Post by PeterI am attempting to research my grand-father's family of wife and seven
children,
(Not Von Trapp by any chance?)
Post by Peterall of whom are dead.
I am a newcome to family research.
Welcome to the hobby! (Lifestyle ...)
Post by PeterThe cost of proving date of birth is that of £11 for a birth
certificate.
Is there any way of reducing or avoiding this fee? The arithmetic with
seven children is simple, but beyond my pocket.
Petefj
Depends what you want to "prove". For legal purposes, you _do_ need the
piece of paper; most of us here aren't interested in proof to that
extent. Working downwards in cost: firstly, I _think_ the GRO are still
doing their .pdf-by-email exercise, where they will email you a scan of
a certificate - not valid for legal purposes, but fine for genealogy. It
still costs, I'm not sure how much: search at
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp (you
have to register, but that's free), which will get you to the nearest
quarter year. (Irritatingly - to me, anyway - they refer to the quarters
by the final month, e. g. 1960 J quarter [June]; I find this irritating
because [a] not everybody uses the same month [so that could be
January], (b) once that's been copied a time or two someone will forget
it means quarter and think that the month is known. I prefer to say
1960Q2.) Most of the same information can be found more easily at
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl - IIRR you don't have to
register, or give the gender, and you're not restricted to a five-year
span (nominal ± 2 years), and the search facility is more comprehensive.
The GRO one does give mother's maiden name - though for your
grandfather's children (I presume born after 191x), the FreeBMD one will
too.
So it comes down to what information you want. The GRO and FreeBMD
indexes will give you the quarter, name (of child), mother's maiden
surname, and registration _district_; if you want exact date, exact
place, and a few other details, you'd need the certificate.
If they were baptised, which is less common as the 20th century goes on,
you might find baptism records - if you know where they were baptised;
there are _not_ usually kept in the church, but the local county record
office. These are usually "free" to access, but expect to pay car
parking charges, and for any hard copies you want (last time I used one
it was a pound for a print from the streaky microfilms, or 2.50 for a
colour picture of the original document. These were from older
documents; I don't know if 20th-century stuff is different, though I
can't see why it should be). Baptism records show when baptised, and
parents' names and abode (usually just one word of abode), and
(father's) occupation; it's pot luck, the person making the entry may
also note when the child was born. In my experience, they've done that a
bit less than half the time, as a note in the left margin.
If you _know_ any of the seven children, or their descendants, _ask_
them; they may well have old birth certificates and other documents, and
be willing to give you scans (best), photographs, or even the originals.
As well as photographs.
Why are you doing this - just curiosity, intending to write a book, or
just as part of getting into genealogy?
Best of luck, John
--
(Where has the "treat northern Ireland differently" option gone?)
Three- (or four-) way referendum, if we _have_ to have another one.
--
Petitions are still unfair.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/232770 255soft.uk #fairpetitions
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)***@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
Anybody who thinks there can be unlimited growth in a static, limited
environment, is either mad or an economist. - Sir David Attenborough, in
Radio Times 10-16 November 2012