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| Thread ID: 74441 | 2006-11-22 21:35:00 | Any experienced genealogists here? | Billy T (70) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 501238 | 2006-11-22 21:35:00 | Hi Team Mrs T has a new-found interest in her family history and has been gathering information to build on research carried out by others. The biggest blank is in her father's history (long deceased) so she has been talking to older family members to gather information. Sadly all but one of her aunts and uncles are also deceased and the remaining aunt won't talk to anybody about anything as she is carrying some ancient grievance long-forgotten by anybody else (as they do) and plans to carry it to her grave. Recent discussions with the current eldest sibling produced the possibility of a previously unknown first child who died shortly after birth, allegedly from a milk intolerance. Mrs T is the youngest in the family by quite a margin and this sister lives at the opposite end of the country so we had not had the opportunity to meet with her until recently, which was why we had never heard of this before. We have no names or dates, but there is a 4 year gap between the marriage and the present eldest, which would be very unusual for those days (early 1940's) and gives some credence to the story. As amateurs in this field, we don't know where to start a search for the birth and death records, and we don't have a gender or name (other than surname of course). If records at Birth Deaths and Marriages are computerised, a search on the parents would probably throw up the records based on that information, but if not then a manual search would be required. My question is this: Are BDM records computerised now, and if not, do they do searches like this or do we have to follow some alternative path to find any records for this child? Sure we could just phone BDM, but would rather have advice from an experienced family researcher if possible before we do that so we know what the options are and what we are talking about. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 501239 | 2006-11-22 21:52:00 | Here in the US most records will Google with just a surname, although it requires wading thru lists of people . As this is the work of a specialized society, called the Latter Day Saints, aka: Mormons, they have extensive data base of this same info . If they have a Stake in your area or even a local Temple, it might be a good place to start . I am not sure if one has to become LDS to use their records . Occasionally, the LDS have displays at fairs or library/society openings and such . . watch the papers or ask a Mormon . I personally don't find it imperative to locate past generations of my surname . . . . as they were all prisoners in chains, rowing the ship from Holland many years ago to the beat of a large drum . Reviewing their history isn't pretty . Occasionally a specter of my family shows up asking me if I am one of THEY . . . . I tell them all of my family are related . . . the first 8 were so named by a mush-mouthed immigration official who could not pronounce their name and took the township of their origin as their name . Thusly: we wuz born . |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 501240 | 2006-11-22 22:24:00 | My wife has greater skills in this area but I suggest you do two things to get you underway... (a) contact the local genealogy group, most towns have one, and they will be very obliging and help train a newbie (b) look for ideas here...www.genealogy.org.nz/ Beware, family research can become addictive. Good luck Leonidas |
leonidas5 (2306) | ||
| 501241 | 2006-11-22 23:03:00 | Hi Billy - follow Joe's advice re Latter Day Saints. Here in Nelson (Stoke actually) they have a great research base open to the public. Numerous computers and microfiche readers on site - always helpful voluntary assistants. If the fiche identifies a brief record they will obtain any relevant available CDs to expand etc. Highly recommended and you don't have to be a church member. | Scouse (83) | ||
| 501242 | 2006-11-22 23:20:00 | Thanks for that, but what I really want to know is the capability of BDM to search records. Other searches may flow from that, but are BDM records computerised and even if not, can they search births and deaths by parental names over a time span of 4-5 years? I was in their records section some years back (on other business) and from the volumes of records that I saw, a manual search would be quite a task. I doubt that they let the public into their records area either! Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 501243 | 2006-11-22 23:27:00 | This might be more of what you are asking: The LDS have that access usually granted by local and federal authorities in almost all the earth...and I suspect that even if the records in your local village aren't computerized, the Mormons have already got it all from their work. Even if the lower echelons of people cannot get to touch and read the records in your recorder's offices, chances are the LDS got it already! |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 501244 | 2006-11-22 23:29:00 | If you know of a ftp server, I can send you a free, public program to record and collate the stuff Mrs. T finds....let me know....or I can mail it to you....either way....... | SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 501245 | 2006-11-23 10:25:00 | Billy. I have done a lot of Tree research, but mostly from the UK. As far as I know there is no FREEBMD as in the UK, in NZ. I Googled & nowt there. There are BMD records on microfiche, Library, LDS research centre, Family History Society?. There is NO easy way, believe me. It is also VERY addictive, as has already been said. Where do you live, which town/city. The Expert Genealogist that I have used is Tony Fitzgerald in Rangiora. If there is anything I can do to help, I will do. Do PM if I can. PJ |
Poppa John (284) | ||
| 501246 | 2006-11-23 14:15:00 | Just off the top of my head, Billy. I haven't asked for old records from BDM recently for my family tree, mainly because I'm still following up several other sources which are free - and BDM isn't. But they weren't computerised when I considered looking for my great-grandfather's death certificate a few years ago. I needed to give them a year & they'd search. I didn't know the year, anyway, & found what I wanted another way. Nowadays - maybe? They do have a comprehensive website, I noticed when ordering a replacement birth certificate recently.($26 & I had to supply heaps of info myself) Why not check that out? Finding a date or BDM Record No: (free version) 1) Your local genealogy society will have region/date microfiche sets with names matched to the official BDM Nos. 2) Our library has them also. I found several death dates by doggedly sifting through. They were arranged by date, but someone may have indexed them by now. 3) Dunedin City Council has put all its cemetery records online. Has yours? This is a great resource, as it takes only a surname to search & also gives addresses at death. I found that a previously-unknown baby, who died at 6 weeks, was buried in his grandmother's grave, though not marked on the headstone. And lastly, if the child lived long enough to be christened. that won't be at BDM but might be in the local church records. Let us know how you got on, |
Laura (43) | ||
| 501247 | 2006-11-23 14:15:00 | Whew - and after all that, a double post to erase... | Laura (43) | ||
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