Tip for birth record lookups

[alisontoon]

Hi,

If you're having a problem finding a birth record after 1837, try searching the indexes with "male" or "female" instead of the person's first name. If the child's name had not been chosen on the day of registration, this is what was entered into the register.

In the indexes available at http://www.1837online.com/Trace2web/, these entries come after all of the "named" births--I saw them by chance when looking for a "Richard"--and found what I believe is his birth, a "male" in the right place at the right time (no Richard).

:-)

Alison

[alisontoon]

P.S.  It works on other indexes such as FreeBMD, too.  I'd try those first rather than 1837online, as you will (most likely) have to do an additional search to find the page(s) with male/female entries... and each page costs money!

:-)

Alison

[davidpinkney]

I suppose its quite common but i just typed my Surname and male then female on Freebmd and most of the entries were deaths! Did alot of people die alone with nobody knowing who they were or were some found dead under suspicious circumstances or unidentifiable?

David

[jinks]

Sorry about this morbid reply.

They could be babies that have not lived very long.

Jinks

[davidpinkney]

Yeah didn't think about that, would they have birth certificates with just male or female on them? Sorry i know its morbid but wouldn't they have named them first or would they have had to have been baptised or christened first?

David

[alisontoon]

Hi,

If there are a birth and a death within the same quarter, it's very likely to be a baby that died soon after birth that wasn't named... very sad, but not uncommon. It is amazing how much has changed within just over a hundred years--we are shocked by this now, but for our grandparents and great-grandparents, it was part of life. If there's a gap of more than about two years between children, there's likely another child that didn't make it. It doesn't make any of the babies any less precious--my mother tells how her father always remembered one of her ten older siblings, who died within hours of birth--but just the way things were.

Some of the records are for births only, like the one I found today--the name just hadn't been chosen by the time the birth had to be registered. In this case, I believe the child was illegitimate (I'm waiting for the birth certificate to find out), not that this is a reason for not choosing a name, but it may have been a hard time for the family. Or maybe the child was born in a workhouse (as this mother's second child was), and the workhouse authority registered the birth? I must wait (im)patiently to find out!

:-)

Alison
 

[jinks]

I am not 100% sure how births/death work,
if the baby only lived for a couple of hours.

But I cannot see the parents going to the
register office, so maybe some returns are sent
from the hospital?

Jinks

[suey]

David -  Don't think there is a definitive answer

My Paternal Great Grandparents only gave the last of their eight children a name on Registration, all the others were simply Male or Female they all survived.

However G Grandpa's brother and his wife had seven children, 5 died soon after birth, all were given a name, have only found Baptism's for 3 but all are named on Free BMD

Another set of G Grandparents had twin girls, both died and their deaths are Registered in the same Quarter 1867.  Only one of the girls was baptised although both have christian names on Death Certs. 

Suey

[alisontoon]

Hi,

This web site has some really useful background info on birth, marriage and death registrations:

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

:-)

Alison