Browsing through one of those online BDM registers as you do ... My dad died in May '86.
I've only been looking at free stuff. We got a call from my brother, at about 10pm. We were living in Wokingham at the time. We drove down to Bristol to pick up my sister and her bloke, then drove straight up to Stranraer and caught a boat about 6 or 7am. I've got photographs of us up on deck in the middle of the North Channel, watching the sunrise, and it was all very calm and peaceful. That was about the time he died.
Mine's not dead but might as well be. I only found out who/where he was two years ago. Wrote a couple of letters, got a couple of vague replies, nothing since. Ho hum. Si
The main site that most people go to [www.freebmd.org.uk] doesn't cover much after about 1910. I think thats because there's a chance that people may still be alive and there's the Data Protection Act (or whatever its called) to consider. There /are/ other sites around that do the free bmd thing and cover later years. You could start with this : http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ The Yorkshire stuff is good, I haven't used any of the other counties. Or failing that there's Cyndi's List [www.cyndislist.com], which sound's like a porn site but isn't, its a list of thousands of links to family history/genealogy sites. If you want to go further back there's the 1881 census for free at www.familysearch.org HTH Dave
It's not a DPA issue - it's just that the DB is being built from scans of the original index by thousands of volounteer genealogists, and they're tending to concentrate on indexing the older stuff first (presumably because you can often trace your ancestors back a 100 years or so just by asking senile old rellies). I've traced my family tree back to the early 1800's. They're all from the IoM on my Dad's side. I think that must be why I'm a natural born racing god.
LOL - Nice one! Traced mine back to Somerset and about 1620. There's some stuff here : http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~benjafield/ But I haven't updated the site for nearly a year.....(lazy git!) Dave
<nods> -- Krusty. http://www.muddystuff.co.uk http://www.muddystuff.us Off-road classifieds '02 MV Senna '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250
That's an impressive bit of work, and no mistake. I think I've gone back as far as I can go without actually getting off my arse and going to Man to look up parish records. I'm not really a "traipsing round churches" type of person so it may be some time before I get any further. Also, the problem with IoM ancestry is there are large number of people with the same surnames (yes, this would explain why I have fourteen toes and breath through gills - thought I'd better get that in before Krusty does) . My Great-great-great-grandfather was a Manx farmer named Thomas Cowley, and it seems like almost everyone on the IoM in the early 1800s was a farmer named Thomas Cowley. Damned inconsiderate of them if you ask me.
I can see that being useful <kings tax collector> "You squire, yes you with the toes and gills, are you Thomas Cowley, sun of Thomas Cowley, brother of Thomas, Thomas and Thomas Cowley, Father of Thomas Cowely?" <small voice> "yes..." <Ktc> We do declare that you owe us the princely sum of... <larger voice> "ahh, no, you don't want ME, you want Thomas Cowley. The other one." <ktc> "Oh, as you were Sir, sorry to have bothered you and all...." <other ktc> "Woah Woah Woah, now just hang on a minute, are you saying you're not actually Thomas Cowley?" <confident voice> "no, I am Thomas Cowley, Sun of Thomas Cowley, brother to Thomas, Thomas and Thomas Cowley, father to Thomas Cowley, but, y'see, I'm not the Thomas Cowley you're looking for. That's the /other/ Thomas Cowley". <other ktc> "and pray tell squire, where might we find this /other/ Thomas Cowley> <member of assembled crowd> "I'm Thomas Cowley...." <another member of assembled crowd> "No, I'M thomas Crowley" <Enitre assembled crowd, in unison> "NO. I AM THOMAS CROWLEY" <Ktc+Oktc in Unison> "Bugger this, fancy a pint?" -- Dnc B1200 - +30bhp ~|~ ZZR1100 - faster when upright V2300 - flat cap and rug ~|~ A6 2.5TDi V6 Quattro Sport MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003
LOL! Thanks mate - you brightened up my afternoon. My lot were boring - Cider drinking sheep shaggers from Zummerzet. Apart from Joseph Dudley Benjafield (my 5th Cousin once removed). He was a Harley Street doctor and had a mate called W.O.Bentley who made cars..... He ended up driving cars round race tracks for W.O. as one of the "Bentley Boys" in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Most notable thing he did in a Bentley was winning the Le Mans 24hr race in 1927 (google it - the bit about "The Crash" is a fantastic story). He had a couple of other decent results there too. Then he became a founder member of the British Racing Drivers Club. Until about 1992 (I think) the "old" medical centre at Silverstone was known as the Benjafield Building - I think its now the press office, but I'm not sure.
LOL - very good! <marks article "keep"> ....that might very well form the front page of the family history "book" that I'm going to send out to all my living rellies one day...
My charges are reasonable. I'll even fix all the fucking typos. -- Dnc B1200 - +30bhp ~|~ ZZR1100 - faster when upright V2300 - flat cap and rug ~|~ A6 2.5TDi V6 Quattro Sport MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003
I've got 43p, some pocket-fluff and 3 slightly-melted rolos. That's my final offer, and I'll fix the typos meself.
