RootsChat.Com

Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: sweatinbullets on Wednesday 04 September 19 22:35 BST (UK)

Title: where to start
Post by: sweatinbullets on Wednesday 04 September 19 22:35 BST (UK)
Hello, I'm trying to find out if my parents and brother are still alive, I have only basic information eg, name and possible last know c/o address or country, no year dob for one member only, it was not a close family unit so information is thin on the ground I just don't know where to start with so little information. thanks
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: Craclyn on Wednesday 04 September 19 22:56 BST (UK)
Welcome to Rootschat. Which country do you think is relevant?
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: CaroleW on Thursday 05 September 19 10:02 BST (UK)
Welcome to Rootschat

Rootschat has a no living persons policy so you cannot post their names etc which means we can only give you general info on how to find them.

Deaths up to 2007 are online using a subscription site.  Some deaths from 2008  are also online - again via a subscription site.  I see you live in Cheshire so you could check with your local library whether they have Ancestry access - many do.

You could also try electoral registers www.192.com 

If you think they may be in the same area as when you last had contact you could try the Telephone Directory search on www.thephonebook.com
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: suzard on Thursday 05 September 19 11:39 BST (UK)
Hello welcome to RootsChat
CaroleW has informed you of RootsChat policy and given you some ideas of where to look

Your birth certificate should give mother's maiden name and address at which you were born

When you have your mother and father's names you could look (on FreeBMD) if in England or Wales for their marriage registration
Purchase of that certificate should give ages at marriage address at marriage and the father's of your parents and occupations Also sometimes witnesses names are a help.
You could look in local newsppapers for a report of the marriage
You could also search FreeBMD for details of your brother's birth.

As Craclyn asked what country are you researching??

Suz
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: sweatinbullets on Friday 06 September 19 12:28 BST (UK)
Thanks for your replies! im pretty sure they might of been living in Northern Ireland or Australia  ??? there is very little info on my birth certificate which is a duplicate as the first one was lost by my father, no address is given for my mother nor father on there, my brother was last known living in Australia but again I have only a name no dob etc, I have tried to look them up on bdm which indicated they have passed ..but I couldn't be 100% it was them so im still in the same place.
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: aghadowey on Friday 06 September 19 13:16 BST (UK)
We can't post details of living, or possibly living, people but some general questions to figure out where you can go from here.

Where were you born? if Northern Ireland then you can apply for the long (full) certificate of your birth (sounds like you might have just a copy of the short one.

Recent vital records for Northern Ireland and probably Australia will not be online (or even indexed online certainly in the case of Northern Ireland). For N.I. GRONI's database covers births 100+ years, marriages 75+ years. deaths 50+ years. I suspect that the information you are looking for may be much more recent?

I live in N.I. and if you want to PM [Personal Message] me with details I'll have a look or suggest what to try next.
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: Billyblue on Sunday 08 September 19 03:30 BST (UK)
Legislation in Australia prevents info re DEATHS showing on the BDM indexes unless 30 or more years ago.

If you think they may have died in Australia, have you looked in Ryerson Index (www.ryersonindex.org) to see if a Death/Funeral notice has been published & indexed?
Not foolproof but you might find something.

Any idea of where in Australia they may have lived?  Or when they came out here?

Dawn M
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: sweatinbullets on Wednesday 11 September 19 10:34 BST (UK)
Thanks billyblue, if they have died it would of been in the last 10 years I guess, I have no idea where abouts in Australia they had lived, my first move is to get a full birth certificate and go from there, thanks again!
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: josey on Wednesday 11 September 19 11:18 BST (UK)
For your brother have you tried social media? Don't give his name but how old would he be? You say you weren't a close family - when did you last have contact with each of them?

These are probably things aghadowey has already thought of and told you in a pm.....
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: Billyblue on Wednesday 11 September 19 11:21 BST (UK)
The Ryerson Index is information from Death & Funeral notices and obituaries in over 300 Australian newspapers and has entries from as recently as last Friday.

Put in the surname and the earliest year you know they were still alive.
If it's a popular surname then I suggest you search for each person by individual search,
e.g. SMITH David   and SMITH  Ann; but if it's an uncommon surname I'd only put the surname in.
Up to you.  You might be lucky - or unlucky, depending on your point of view  :)

If you find any of them, you might be able to get a snip of the actual notice.  Finding a Published Notice (see LHS menu, front screen) tells you where you can look for a notice.

Good luck!
Dawn M
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: sweatinbullets on Wednesday 11 September 19 11:43 BST (UK)
I dont do social media as such my self eg, fb and im pretty sure my brother wouldn't be the sort of person would be on there any way, thanks for your reply Josie

thanks billyblue im guessing if my parent/s are dead they would of been in NI as they were only suppose to be visiting/living in au for short periods of time although my brother could well be dead in which case he would be in there as he would be about 56 now,
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: Billyblue on Friday 13 September 19 05:10 BST (UK)
Well, have a look!
Ryerson Index is NOT social media.  It's a specific website - www.ryersonindex.org - for DEATH & funeral notices & obits in Australian newspapers.

Dawn M
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: majm on Friday 13 September 19 09:03 BST (UK)
May I please support  Billyblue's post.  The Ryerson Index is definitely NOT social media.  It is an ongoing project of dedicated volunteers who read the classified columns of newspapers with the purpose of typing up to the database the summary info of death or funeral notices in specific Australian newspapers.  The Ryerson index allows you to enter the surname of your person of interest,  and you can add  given name .. and restrict it to particular range of years.  In return it gives you the publication date and newspaper and other clues .... Definitely not social media,  all the people indexed are of course already deceased.

JM
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: josey on Friday 13 September 19 09:34 BST (UK)
I think the reference to social media was in response to me suggesting sweatinbullets looked for his brother there. 

I am sure OP will look on the Ryerson index. Hope you will come back to is if you find some news there. ...
Title: Re: where to start
Post by: Billyblue on Saturday 14 September 19 02:12 BST (UK)
Thanks for the Ryerson 'plug' JM  :)  :)  :)

You can now search by Location without surname, too.
And by first name only - which of course is not much use for Mary or John but if you have an unusual name it helps.  My Mum's first name was Balbena and there are only a couple of them among the over 7 million entries  ;D  ;D

Dawn M