help finding a death record please

[mrspink]

Hi, i'm new to this site as only been looking at my family tree via family search recently. i'm trying to find the date my gt gt grandmother died. She was Margaret Elizabeth Huff, maiden name Morris, living in Trafford, Manchester area but born Hereford and gave birth in 1881 to my great grandmother Kate Elizabeth. One cencus showed her name as Martha, but the marriage to John Huff in 1877 shows Margaret. He remarried in 1888 and was listed as a widower so she must have died between 1881 and 1888. I'm wondering if there's any other options?! or were some deaths not listed/registered anywhere? thanks for any help

[merleyone]

Margaret Elizabeth Huff, 35, died in the June Quarter 1886 at Stockport, ref 8a 31.

merleyone

[cbcarolyn]

you can use https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/c...xes_search.asp to search for births and deaths. the deaths give you age at death too, so helps you decide if it is the correct record.

you have to register, but it is free to use, just costs if you order a certificate.

[kylejustin]

Freebmd is also a good free site for english bmd indexes. And if you click on the registration district, it will tell you all the towns covered by it and the dates they were included in that district.

[mrspink]

such quick responses, many thanks all! I had her born in 1854 so if she died 1886 it would've made her 32/33 not 35? or can ages sometimes be inacurate?? As Huff is fairly unusual and her husband remarried in Jan 88 it sounds like the one murley one found is the correct one?I've searched and searched!

[mrspink]

Will research her birth more as perhaps that was wrong. The 1881 census had John 2 years older than other census, so perhaps Margaret's was wrong too! It didn't help as she was listed as Martha on another census!

[Anne in Carlisle]

You'll find that you can't rely on very accurate dates. You need to use every bit of evidence as well as your judgement to work some if them out. Records can be in error for various reasons and also many people were not really sure of their age and probably didn't care much! I have people who 'age' 15 years between censuses and then the same person only ages 4 years to the next. I sometimes think it must have been how old they felt on the day!!

Anne

[cbcarolyn]

and I am not even sure people knew how old they were, and especially people around them that reg the death.

[kylejustin]

People didn't have to know their birthday's like we do for government documentation. So ages at marriage, death, and census can be out for a year or two, or 10-20 years as anne said. Sometimes the individual lied about age themselves. I have an aunt who shaved 10+ years off both marriages to be closer to the groom's ages. Other times the informant was unaware or guessing.

in eastern australia, age and birthplaces of parents are required on birth certificates. I have an ancestor who kept stating his wife was born in berlin. Research for years found no evidence of the family, but a possible family (no conclusive evidence) was found in berlin. Turns out she was born in a small pomeranian village, but her parents had actually lived in berlin about ten years before she was born. They actually lived at the same address as the other possible family...so she may have thought she was born in berlin.

[mrspink]

Thank you again all. I think the death year will be correct, i'd been inputting 1854 on the birth year so as soon as i put 1851 Margaret Huff death showed up on Family Tree. I will learn from this!! I found a Margaret E Morris born Hentland (as one of the census stated) in 1854 but also a Margaret Morris born Peterslow, Herefordshire, 1851 which is 10 min away by car. I think the 1854 one will be right and the age at death guessed. If the 1854 birth is to be believed i can then get her parents name! I am loving this, but it does take a lot of detective work... and time.
Thanks again for taking the time to help me out, much appreciated.

[kylejustin]

The marriage cert will give you father's name and occupation. Then you can look for her with family prior to marriage.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Mrspink ..... if a search fails to find what you are looking for try putting in LESS information. You may then be able to spot the one you are looking for.
Anne

[mrspink]

Thanks again. I tried eve just putting M Huff etc and then looked on the Lancashire BMD site to no avail. Low and behold the info is now there. I'm not sure if t family search site 'search' gets stuck sometimes, i find it better to start afresh. If i get chance this winter i'll try a couple of free weeks on ancestry or some other site to see if i can get other info but at the moment my time is limited.

[cbcarolyn]

Thanks again. I tried eve just putting M Huff etc and then looked on the Lancashire BMD site to no avail. Low and behold the info is now there. I'm not sure if t family search site 'search' gets stuck sometimes, i find it better to start afresh. If i get chance this winter i'll try a couple of free weeks on ancestry or some other site to see if i can get other info but at the moment my time is limited.

Don't forget Ancestry is available at home via your library log on until the end of August (if your library normally have it)