Occasionally I like to highlight some of the really great collections on Ancestry that go unnoticed. Today is one of those days. If you’re not familiar with them already, I want to introduce you to the FreeBMD collections—indexes to English and Welsh birth, marriage, and death records kept between 1837 and 1983.
England and Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index: 1837–1983
England and Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837–1983
England and Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837–1983
BACKGROUND
Before 1837, births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales were recorded in churches, or parishes. After 1 July 1837, civil registration began—meaning the government (rather than the churches) began keeping a record of all births, marriages, and deaths.
Today the General Register Office (GRO) in London, England, has copies of all these records. They also have master indexes to these records to help people locate them quickly and easily.
For a long time, the only way to access these indexes was to actually go to the GRO in London. However, for the past ten years, hundreds of volunteers have been transcribing these indexes to make them available online (remember, there are millions of names!). So far, the volunteers have transcribed approximately 50 percent of the master indexes; most of the entries between 1837 and 1920 have been completed.
Once you have located an ancestor in one of the master indexes, you can use the page and volume number to order a copy of the original record from the GRO for £23.00. (Sorry, Americans. With the way the dollar is right now, that’s about $42.00 in U.S. currency.)
SEARCHING
Think about the possibilities of these indexes. If you have Welsh or English ancestors who were born, married, or died between 1837 and 1920, chances are very high you will find them in these indexes. However, the search process can be a little tricky. Let me show you how I found my third great-grandparents in the FreeBMD Marriage Index.
Here is what I knew when I began my search. I knew that my third great-grandfather, David A. Jones, was born in Camarthenshire, Wales, 2 September 1821; that he married a girl by the name of Margaret Evans (year unknown); and that their first daughter was born in 1844 in Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales. I did not know either David or Margaret’s parents’ names. I hoped that if I could locate a copy of their marriage certificate, it would have their parents’ names listed.
On the FreeBMD Marriage Index Search page, I entered as much information as I knew. I entered David Jones’s first and last name and Margaret’s surname (there is not a space for the spouse’s given name). I entered Carmarthenshire as the county, and I put 1844 as the year of marriage, plus or minus two years. (I figured they were probably married relatively close to the time when their first child was born.)
Enter as much information as you know to narrow down your search results. When I searched without an estimated year of marriage, for instance, I got thousands of hits—way too many to sift through.
Although I put in as much information as I knew, I still got nearly 100 results. Wading through them all took some time, but it was worth it; eventually I found a match. Here’s how (and this is where it gets a little tricky).
When you click one of your search results you’ll be taken to a page with the information abstracted from the master index, an option to view the image where this information came from (in this case, the page from the master index), and an option to “click to see others on page” (this is important; I’ll come back to it in a minute).
Search results page for one of many David Joneses. The “click to see others on page” link is the key to locating the correct family member in the marriage indexes.
Click “View Image” and you can see the page from the master index where this information was taken from. However, notice that the index is simply an alphabetized list of every individual who is on a record in the GRO, along with the page number and volume where that record is located. It does not list the individual’s spouse.
The marriage index lists only individuals, the district where his or her marriage was recorded, and the volume and page number where the original record is located. It does not list spouses’ names.Since almost 100 David Joneses married in or near Carmarthenshire during the time period I was searching, viewing their names in the index was not much help. Which one was the right David Jones? How could I tell which one had married Margaret Evans? This is where the “click to see others on page” link came in handy.
CLICK TO SEE OTHERS ON PAGE
Marriage records in the GRO are kept on pages in a book. Anywhere from two to eight records might be found on one page.
Although you cannot tell from the index who an individual married, if you can find two individuals in the index who have the same page number, there is a good chance they were married to each other, since the spouse would be on the same record, and therefore on the same page of the book.
By clicking “click to see others on page” you are basically asking the search engine to conduct a new search for everyone in the master index with the same page number as the person in the results you are looking at. If you can find your ancestor and his/her spouse listed on the same page, you have probably located the correct individual.
So, to sort through the 100 David Joneses in my search results, I began using “click to view others on page,” looking for a page where there was also a Margaret Evans listed. Finally, there it was, on page 875.
A list of people on page 875 in the GRO books. Both a Margaret Evans and a David Jones are on this page.Note: Although you have the option to see others listed on the same page when searching the FreeBMD birth or death indexes, this information is not as helpful for the other indexes because the others on the page are most likely not relatives of the individual.
ORDERING AN ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE
Once you’ve found your ancestors located in the index, record the quarter, district name, volume, and page number; you’ll need it to order a copy of the original. Then, click “Order Marriage/Birth/Death Certificate” on the left-hand side of the search results page. You’ll be taken to the online ordering form on the General Register Office’s website.
If you’re a first-time user you’ll have to register to login. Once you’ve logged in, select the type of certificate you’d like to order (birth, marriage, death) and fill in the data you recorded from the index. You’ll have to enter your credit card information and pay £23.00 (I know, I know, $42.00), and you can expect the certificate to show up a couple of weeks later.
THE RESULTS
You can bet I was pretty ecstatic when the marriage record for David and Margaret Jones showed up in my mailbox. Did it have the information I was looking for? Yes. And no. It had David Jones’s father listed—John Jones—as well as Margaret’s—John Evans. No mothers listed of course—but that’s a gripe I’ll save for another day. For the time being I’m excited to have two more names to add to my family tree, even if they are notoriously difficult-to-research “Johns” and “Joneses.”
David and Margaret Jones’s marriage certificate. It lists David and Margaret’s fathers on it.
ANOTHER OPTION
The FreeBMD volunteers have a website where you can search the birth, marriage, and death records that have been indexed so far. Even though the information is the same as that on Ancestry, the search engine is a little different and sometimes one is more effective than the other for similar searches. If you have a hard time on Ancestry, you may want to try your search on the FreeBMD homepage as well.
Jana Lloyd is editor of the Ancestry Monthly newsletter. She can be reached at AMUeditor@ancestry.com but cannot assist with personal research questions.
