Genealogy Chat

see below

Am looking for the death of my 3x great grandfather SAMUEL SMALL, born c.1804 Little Staughton Beds. I have him on the 1861 census with my 3x ggrandmother REBECCA (Williamson) and several children. I have Rebecca’s death in 1866, but can find no further trace of Samuel at all. Have tried all avenues I have access to but to no avail – can anyone else see a death ref. for him – it should be St Neots district. Many thanks in advance Trudy

PS - have tried Ancestry, 1871, 1881 census and FreeBMD

You need to check on freeBMD exactly which quarters they have done (see Main Page, Information, Statistics, Coverage Charts)....and then view the missing quarters on 1837online. Also, if you were to get his wife's death cert, it should telll you if she was a wife or a widow, so you would then know which way to go!! Merry

Thanks Merry Am slightly going round in circles at the moment - started with this line over a year ago when I was a real 'newbie' and haven't done a very good job of 'filing' everything LOL Your message makes perfect sense, and why I didn't try that I will never know - must be asleep today!! Thanks trudy

Thanks Merry - didn't realise there was that much for that period missing on FreeBMD, probably why it's not there(!) - am heading for 1837 now - wish me luck!! Trudy

All the very best of luck in the whole world!!!! Merry

Thanks LOLOLOL

Do you realise that you can view images om FreeBMD, so even if they haven't transcribed that year/area, you can look for yourself. Cheaper than 1837! Bit of a pain sometimes as you have to go through a lot of images to find the page with your name on it!! Jenny

Thanks Jenny No I didn't - how do you do it? Trudy

I feel bad that I forgot to mention that, so..... On search page, click Main Page at the bottom left Then click View Images Then fill in the boxes presented, clicking Submit Query after each one. When you have selected the letter of the alphabet you will be presented with a long list of numbers which are all the pages of GRO index for that letter, quarter and type etc. Then you just guess which page they might be on...so if it's Wyles, you want the last or second to last of the ''W's'' or if it's Bennett you might start with about a third of the way through the ''B's''......you will probably have to download several pages before you hit the right one. It does take longer than 1837, but think of all those 10p's you are saving!! Just makes you feel like you are beating the system for a few mins!! Merry

Thanks Jenny and Merry have just had a look - looks like it might be a long weekend!!!!!!! Trudy

Eureka!! This is too good to be true - looks like I've found him Dec 1861 St Neots Vol 3b page 192 - Hooray!!!!! Obviously will still need to slog through the rest to make sure there isn't another one LOL!! To all who have helped with this, THANK YOU Trudy