newbie advice

[mrchris]

I was a bit nieve on first searching my family online to what documents would be shown
basicaly i can find only information I already know which is date of birth/death etc.

if i use a paid for service can i view birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates etc if so which is the best service?

i want to start with my parents and try and work backwards as far as possible

[Christine in Herts]

Welcome to FTF!

Have you had a look at the "Starting Out on Your Research" link, above? It has some really good material, and could save you from heading off (expensively) in the wrong direction.

You are unlikely to be able to view BMD certificates online, only the indexes to them if you're talking about England & Wales. (There are copyright issues about certificates, too.) If you're talking about Scotland, they aren't free, but you don't have to pay the full £9.25 if you don't need a certified document, and you can get an image of the register.

Most people find that a subscription to one of the big sites is worth the investment for a year or two, at the very least. It's very easy to run through credits on pay-as-you-go sites, because it's always better to see the original image rather than rely on a transcription, and the images are always more costly than the transcriptions. If you follow up the link I suggested, you'll see that there are a number of free sites for the indexes and for transcriptions. In general, transcriptions should only ever be used as indicators/clues.

WIth all sites, you need to check on the extent of the coverage before presuming that a record doesn't exist. A "no hits" result may just mean that your area or date-range hasn't got transcribed yet.

Christine

[mrchris]

newbie

thanks christine for the information, i will digest it when i have time

chris

Welcome to FTF!

Have you had a look at the "Starting Out on Your Research" link, above? It has some really good material, and could save you from heading off (expensively) in the wrong direction.

You are unlikely to be able to view BMD certificates online, only the indexes to them if you're talking about England & Wales. (There are copyright issues about certificates, too.) If you're talking about Scotland, they aren't free, but you don't have to pay the full £9.25 if you don't need a certified document, and you can get an image of the register.

Most people find that a subscription to one of the big sites is worth the investment for a year or two, at the very least. It's very easy to run through credits on pay-as-you-go sites, because it's always better to see the original image rather than rely on a transcription, and the images are always more costly than the transcriptions. If you follow up the link I suggested, you'll see that there are a number of free sites for the indexes and for transcriptions. In general, transcriptions should only ever be used as indicators/clues.

WIth all sites, you need to check on the extent of the coverage before presuming that a record doesn't exist. A "no hits" result may just mean that your area or date-range hasn't got transcribed yet.

Christine

[Uncle John]

And if you don't understand something, do ask for help.