Jenny M Benson wrote: > Last night I watched Claire V Brisson-Banks' webinar on researching > English ancestors and I really must take issue with something she said. > > Claire stated that the BMD records on Ancestry which originate from > FreeBMD are the Index Records from the COUNTY Record Offices. This is > definitely not so: they are the GRO (General Register Office) Indexes. > The Volume and Page references given are those for use when applying > to the GRO for a Certificate. They are quite different to those in the > County Indexes and will be of no use at all when applying for a > Certificate to a County Record Office.
Claire was also wrong in stating the BMD indices are from a *Record* Office. They aren't. Just to clarify for those who aren't familiar with the system for England and Wales (Scotland and Ireland have their own systems), and apologies to those who are: Since the start of Civil Registration on 1 July 1837 all births, marriages and death are registered with the local register office. These were transcribed and a return sent to the General Register Office who transcribed them into the indices that are available on FreeBMD (www.freebmd.org.uk), as well as Ancestry, FindMyPast, FamilyRelatives and other sites. Ancestry's version of the FreeBMD transcription doesn't have the Postem notes which are available on FreeBMD's own site. There are many BMDs missing from the GRO's indices because they are a transcription of a transcription. If an entry is missing, the local register office may have it. Details for births and deaths are only available by certificate from the GRO or local register offices. Marriages can also be bought from those two sources which are the *only* official ones. However, marriage details can also be obtained from parish registers. Parish registers over 100 years old (or more recent completed ones) are held at the County Record Offices along with a wide variety of other records relating to the county but who do not make returns to the GRO. County Record Offices are usually, but not always, the record offices for the Diocese. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Ashcott, Shapwick, Greinton and Clutton, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
