Issue 49.16
There is a lot of abbreviating in genealogy. BMD stands for Births, Marriages and Deaths. GRO is the abbreviation for the General Register Office in Great Britain. The General Register Office (GRO) has made available online new free indexes for births and deaths, based on the digitization of the English and Welsh civil registration records that was carried out a few years ago.
The new GRO birth index covers the period 1837-1915. Unlike the existing indexes on the FreeBMD, Ancestry, Findmypast and TheGenealogist websites (which are all based on the original GRO printed indexes), the new GRO index holds the mother’s maiden surname from 1837 onwards, rather than from July 1911 onwards in the other indexes. This helps you find missing maiden names for the women or pinpoint any lost children by searching for the surname only and using the mother’s maiden name and are of Britain.
The new GRO death index covers the period 1837-1957. The age at death is given from 1837 onwards in the new index, rather than from 1866 onwards in the existing indexes. This is extremely helpful in determining which registration is correct for a given person.
There is no new index for marriages. You can order copies of the certificates from the GRO. You will need to supply them with the reference. For example:
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I ordered two certificates for a total of GBP 18.50 which is in British Pounds. The dollar has a great exchange rate right now, so it ended up costing $22.99 in US Dollars. See https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate.
The 1911 census gives the number of missing children (i.e. that had died prior to 1911) you have a starting point of how many children you may be missing in your family lines. To search, go to: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp
For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com