Genealogy Chat

Morning All, I have just spent five hours on freeBMD. Out of eighteen searches I got a paltry two answers, and those not really conclusive. Now, my questions are, am I just downright unlucky, Is it a "rubbish" site and do the rest of you suffer the same failure rate?. Apart from that, life,s good. Happy searching to you all. Regards Mick.

Mick I too have spent a lot of time searching that site, with only afew successes. They update once a month I think the last time was June the 28th so heres hoping its going to be july the 28th which is tomorrow. Debbie

I have had varied success with this site,but it does seem a bit of" hit and miss" on others as well. I looked and looked for my grandmothers birth and even sent for two certificate which have turned out incorrect,before finding her on a pay for view site,haven't sent for the cert.yet.Just keep looking these names turn up in the most unexpected places.

Hi Michael You could always volunteer to transcribe - that way the database would be completed quicker!<BG> Regards Maxine

Hi Debra, Thanks for the reply, I was beginning to think I was all alone in the world. Here,s hoping that tomorrow will deliver what today didn,t then. Good hunting!! Regards, Mick.

Hi Maxine, I really have thought about it, (transcribing), but I honestly do not think I am computor literate enough to do it. Hence five hours doing eighteen searches. Regards, Mick.

I have had lots of luck with the free BMD site but the answer is to all of thise with problems come and help us put the information on the site. I have just spent 3 hours of my one free day doing this. I would not do it if I did not think it was worthwhile. Many more transcribers would speed up the work.

Don't worry I was only teasing - transcribing is certainly not for everyone. Although as Sheila says above.........

Hi Sheila, I,m pleased for you that you have had such success on freeBMD. May I refer you to the answer that I gave to Maxine? I do not believe in "taking out and not replacing" and have done, and am doing searches for folks on this site, at our local archives. Regards, Mick.

Thanks Sheila for voicing my own thoughts. Like you, I spend many hours transcribing and have found most of what I have been looking for but like some people, you always want something that hasn't yet been transcribed.

Have had some success with this site. Sometimes having to put things in differently - i.e. searched for my grandparents marriage - no luck putting my grandfather's name in but put in my grandmother and up it came. Also have found a number of births after several tries. It is also sometimes better to do an All Counties search rather than putting in an area - which might have been different years ago. The answer is to keep trying. It is a good site and the transcribers are to be congratulated on their efforts.

Hi Kathleen, Thanks for your tips, I did try them though. If only Sheila and Nesta would get a move on we might have more success!! (ONLY JOKING SHEILA & NESTA) I thank you for what you are doing. Regards, Mick.

Jean - yes - contact him again. I know it's probably a difficult time of year, with holidays, etc., but you should have heard something by now. To those of you who have been having difficulty in tracing particular births - I've recently been transcribing births for 1898, and on one page (about 350 entries), there were handwritten notes at the bottom of the page for two people whose births had been registered late. One was not registered until 1925 and the other 1927. Presumably it was only when they needed their birth certificate for something else that it was discovered that their birth had never been registered. This is not uncommon, so I have been told. When it comes to transcribing, we can only transcribe what is actually there, so if it's not there, it can't be transcribed! Regards Janet

Hi All, I just had to add a comment in defence of FreeBMD! I too had tried and tried to find info' to no avail BUT having read all your comments I decided to go back and re-phrase the details I was putting in, alter the year scope slightly and BINGO!! there it was. I am just sooooo pleased that there are so many wonderful, computer literate, people who dedicate so much time to transcribe for them. Thank You All.

Hi Linda, Well done re your search on FreeBMD. I would like to echo your last comment regarding the people that take the time and put in the effort to transcribe. Regards to you all, Mick Davie

Hi, I have tried the site many times and have not come up with one result! Laurie

All One way to clear up the confusion is to go to freeBMD and go to the Information link and one of the links in there shows you how much has been entered for any given year sepeartely for Bs Ds and Ms. I was frustrated until I looked at that. Now I transcribe as well. Mike

I have got a tremendous amount of information out of freebmd. I spend more time checking if it has been updated at the end of the month than I do checking my lottery numbers. Thanks to all the transcribers who are doing a fantastic job. (I will try to join you once I get a few other things straightened out to get some spare time)

Hello all, I just wanted to put in my twopenneth worth. Free BMD only has the majority of records up to 1906 at the moment and so unless you are searching up to that date you probably won't find any matches. The data up to 1906 isn't complete yet either. If you are looking for data after 1906 I suggest you join up and transcribe and by doing that, the data that you are looking for will appear a lot faster! It actually says on the site that they are looking for transcribers who have a spare half an hour a week (though to be honest it normally takes me about an hour and a half to do 1 page!), so I would have thought that if people have the time to search the site for hours at a time they would also have the time to transcribe. Just a thought. Rachel

Hi Rachel Or should I call you speedy!!! I am in the same boat as Margaret, it takes me now about 2-3 hours to do a page from start to finish including checking for errors. I also enjoy it and try to do at least a page a week(although I did 3 last week- <Big Cheer>).I am starting an OU course this weekend, so my time may be more limited, but I thought if I set a conservative target I might still be able to achieve it. My problem is that although I am a "mere" 37, my eyes are about 90! Maxine