Proportion of death records transcribed

[Nick Carver]

I am sure many others are like me in having ancestors born (example) 13th April 1789, baptised at some time later (again usually knowing the exact date), married on a precise date, but whose death has been noted by their absence from a census or perhaps not even that. If my tree is to be believed, there are many, many bicentenurions out there ! I think from what I have heard that LDS is only really interested in the hatches, a little less so in matches, but not at all keen on despatches. And this got me to thinking as to whether anybody has any idea of the proportion of death records that are transcribed? Even on BMD boards the picture is the same.

I'm sure nobody is going to be able to come back and say 25% of death records have been transcrbed, but a generalisation such as "very low, with certain areas (hopefully named) being better than most".

If there are enough people in the same position, perhaps we could all volunteer to do some transcribing and help the process along? I spent several months last year doing precisely that, even though the chance of finding one of my own relatives was precisely zero and it is very interesting to see what people have written in parish registers (as well as good practice in interpreting the handwriting of yesteryear). As many hands makes, light work, perhaps our New Year's resolution could be to each transcribe a few records? Actually, this wasn't what I meant to say when I started this post, but the more I think about it, the better an idea it sounds. Perhaps somebody could post details of where volunteers are being sought to transcribe records? That would be a start.

[D ap D]

The North Wales BMD has to date:
503,354 Births
73,037 Marriages
169,342 Deaths
http://www.northwalesbmd.org.uk/bmd_welcome.html

There is also:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/

On the FreeBMD site there are the following areas looking for new volunteers:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/list-synd.pl?reader=0

I'm sure if you contacted them by mail offering your services, you would not be turned away.

D

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Nick,

Perhaps somebody could post details of where volunteers are being sought to transcribe records? That would be a start.

I think you will find that everybody would like volunteers, in particular:

freeREG: http://freereg.rootsweb.com/
freeCEN: http://freecen.rootsweb.com/
freeBMD: http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/

all the "County" sites: see the full list at http://www.UK-BMD.org
or here on RootsChat: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,147605.0.html

all the "Online Parish Clerk" / OPC-Sites:

Devon: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/DEV/OPCproject.html
Dorset : http://www.dorset-opc.com/
Kent: http://www.kent-opc.org.uk/
Lancashire: http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/
South Derby: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/sdindex.htm
Sussex: http://www.sussex-opc.org/
Wiltshire: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.brown6666/wiltsopc/

I am sure there are others, maybe they could be added here .......

[Nick Carver]

Thanks for setting out the options so clearly and in such an easy to follow manner. I have offered my assistance in transcribing records and would encourage others to do likewise. Not surprisingly I have chosen to help in an area where I MIGHT be able to find out some information that would help me, but that's not a prerequisite for me, just a nice-to-have. Hopefully even if I don't get to transcribe relevant records, some other kind soul will do likewise.

Given the nature of the people that use this board, I am sure that many of them will feel inclined to help and it's justt taking that first step that's often hard. From my own expereince in doing this, I can tell people that you learn an awful lot in the process that can be of use to your own searching. Some folk help others out with census searches, so if you are wondering how you can help others as you yourself have been helped if you don't have access to such material, here's an idea.

[Sisterjane]

hi all
can anyone tell me what if any software do you need to help transcribe the records
Joe

[PaulineJ]

Joe, if you need any software, then the organisers will supply it. It won't be any really fancy package. They keep it really simple, I promise.

Pauline

[Sisterjane]

Thanks Pauline for both info and swift reply and im going to give it a go
Joe

[Nick Carver]

The software I have used previously is called Records Capture System. There are fields for the various entries in each of Baptisms, Banns, Marriages and Burials. I can also heartily recommend reading the instructions first ! In typical engineer fashion, I had bashed in a few thousand records before finding out that I was using the wrong format for date! There are usually hosts of people checking entries, so if you come across something totally illegible, you simply highlight it and move on to the next record.

As suggested above, there are probably several similar packages in use but all will be designed so that all the records for a particular county (usually) will be in the same format.

[forester]

I felt the same as you Nick.

The family line I was following at the time had moved across Sussex en-masse in 1815. The IGI and post 1837, FreeBMD, had very good coverage of the births and marriages, right the way through, but were a bit lacking in the burial department. In the end I bought a second hand fiche reader and fiche of the burial registers that were available.
Last year I volunteered to become the OPC for that parish and decided to transcribe the burial register that covered 1812 to 1840, so as not to duplicate FreeBMD. Standard forms are downloadable from the site and once completed, emailed to the co-ordinator.
 I can't type, but with fiche reader to the left of me and computer to the right, I eventually got through about 1500 entries and got them on the site before Christmas.
It is hard work, especially when the registers are in poor condition and the scribe doesn't sharpen his nib as often as he should, but certainly worth it in the end.

I've got another  burial register waiting:- any volunteers? 


Phil