Where do I find these documents?

[vgerard01]

Hi! I am new to genealogy in the UK.  I see where people have located copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates and gotten copies of them.  How would I begin to search for these documents and where would I request the copies of what I wanted/needed?  I know this sounds like a very stupid question but I am trying to put together a family tree for my Mom who will shortly turn 80 and figured i should do it right from the start.  Thanks for any help.  Val.

[g a r]

if you have names, approximate dates of birth, and approximate locations you can find a lot here for free.

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

the census can help, and the 1881 is free to search here
http://search.ancestry.com/search/grouplist.aspx?group=1881uki

and here
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

that's a start, and you'll learn a lot along the way, and folks here are really helpful.

Welcome to RootsChat!

[andycand]

Hi

Once you have references from the likes of FreeBMD you can apply online to the General Register Office (GRO) for Birth Marriage and Death certificates for England and Wales for 9.25 GBP using the link below

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

Scotland and Ireland are different.

Andy

[stanmapstone]

There is this site http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Familyhistoryandresearch/index.htm


Stan

[vgerard01]

Thank you all soooo much! Now I can jump in with both feet!!  Merry Christmas to All!!

[Redroger]

Thank you all soooo much! Now I can jump in with both feet!!  Merry Christmas to All!!

Don't do that! Think first and then jump in! You will have more and better results.

[Smoo]

Val,

For Scotland:
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

After you register, it costs £6 for 30 credits that will get you 5 certificates, assuming you start with enough information to search effectively AND pick the right one from the search result list - and that's not as easy as it sounds!

I might have some that will be of use to you, so do ask me first.... ;-)

[Jeuel]

There are zillions of "beginners guides" on forums like this on the internet and your local library will have a stack of books about tracing your family history.  You might find it saves you time and money to have a quick read of one of them.

[Redroger]

In the first instance choose a simple guide, it will point you towards all the main sources.Then develop from there.