Could one of you kind people out there tell me Where do you do next, after you have found a BDM list. There is very little information on the list, and to me they are a dead end, which I am sure is incorrect. Could someone enlighten me please Thanks Lionel
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Depends on dates and locations
If London then Ancestry has a lot of info on baptisms and marriages.
What are you trying to find out ?
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Lionel once you've found the record you're looking for on the index (BDM list) you then use that information to order a birth, marriage or death certificate to get the information from the actual certificate.
You order them from GRO http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ Cost £9.25.
As GB says, if you give us an example of the search you're doing we'll see what we can do.
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Hi GlitterBaby thank you for your interest. This is a general question really. When I find the person I am searching for on a BDM list I never know what to do next. How do you make use of the list to obtain more information? Can you get more info by using the ref numbers that are usually shown? Sorry I am a bit thick I should know by now but I do not I am afraid. Lionel
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Thank you MarieCeleste. That answers my question, also thank you for the link. I'll get cracking now I know what to do. Lionel
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Mothers maiden names were added to the indexes at the end on 1911
That information can be used to find possible marriage for the parents or to find possible brothers and sisters.
Ancestry also has West Yorkshire records but again depends on dates and location
Really not sure how to answer your question without knowing what info you are trying to find
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One way to make use of the info is if you have a year back into the 1800s, you might be able to find that (eg) marriage on FamilySearch.com.
Remember the information is only as accurate as the person transcribing it and not all areas and events are on there but it's a good tool for maybe finding other family members of your ancestor.
I don't have the finances to buy certs so absolute proof of anything I find isn't something I can guarantee. But I'm only doing the tree for myself, mostly to keep my brain going. It's as accurate as I can make it. Speculation and guesswork is fun but not something to be taken as correct. Maybe some day one of my descendants will take it up and fill in the gaps or find what I hope is not many mistakes.
Happy hunting. J
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Suppose I get a hit on FreeBMD, say:
Surname First name(s) Spouse District Vol Page Marriages Mar 1942 (>99%) Smith Francis X Jones Barrow F 8e 1900
There's no new info to be gotten from the vol # Here vol 8 covers Chesire & Lancs - 8a is Cheshire, 8b is Liverpool & environs in Lancs, 8c is S central Lancs (Wigan, etc), 8d is Manchester & environs in Lancs, 8e is Preston and N Lancs. But I already know I'm in Barrow in Furness - one can't get much further N in Lancs. There's no intrinsic info in the page #. However, clicking on the page # will give me the other names on that page, and that can be interesting. In a marr, one naturally expects the spouse to be on the same page - e.g.:
Jones Mary Smith Barrow F 8e 1900
Occassionally, births are interesting too. Suppose we had:
Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page Births Mar 1941 (>99%) Smith Francis X Jones Barrow F 8e 1900
and on the same page an index entry for:
Jones Francis X Jones Barrow F 8e 1900
I would suspect that this was the same kid, and his parents weren't married, and his b.cert had both parents names, creating two index entries, both pointing to the same b.cert. (Especially if there were more than 5 names on the page - >10 in earlier times)
Occassionally, I might find another entry like:
Smith Ignatius L Jones Barrow F 8e 1900
with either the same page #, or (if I looked) a page # off by one. This would be the situation that would arise with twins, although it might be just some other Smith-Jones couple's kid. Although there's no law saying twins must be rego'ed at the same time, of course they always were, so would have adjacent entries in the rego. These would usually be on the same page, but if the first took the last cert on the page, the second would be the first entry on the next page. (The GRO pages don't necessarily align with the original local regos anyways.)
Finally, as one can buy BMD certs from the GRO and from the local rego office, sometimes there's a local index online - see:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd
Since the local offices organize their BMDs differently, the indexes contain slightly difft info
Cumbria Birth indexes for the years: 1941 Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference SMITH Francis Xavier Barrow Barrow JONES B/209/185 SMITH Francis Xavier Dalton Barrow JONES D/2A/447
Here they distinguish the subdistricts births were rego'ed in - they may also give the mum's MS pre 1911q3.
Cumbria Marriage indexes for the years: 1941 Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference SMITH Francis X JONES Mary Barrow-in-Furness Register Office or Registrar Attended Barrow C1/46/46 SMITH Francis X JONES Mary St John, Barrow in Furness Barrow C4/4/318
Here the rego containing the marr is identified (CumbriaBMD decode C4 as St John, Barrow in Furness for us, sim C1). Since I've named my Smith after a catholic saint, the former is the more believable fiction. RCs weren't authorized to keep marr regos until the 1980s, so the registrar would have to attend an RC marr in 1941.
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