Genealogy Chat

Helen The only silly question is the one you don't ask - cos that way you will never know! Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began 1st July 1837, so the first available quarter and year to search is Sep 1837. Before that, you can't usually find births or deaths, but you can find baptisms and burials in the parish baptisms and burials registers. There are a lot of baptism and marriage entries on the IGI [International Genealogical Index] on www.familysearch.org You can find out which parishes are covered and for what years by googling 'Hugh Wallis batch numbers'. If you click on a batch number you want, it will take you to the familysearch site. C batch numbers are baptisms, Ms are marriages. You can see the whole batch, or you can put in the surname you want. If its not on the familysearch site, you might find it on Family History Online. This is a paying site, so you should click on their list of databases and check whether they have the area you want and the dates you want FIRST. Failing that, some local history societies have transcripts which they will search for a few £. If none of the above helps, you will need to book a trip to the relevant county records office which has parish registers, or the Society of Genealogists Library in London, which has a large collection. You have to pay to use the library, but not the records office. BUT CHECK THAT THEY HAVE WHAT YOU WANT FIRST. nell

Civil registration only started 1 July 1837 so for any event prior to that you would have to see the local Parish Registers and then you may find christening dates with occasional date of birth included BUT there will not be a Certificate to mark the event - nearest you will get is a photocopy of the page where it is listed, and these entries are generally one-liners.

A birth cert as such no, parish records are where you need to look

This may sound silly to some of you but is it possible to order certificates from before 1836. I have a g.g.g grandfather William Rawson born 23 Nov 1792 Askham and would like to find out who his parents were as I have narrowed the search down to his father being a William Rawson from Laneham, but there are two possible William Rawsons with only 7 years apart both from Laneham who could be his father. I am hoping someone might know if you can get certificates from 1792 and if that certificate would have mother and father details on so I could figure out which branch of William Rawson to then follow back further. any suggestions appreciated.