Genealogy Chat

Hi Jen, Thought I was seeing things when this came up. BUT IT STILL HASN'T the September one on it.

Oh wow, that's great! I'm afraid none of my ancestors seem to have been illustrious enough to appear in Burke's! As for Francis Birley, I'm sure it must be the same one too. He could have been married to a second wife, couldn't he? We don't know when Susie's mother died, only that it was before 1866. But why it says he had no children... don't know. Also, have you tried looking in the 'overseas' deaths on 1837 for Francis? And perhaps for his wife. By the way, maybe the wife is the same one and I just confused you as to her name... remember I said I couldn't read it very well?! Kate.

Kate Great excitement last night. Cyndi's list showed up a Birley site and I found a Francis Birley on it who died in 1855 in Canton China, must be the same one surely, though it says he was married to someone else and had no children. I've had a reply from the site owner and we are taking it from here. There is a reference in Burkes Landed Gentry, hoping the library will have that edition, can't wait to see. Not bad having one ancester in Burkes Landed Gentry and one on my mums side in Burkes Peerage. Many thanks for your help. You don't happen to want something looked up in Burkes while I'm down there do you? Josie

Joseanne - I think you can order the cert via Scotland's People because there is a button called 'Order Extract' but I have never tried it! Also, thinking about China again, you could try looking at 'Cyndi's List' website to see if there is anything on there. Kate.

Thanks for that, I'll have a look and see what happens. If I'm understanding it right, it seems you can't order marriage certs from Scotlands GRO as you can view and whathaveyou on Scotlandspeople, so I'm trying that hopefully tonight when hubby gets in. I'm registered but haven't looked anything up yet as when we did the test image button nothing showed up, hesitant about paying only to find we can't view image. Still if that happens I'll be round friends using their pcs rather than this old thing.

I was going to add this comment but didn't have time earlier, now you can probably deduce it from Laird's info... whenever I do a search on 1837 in the 'overseas' section, about half the pages that come up are free to view because of poor image quality, so you have nothing to lose by looking at them! The pages listed may or may not contain a Birley, but it is where they would be if there were any, because they are in alphabetical order of surname. The entries on 1837 are only indexed by first and last on page except for those in about the last 20 years when it was all computerised. Hope you find something! Kate.

Kate & Laird, you are both GREAT, many many thanks. It's people like you that give this site such a good name. Infact everyone thanks. Laird, I'm not really up on all this yet! I've had a look on 1837 site and think I'll have to study it a bit more closely, as it looks complicated to me, a thickie. Do I take it that what you put on here is the ones that do contain a Birley ? now that is thick isn't it....

Had a quick butchers for you - no female Birley births in the 'non-Ionian' lists GRO REGIMENTAL BIRTH INDICES SUPPLEMENT(1761 to 1924) 1761 - 1924 BIGHAM to BLACKLEY 1 FREE GRO REGIMENTAL BIRTH INDICES (1761 to 1924) 1761 - 1924 BIRKHEAD to BIRNIE 1 FREE GRO ARMY CHAPLAINS BIRTH INDICES (1796 to 1880) 1796 - 1880 BIBBY to BLAKE 1 FREE GRO IONIAN ISLANDS CIVIL REGISTRATION BIRTHS (1818-1864) 1818 - 1864 ANTONEY to BOYD 1 VIEW GRO IONIAN ISLANDS CHAPLAINS RETURNS BIRTHS (1818-1864) 1818 - 1864 BETTS to BONNIN 1 VIEW GRO IONIAN ISLANDS MILITARY REGISTRATION BIRTHS (1818-1864) 1818 - 1864 BINGHAM to BOLTON 1 VIEW GRO MARINE BIRTHS INDICES (INFORMAL CERTS 1-41) 1837 - 1965 BASS to GREATREX 1 FREE

I'm not sure if this will be of any use to you: http://www.bl.uk/collections/oiocfamilyhistory/family.html I tried China 1845 births on Google and it came up with this but there doesn't seem to be much about China in it, but it does mention 'Oriental' somewhere so it might have something... Kate.

Kate, thankyou so much for that, very very kind of you. I was in the process of sending off for the marriage certificate, inbetween doing my ironing, and looking on these boards. Now I have prior knowledge of whats coming. many many thanks Laird, I was waiting till I get the marriage cert before going on the 1837 site as I didn't want to look up wrong ones, having never been on that site before. Thanks for telling me what's on it.

Actually, Joseanne, I just found out I had a very few credits left on Scotland's People due to expire today, so I looked the marriage up for you: 1866 August 23rd at Peffer Mill Liberton After banns according to the Forms of the Church of Scotland Signed Charles Young, Engraver in wood, bachelor 24 years Signed Susie Birley Spinster 21 years both resident at Peffer Mill, Liberton Groom's parents: Alexander Young, painter and paperhanger, deceased, and Sarah Young, maiden name Atherton Bride's parents: Francis Birley, merchant, deceased, and V(?) Birley, maiden name Yowen (?), deceased. Sorry but I can't read some of the writing very well, especially bride's mother's name, but if you go onto Scotland's People you will be able to look it up and have a go yourself. Perhaps she was Chinese and Yowen is a transliteration into English of her surname?? Or perhaps I've misread it! Kate.

Can't you get her parents' names, or at least her father's, from her marriage certificate? Kate.

Have you tried 1837Online yet .......... From their website:- Whilst births, marriages and deaths have been recorded in England & Wales since July 1837 as part of the Civil Registration process, they have also been recorded for British citizens overseas since 1761. If you are looking for a relative or ancestor who was born, married or died overseas, but was still classed as a British citizen at the time of the event, then it is quite possible that the event was recorded by the UK High Commission or Consul within that country. Consequently you may find their record within the WW1, WW2 and overseas birth, marriage and death indexes. The types of records that make up the WW1, WW2 and Overseas BMDs are as follows: Natal and South African Forces deaths 1899-1902 WW1 marriages (behind British Lines) and deaths WW2 deaths WW2 deaths Indian Services Consular & UK High Commission births, marriages and deaths Army births, marriages and deaths Service Department marriages and deaths Regimental Birth Indices Chaplains births, marriages and deaths Air births Air deaths and missing persons Marine births and deaths Ionian Islands births, marriages and deaths

She was born in Canton, China c1845, married in Scotland in 1866. maiden name Susie Birley. my sister thinks maybe her parents were missionaries but without her parents names I don't know how to go about finding this out.

Any idea why she was in China? She may be child of missionaries or someone working for a company overseas that kept records. Just a thought! Natalie

A Chinese colleague cannot understand my preoccupation with family history. He has no birth certificate, most of the village he comes from bear the same surname. As far as he is concerned, genealogy would be a complete non-starter. On the other hand, someone has discovered my gggreat uncle witnessing a marriage in Shanghai, so there are some records for Europeans.

1837Online.org have an Overseas births lookups - assume its for British subjects ....

My gr grandmother was born in China, how can I track her birth down?