Genealogy Chat

Anybody had any success with this site?

Hi James Well I dont know whether I used it right but the first time I used it I paid £5 and I used my credits in no time and I didnt find a thing. Someone told me you need to find a very close year of birth. So used it again still no luck. so didnt use it for a couple of months. Went on it yesterday because I had quite a few names with years so thought I should find quite a few with 55 credits. I only found one and have just ordered the certificate. a very expensive way. so no I dont think it is brilliant but I don know there are a lot of people on this site that think its great so it must be the way im looking. Debbie

If you are looking for a fairly common name and don't have too much idea of the dates it can work out quite expensive especially as you can only search by first three letters of the name. But sometimes you can find just what you need by viewing only a couple of pages. There are lots of people transcribing for FreeBMD now (including me!) so hopefully that site will be soon be complete up to about 1906 and this will save us all some money.

I have had great success with uncommon names and as a result spent a fortune ordering certificates on-line. But I must confess that I can't get anywhere with Waller, because it's buried in all the Walkers! Overall the 1837 website has moved me on in leaps and bounds as compared to visiting the FRC. If you think what travelling to any records office can cost, then really it's very good value. Plus you can do an hour at a time, at home and in the warm!

I must admit i have found 1837 a great site, but when i think of it my names are quite uncommon, and i have had quite a bit of info about dates etc before i started trawling through the records. Hope this helps. April.

I tend to try the freebmd first, and only use 1837 if I know the birthdate within a year or so. The rest, I check at my local LDS. I say local, it is 2 buses to get there, but if I buy a rider ticket for £2.80 it works out quite cheap, considering I can use the fiche and film machines for 5 hours.

Hi! I always try FreeBMD first then 1837. My tree is full of Smiths and I have been quite lucky and managed to located loads of them on 1837. Sam

Does 1837 give you anymore info than freebmd?? Have never used the site. Gillian

If the event was registered it will be there, as the 1837 is a complete listing of all registered births, marriages and deaths. Provided you have a fairly accurate idea of the timespan it needn't be too costly. Births give the mother's maiden name and from 1912 the spouse's name is also given for a marriage. It's best not to use the site to search for a relative for whom you only have a name, unless you can narrow the time down to a couple of years, as this WILL eat up your credits (having said that I've tried that a couple of times and been lucky)! The more credits you purchase at a time the lower the price of each view. The added advantage is that you can order any certificates directly from the site at £7 each. Sue

Always, always use FreeBMD first! Even if you know the year, FreeBMD may just give you the correct quarter and save you a bit of cash. I just wish that 1837 search facilities were more accurate. It is possible to use up all 55 credits on just two or three people. It is a pretty good site, but it hasn't celebrated its first birthday yet, so maybe it will get better with age!

I have had great sucess with 1837 and found lots of info, which I have now ordered lots of certificates. I was lucky to be looking up uncommon names, but found more I used 1837 the quicker I could find what I was looking for. A good tip I recommend is to save the records you are viewing so you can look back at your own leisure or if you need to re-check then you are not using more credits, save them in directories for example like Atkins_births, Atkins_deaths, Atkins_marriages..... before long you will have built up your own database of your favourite surnames your reasearching.

Your local library should have all of the info that is on 1837 and you can view it for free. (I think it's callid the St Catherines Index) I know it's not as handy as staying at home and using the computer but when your not sure of dates etc it will save you a fortune (in money AND patience! lol) Chris