Marriage records - FreeBMD vs 1837online

Apologies if this is old hat, but I'm fairly new to this game!

If one has a notion that a relative may have been married in the early 20th
century, what's the best way of getting some evidence from on-line sources?

myths...

For periodsnot covered by FreeBMD, I would use

You'll need to register (for free - you might wish to then check your
account and indicate that you don't want them to email you)

Then look at the collection
England & Wales, BMD Index (Beta)
which gives free views of the Marriage Indexes.

Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)...

Many thanks to all who have replied - and particularly for pointing me
towards the England & Wales, BMD Index (Beta)

I have looked at FreeBMD - both on their own site and via Ancestry - but
hadn't appreciated that this Beta index was *different* - and more or less
equivalent to what is available - for a fee - on 1837online.

As with any system involving human input, there are errors in the Beta index
concerning the first and last name on a particular page - so there are some
quarters when no match is found even though there *must* be names spanning
the 'searched for' name in the relevant quarter.

Does anyone know whether the indexes used by 1837online and England & Wales,
BMD Index (Beta) have been produced independently - so that one may be
correct where the other is in error, and vice versa - or whether they are
the *same*?

Futhermore, is there any way of moving between pages in 'England & Wales,
BMD Index (Beta)' by editing the fields in the URL - thus enabling a page to
be accessed even if the index is wrong? For example, the page I'm looking at

Daniel Morgan...

You might try searching for a name that is alphabetically close to the
name you really want, and then using the "prev" and "next" buttons in
the image viewer. If the problem is misindexing, this should work.

On the other hand, it won't help if the problem is a page missed by
Ancestry's microfilm scanner, or conceivably by the photographer who
microfilmed the original books. For example, there are no hits for a
marriage of "Gladys SMITH" in Jan-Feb-Mar 1925. When I search for "John
SMITH" instead, I get a hit, but when I view it and page back with the
"prev" button, I find that the relevant page is missing -- the page

Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)...

Thanks. I had come to a similar conclusion myself, having played around a
bit after asking the question.

numbers skip.

right now has this URL:

The last field looks as if it might be a page ID - but if I increment it in
the address window, I keep getting the *same* page rather than the next one.
Anyone know how this URL is made up - it's presumably database query
language of some sort - and how the pages are identified?

You'll still have to find possibilities for one of the couple and see
if you can find a match for the other name. If you don't know the
spouse's name, this is probably only feasible if the name you do know
is unusual.

It'll take time, anyway, but it is (currently) available and free.

As far as I can see, FreeBMD has got *some* of the information, but it's
rather patchy - and disappears altogether after about 1910. Also, there's
little positive evidence of who the spouse is.

Dave Mayall...

That's a *little* harsh.

Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)...

It wasn't meant to be in any way critical of the mammoth efforts being made
by countless volunteers to put this stuff on line - but was purely a
(hopefully) factual statement of what I have found in practice. Since 1910
is only half-way to 1983 when starting from 1837, I think that talking
about 'some' of the data isn't *too* unfair.

FreeBMD actually has *most* of the records up to 1910, rather than some.

Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)...

Agreed - but there is still *some* missing. I'm pretty sure that some of my
relatives *did* get married within a certain time frame, but I can't find
them.

Charani...

What FreeBMD, 1837online and Ancestry are using are the GRO indices
and they are only an index. There are entries missing from the GRO
indices. There are also ones that have been mistranscibed somewhere
along the line.

So it is entirely possible that some of your relatives and ancestors
did get married when you believe but are, nevertheless, not on any of
the sites, nor in the volumes at the FRC in London. You'll find them
in the parish registers. Of course, there is the possibility that
they simply didn't get married at all ;))

Having said all that, I'm very grateful for what *is* there. Keep up the
good work!

So far as positive evidence of who the spouse is, nobody can do that,
because the information just isn't there before 1912.

C Rihan...

The standard way of checking for the right spouse is to see if the couple
have the same registatrion district, volume and page number, but you
need to know both surnames to find them.

The search at FreeBMD is better and allows you to search for
both names at once, so if both have been transcibed, it's easier
to find the marriage.

If you know only the first name of the spouse it's possible to use
that in the search .
And because you can click on the page to see who else was listed,
you are able to rule out the ones which don't match.

If you are looking for marriages not yet on FreeBMD, then it could
be worth trying the (currently) free search at Ancestry.
That should produce the right page for each quarter, but at the
moment it doesn't always find all the quarters, and some pages
are missing.

Best wishes
C.Rihan

Ken Clark...

Snipped

On this point have you looked at the "what to do next" button on the
results? You can click the page link and find out who else was shown on
that register page and, if you are lucky, may find the spouse.

David J...

The obvious way to get at the spouses surname is to use the relevant
census info, provided you have Ancestry.

Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)...

Except that, as I made clear in my initial post, I'm looking for marriages
which took place in the 20th century. Since the published censuses don't go
beyond 1901, they ain't a lot of use!

I have used this method extensively for 19th century stuff - but am now
trying to get at some of the more recent details.

Fenny...

WHich gets you back to the pay sites. I tried 1837online for my searches,
but found it got expensive very quickly. So I took out an unlimited
but it has some interesting stuff in addition to BMD and census info (not
complete). At least if you do that, you know your payments are fixed and
you can search to your heart's content.

Martin Brown...

Major libraries often have a family history section with the BMD index
on microfiche. I find it slightly quicker for some brute force searches.
Although only when all other computer based methods have failed.
Ancestry's beta has a few gaps but it is pretty effective over most of
the range - just a lot of pages inedexd but missing or confused by
handwritten scrawl at the bottom etc.

IGI is also worth a try just in case you get lucky. And a few areas have
local county or town indexes put together by volunteers.

Beyond that you can always use electoral rolls in the 20th century if
you can visit a library in the right vicinity.

Martin Brown

You will see the family group with the wife's first name, and where
she was born. Plus all their children. Make a reasonable guess of a
possible marriage date from the ages of the wife and that of the
eldest child, allowing for 'errors' in the ages stated in the census.

Then freebmd is your friend, and with luck you will find your man
married in the registration area where the wife was born, listed with
hopefully a number of women, (1, 2, or 3) one of which matches the
spouses forename in the census. Then buy the relevant marriage
certificate to confirm your work.

Of course there are gaps in the information available. It's not
supposed to be easy!

1837online *claims* to have all the records up to the current time, but they
don't seem to be indexed apart from the first and last name on each page. So
when you do a search, it returns a page reference on which your relative's
marriage *might* be recorded - but with absolutely no guarantee. So, if you
believe that a particular individual was married sometime within a 5 year
period (say) you appear to have to pay for 20 quarters-worth of images in
order to check. Is that right, or is there a better way?

Dave Mayall...

That's right

From the sample image shown, it looks as if they *might* link a specific
spouse to each person - which would be better than FreeBMD in this respect.

Dave Mayall...

No, not prior to 1912, and when FreeBMD has records post-1912, we will have
the info as well.

Is this correct?

Charani...

The difference between the two is that FreeBMD is an ongoing volunteer
project and it is far from complete as yet. It is fully indexed and
they do show, in the marriage indices, which other couple/s married in
the same registration district in the same quarter.

1837online does have all the indices from 1837 to 2003. The majority
of them are images which means that you get a range in which your
ancestor's name may appear. After 1983 if you ask for a specific
person, you'll get the number of entries that come up for that name.

After 1912, the spouse's surname is shown in the marriage indices, and
the mother's amiden name in the birth indices. When FreeBMD gets
passed that point, they, too, will show the spouse surname, or
possibly the full name, ditto the mother's maiden name.