Elizabeth Begg/Robert Elliott Family

[Max39]

I am seeking assistance with the family of Elizabeth Begg and Robert Elliott.
Elizabeth Begg born 1866 in Glasgow and Robert Elliott born 1863 in Spittal. They were married 1887 in Berwick County possibly Tweedmouth.

In 1891 census they are living in Tweedmouth and have three daughters - Margaret Begg 6yrs, Jane Elliott 3yrs and Elizabeth Elliott 4mths.

In 1901 Census they are living at Morpeth but with one daughter Ann Elliott 8yrs
In 1911 this trio are living at 1 Stanley Cottages, Morpeth.

Any help in filling in the blanks would be very much appreciated.

Max

[Matilda1]

Hi

Berwick (in England) is a registration district which included Tweedmouth and the town of Berwick upon Tweed.  www.freebmd.org.uk gives us this index entry

Marriages Jun quarter 1887   
Begg    Elizabeth        Berwick    10b   583    
Elliot    Robert         Berwick    10b   583

You cand use this index information to order a copy of the marriage certificate directly from the General Register Office here:
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

It costs nine pounds including postage anywhere in the world. 

The certificate will give you the names and occupations of the fathers of the groom & bride.

Stan Mapstone recently posted a link for the online purchase of Northumberland certificates: http://registrar.northumberland.gov.uk/certificates/Search.aspx


Matilda

[Max39]

Hi Matilda,
Thanks for your speedy reply. The Stan Mapstone link to Northumberland certificates is very useful. Much clearer than Free BDM however I did find that it was weak on births.
I'm accustomed to using ScotlandsPeople online certificate service which gives a copy of a birth, death, marriage and census 1841 to 1901 at a modest price of 6 credits which equates to 1.20 pounds sterling.
Is their something similar for England?
One can obtain from the Scottish Registrars a duplicate official certificate at some £14/15 which is too expensive and unnecessary for the ordinary genealogist.

Regards
Max

[Matilda1]

Yes, I think that the NBL site is not yet complete as I could not find a number of events I know should be there.  Still, from little acorns....and in the meantime there is FreeBMD, which is a project run by volunteers and an amazing achievement.  I myself find it very flexible, clear and easy to use, though it is great when there is also a local register office on-line index to cross check.

Don't forget that the NBL site will not cover, for example, Newcastle on Tyne, or North Tyneside, both of which have their own websites.  People from quite far north would sometimes get married in Newcastle - perhaps the bride was in service there, perhaps there were other reasons.

No, unfortunately you cannot download 'uncertified' or any other kind of BMD certificate for England or Wales.  There is also less info on the certs than is the case for Scotland. 

However, on the plus side, the GRO indexes are free to view, and civil registration started a lot earlier (mid 1837 compared to 1855).   Scotlandspeople charges for viewing index entries and with such a limited range of names in Scotland it can get expensive checking possibles - so many do not do this.  I have not found my Scottish research cheap or easy - on the contrary.

So perhaps there are pros and cons for both systems 

Matilda

[Max39]

Hi Matilda,
I have put the claymore and shield back in the armoury! I agree there are pros and cons for both systems.

Going back to my original message and your response I have put the marriage cert (index 10b 583) in the pending tray.
I'm not sure at this point  whether I need Robert Elliott's parents names.
I have Elizabeth's parents, through to greatgrandparents et all.
My need is guidance or information on what happened to the three daughters listed in 1891 census but not in the 1901 census?
From the Northumberland Cert site I have established that there are no deaths for Margaret Begg but 3 deaths for Margaret Elliott, 7 deaths for Jane Elliott and 14 deaths for Elizabeth Elliott all in the period 1891 to 1901. Are any of them Elizabeth and Robert Elliott children?

Regards
Max

[Matilda1]

Hi Max

The 1911 census entry should tell you how many children were born alive to Elizabeth Begg/Elliott, how many have died and how many are still alive.  This will help you work out whether you are looking for children who were elsewhere on census night in 1901 (grandparents?) or whether they are likely to have died.  They could have been alive but elsewhere in 1901 and then away from home in service in 1911.

If you just got the 1911 transcription and not the image, then you will need to get the image.  The transcriptions are always a false economy, not least because they are not always very good, but also because they (deliberately) do not include all the info.

To narrow down possible death registrations, you need to estimate the approximate year of birth from the census entries you do have and then see how these match up with the age of the entries on FreeBMD.  Unlike the new NBL site, FreeBMD gives the age at death from the mid 1860s, when the GRO index started recording this.  Hopefully this will narrow down the possibilities to a couple of entries.

The other reason for using FreeBMD at this stage is that I am not sure how complete the NBL site is - it probably says somewhere but I can't see it.

As an example, the best match that I could find for little Elizabeth born 1891 is:

Deaths March quarter 1892   
Elliot    Elizabeth    age 1    Berwick    vol 10b   page 315

As I am sure you are aware, you need to check for alternate spellings, or if the server is not too busy, use wildcards.   

Been a long day , so will leave you to do the matching.

Matilda