Ancestry question

[Sally]

Ohh grrrrrrrrr - why oh why do they have to change things for the worse. Am I right in thinking that the only way to trawl the marriage or birth records for entries that have not yet been transcribed is to fiddle your way to a list of the alphabet, then put in first letter of name you are looking for, then go through endless pages until you find the one page that you want? I see that deaths are still part of the old system, but they are proudly saying that they are working on it!!!

[Merry]

I have answered Qs like this one before, but usually am on a different wavelength to the poster! Sally, could you give us an example?

[kiterunner]

I would search for a name that is very close in the alphabet to the one you want, get the page up for that, and then browse through from there if it isn't the right page.

[Sally]

Yes, but you used to be able to just put the full name; then a year, and it would bring up the page with that name on for each quarter in that year. From there you could go to the next year and so on.
Now you have to trawl through all the "Ds" for example until you get to the page that you want, which takes so much longer.

You can still do it with deaths.
Am I the only one that finds it a pain then?!!

[Joan of Archives]

Sally give us the name you are looking for & I'll have a look so I can see what you mean? I know it's no longer straight forward so you have to become a bit devious lol!

:d

[Sally]

Okay Joanie, and perhaps you can tell me where I am going wrong then.

I am looking for either the marriage, or death of Phoebe Downing born 1831 in Chester le Street, Durham. I have her in 1851 living with her uncle, along with two of her brothers.

I have searched the deaths from 1851 to no avail, but the marriage one is where I am struggling

[samesizedfeet]

try this:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=8965&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0

[Sally]

Thank you Zoe, but Joanie has just patiently explained it all to me on Skype!!! Certainly it's easier than the method I was using, but it's still not as good as the old way.:mad:

[samesizedfeet]

Sally

That link should take you to the old way of searching

[WendyPusey]

Why not use FeeBMD? It is so much easier to use than Ancestry.

http://freebmd.org.uk/

[Sally]

Thanks Wendy, but that site is only great for transcribed bmds, although I agree it is better than Ancestry for that.
My problem was with looking for bmds that have not yet been transcribed, and with the changes in Ancestry I was completely flummoxed but Joanie has put me on the right path.

[kiterunner]

You can view lots of the page images for entries that haven't been transcribed on FreeBMD too, but the images on ancestry are often better quality.

[WendyPusey]

Most of the BMD's have been transcribed on FreeBMD now. I'm now doing 1943 so I would have thought that there aren't many before 1901 that haven't been done.

[Sally]

Thanks Kite, I never knew that.......you live and learn! Now, if I could only find Phoebe ANYWHERE I would be thrilled

[Merry]

It's possible that if Phoebe died her death wasn't registered as it wasn't compulsory until 1875, same as births. Having said that, in my tree the only people not registered for death after 1837 are babies that died within days of birth (possibly before baptism) and all before about 1845.

I have looked and looked for a Phoebe (various spellings) who might be yours after a marriage on the following censuses, but any possibles I have managed to discount :(

[Sally]

Thank you so much for trying Merry, this girl is very irritating! I have several death certs for her family, and between the years of 1842 abd 1853 no less than five of them (including her parents) died of Consumption. One of her brothers survived, thank goodness or I would not be here now, but I wonder if she succombed to the same disease.

It seems that I may never know

[Joan of Archives]

Sally did they all die in the same place? Is it worth getting the Parish Records on film at your local LDS or visiting the Records Office & checking the burials in case?

[Sally]

Yes, they all died in Chester le Street in Durham. I have relatives in the area who may be able to go to the Records office up there for me. I will also go to our local office and see what I can do.

Thank you so much for helping with this

[Joan of Archives]

I feel so much better now that I know even Merry can't find her lol!

Good luck with the search I think you may need it lol!

:d