Genealogy Chat

I have just started today & feel I'm doing okay & enjoying every minute. But I don't know how to trace back on the female side? Is this impossible? Occasionally, I get a maiden name on a record - but not often. Marriage records are pretty grim - or am I not doing it correctly? Sorry to be a pain :-S

Are you looking for marriages on Freebmd?

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

It is easy and FREE

Mothers maiden name on births were only added to the index from late 1911

Wow you are quick, Jax.

Denise, if you need any help trying posting some names on here and there are plenty of people who will help you.

Gai

And if you can find the Marriage in FreeBMD then click on the Page Number link.
That will show all the records for that number which will normally consist of just two marriages (4 People)
.
If the record is before 1911 then you will need to see which one best fits by comparison with the Census

Don't forget that Births after 1911 show the Maiden Name whereas Marriages tend to show the name at Marriage, which in the case of a Widow's second marriage may be different.

thank you all - I will have a good go & post some names on next time & I have a few !! they keep repeating which is getting confusing !!

my great great great grandfather called william miles 1800c married mary - they had kids called william 1831c & yes, mary (said william is my ancestor) & he goes and marries a woman called Mary too!! Just to confuse me :-D And yes, one of their boys is called william - but he's not part of the line, thank goodness.

Ahh

You want maiden names before registration began in 1837

You need the parish registers for those

You have not said where this took place so I cannot really guess

Have you tried

https://www.familysearch.org/

If this is the family in 1851 I can't see them on Family Search but Fanny's birth cert would give her mother's maiden name (there is a tree on Ancestry that lists his wife as Mary Ann Lawrence but it is safer to verify this)

1851
Name: William Miles
Age: 52
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1799
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Mary Ann Miles
Gender: M (Male)
Where born: Calne, Wiltshire, England

Civil parish: Calne
Town: Calne
County/Island: Wiltshire
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Disability:

View image

Registration district: Calne
Sub-registration district: Calne
ED, institution, or vessel: 2b
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 208
Piece: 1837
Folio: 105
Page Number: 43
Household Members:
Name Age
William Miles 52
Mary Ann Miles 55
Ellen Sophia Miles 23
Mary Ann Miles 21
William F Miles 20
Louisa Miles 19
Emma Miles 16
Jane Miles 14
Thomas Miles 13
Fanny Miles 11

Births Jun 1840 (>99%)
Miles Fanny Calne 8 269

What has been said above apples to the GRO index.
However, the GRO is not the only place one can buy BMD certs post 1837.
One can also buy them from the appropriate local registers office, and some have their own index (at least partly) online - see:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd

In particular:
http://www.wiltshirebmd.org.uk/

Wiltshire Birth indexes for the years: 1840
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
MILES Fanny Calne History Centre LAWRENCE CA/2/218