Genealogy Chat

3 main sorts of documents re your ancestors: a) census records 1841 - 1901 : County Record Office probably will hold these for the local area, or the Family Records Centre in London has them for the whole country. You can view them for free on microfilm and make photocopies of pages for a charge (typically about 30p) b) birth marriage and death certificates 1837 - present day Family Record Centre has indexes of these for the whole country. The local Registrars Office (not the same as the County Records Office) will hold the registers for the local area. Both will sell you certificates at £7 each. At the FRC you search the indexes and then order the certs from the GRO; at a Registrars office it is unlikely that you will be able to search for yourself nowadays, (though once upon a time this was a possibility). c) baptism, marriage and burial records - these were originally recorded in church registers but registers older than 100 years, (and often more recent ones, specially if it was a busy church and the registers full) should be deposited in the diocesan records, which in nearly all cases are in the County Records Office. Here you may be able to look at original register books, if not they will be available on microfiche. They may also have indexes to help you find the entry you need. NB there is an overlap between b and c above as they will both have marriage registers post 1837. If you know which parish you are looking for it is cheaper to view the marriage register at the County Record Office than to buy a marriage certificate from the local registrar or GRO.

If you can get to a local records office then you can do a lot of tracing of ancestors from that particular area using the census records and the parish records (baptisms, marriages and burials) which are all on microfiche. However it isn't a fast job and you can't expect to wander in for a few hours and be out with a detailed family tree the same day! Records Offices also hold land records, some wills, details of shipping, apprentices and all sorts of useful records. You can get to see original documents sometimes when appropriate and there would be books and maps about the local area. There are usually friendly fellow researchers to chat to over a coffee or lunch break and they may be helpful. You do need to book a place in advance. If you find documents you like in there then you can usually ask for a copy of the pages you want and they are much cheaper than buying certificates. Once you get back before 1837 then there are no BMD certificates anyway. However you'd probably need to get more recent certificates first to be sure that you are on the right track unless you are lucky enough to have inherited a lot of original documents as I did. Don't forget that it is important to check the deaths or you may find yourself assuming someone who died in infancy is your ancestor. Also until quite recently parents often used the same name several times if a child died and they liked the name or wanted to name a child after a relation. So you can't assume that the first time they have a child of the name you want that it is your ancestor. Good luck Sue

you can view scottish BMD's at the strathclyde genealogy unit in glasgow for a fee of £13 per day

thanks guys, appreciate it!!

Do you mean local records offices or Family Records Office in London.(known as the FRC) They hold all the census on microfiche but you have to plow through them on a viewer .you can then get a copy off the film Local libraries should hold local census ,and you can order Parish records in to view at the local Family Search (Mormon Church) . costs about £3.50 each i think. .

Hazel Sorry your boyfriends missinformed you cant view certs you have to buy them even from the local records office. Shirley

hi sam, dont nderstand, my boyfriend said i could go to the council offices and be able to view the certificates? why would they not have them?

It depends what records you want to look at! Mostly yes, you can just view them without having to buy a copy. Records Offices don't have birth or death certificates though, if that's what you mean. You will have to buy those. Sam x

Hi there, was wondering . . .(as a newbie to all this). I am wanting to go to the records office which hold the details of ancesters i am looking for. Will they let me just look at the information rather than have to buy a copy of the document as i just need information on them?