Genealogy Chat

I need to do some very broad searches and it'll probably end up costing a fortune. I'm talking 1950s so FreeBDM won't have coverage. Does anyone know whether Ancestry planning to add full BDM indexes?

Ancestry gets its BMD records from FreeBMD. FreeBMD is transcribed by volunteers. The more volunteers, the quicker it'll get done. It is all planned - it will just take a long time.

What area are we talking about here?

Hi, For a wide search it's cheaper to use the film at a library or LDS centre. Online (whichever site) will cost a fortune Gwynne

www.familyrelatives.org have the complete bmd transcribed for the period 1866-1920. It's still pay per view but works out cheaper than 1837online when you don't know the exact date, as you can search on the full name, district, etc. Ancestry has 1984-2000 (2002 for deaths) - included in your subscription. Ask on here for a lookup if you're not a subscriber! For 1921-1983, the only alternative to 1837online at present is to visit your library or LDS centre. Most have the complete index on fiche/microfilm, and there is no charge for searching. Richard

Other areas are covered free after 1911,but without an area i cant help you......

hi Aran, I have been using 1837online for about 18 months now and have spent about £140 doing two 'one-name' studies; this works out at less than £10 a month. I could have done much of the work through FreeBMD, but then I would have to keep track of the missing years and quarters and keep checking back to see if they've been added yet! There's also the potential problem of transcription errors. By the time you've added in travel costs, parking and possibly a snack when visiting yr local Family History Centre I doubt you've saved a great deal of money and you will have gone to some inconvenience with unfamiliar equipment to do what can be done from yr own home and computer. If you know yr going to do a lot of searching, bite the bullet and buy £120 of units so each page costs 5p instead of 10p. If yr search lasts a year you will have spent just over 30p a day!!!!...J.

You can take out a subscription on 'The Genealogist' website. If you take out the 'Personal Premium' one, for example, it is credit-free so you can do as many BMD lookups as you want (and that is not an invitation to people to request lookups from me!) It may be worth it if you want to use their census indexes and transcriptions etc. but if not perhaps it will work out cheaper for you just to buy credits on 1837 online or travel to a record office? Kate.

Oh, and of course, don't forget to see if the county or counties you want have the information online - look on UKBMD to find out. Kate.

Thanks all. The area is *probably* going to be North Yorkshire but that's not certain by any means. I'm looking for a birth c. 1955 but could possibly be a few years either way. Then perhaps a marriage from 1971 to present. Can't provide many more details as it's a bit delicate, and besides I don't have much info. Looks like I might have to 'bite the bullet' as suggested.

Mail me the names and I'll have a look at some sites- I do alot of searches for adoptees etc.

It may be worth trying the following first. They are not complete but you may be lucky. Yorkshire Marriages Index 1837-1950] On-going http://www.yorkshirebmd(.)org.uk/marriages.html http://www.yorkshirebmd(.)org.uk/births.html http://www.yorkshirebmd(.)org.uk/deaths.html Good luck Carol

Don't forget that if you are in reasonably easy reach of London that 1837online, the fiche at your library and the index images on Freebmd, the genealogist etc are all copies of the GRO index books which you can view for free at the Family Records Centre, Myddleton Street With the bonus of the censuses 1841 - 1901 for all of England and Wales, wills. non conformist registers etc upstairs, the London Metropolitan Archives just round the corner and the Society of Genealogists library not far away.

If it is as far North as Middlesbrough then the BMD for their are online. When I first started I wanted to do lots of BMD searches (before they were online) so I joined a FHS which had the whole country in the research centre. Check around what libraries etc have a copy of the BMD and it could be cheaper to combine your searches with a visit to the area. MB

Also Family Relative is good depending when you are looking for BMD records as 1866 to 1920 is fully indexed. www . familyrelatives . org