jump out at you thats worth a look into ?

Thank you Gwyn,
I do have a census record for this ancestor aged about 5 and several subsequent records. The Genes' birth records however, do not show a match for the surname in the census. I'll keep trying with variations of spelling, and mother's maiden name. There is always the possibility that the biological/registered father is not the same as that shown in the census. That is why I'm interested in searching by location and birth date.

Thank you Kay. I didn't realise that Ancestry had that option. I'll make a start there.

Continuing on from Kay's idea ...

On FreeBMD you could set:
* First name(s)
* Year
* Quarter
* Registration district

If the first name is less usual, you might end up with a list that's actually manageable.

Edit: Even with a common name like John, it perhaps isn't too bad - 80 births in Islington RD, June qtr 1875.

Sally, please post the details and those of us with access to other resources will try to help you out.

The 1881 census night was 3/4/1881. If he were a 5 y o on that census, his birth could be anywhere from 1875q2 thru 1876q2 - actually, the GRO index doesn't go by date of birth, but by date of registation, and one had 42 d to rego a birth, so 1876q2 is quite possible.

If you have more specific info abt his pob, like say you know he was born in Hindley, a subdistrict of Wigan Rego District, then it's worth checking if there's a local index online, as they will need to know which subdistrict register to find the birth in. They don't always tell you explicitly - some just give a code which may not be decipherable.

For local indices, see:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/index.php?form_action=local

Where have you got the exact date of birth from? As with a lot of our ancestors they either did not know when they were born or told the odd fib to make themselves younger or older.

jax

If the ancestor died overseas, then you would need the birth certificate to have an exact date of birth.

As said, why not post the information that you have and let us have a go. That's what we are here for.

Hello again all of you kind helpers.

Because of my own computer problems, I lost track of this thread and recently started again on my search via a different thread. Happily, I now possess the birth certificate for which I was looking. Genes is indeed a marvellous community and I have been encouraged at all times in my search.

Thank you all very much - I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.