COMPLETED- Finding marriage records for female ancestors

[descartes46]

Hi guys,

Please can I ask for some general advice re marriage records for female ancestors?

Usually when I hit a brick wall and I post my question on the forum it is answered within the day. Which makes me think I must be missing something easy or am lacking a skill or some useful software. Being a university student at the moment I only have paid membership to ancestry and the free access to IGI (family search). Is there anything else I should be purchasing? Most of my ancestors came from Staffordshire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire.

You see, the other day when I posted a question about Carolone BAKER (b. 1834, Lichfield) a daughter of my ggggg-grandfather Samuel BAKER you fantastic forum guys tracked down the wedding and then all the census records for her life. But I shouldn't keep relying on you guys for the answers and so I'm seeking some expert advice.

I want to track down the the marriage records for Samuel's other two daughters Alice BAKER (b. 1823) & Martha (b. 1828) both from Lichfield but I can't find a suitable match on ancestry or FamilySearch. If somebody could advise, it would be very helpful indeed.

Thanks,
Darren

[MarkCDodd]

On ancestry try the following.

1) Find the last census where you can find her under her maiden name.
2) Search for a suitable death from the middle of the census year +/- 5 years. i.e If the last census you can find is 1891 then search for deaths 1896 +/- 5years.
3) If a suitable death is not found then search for a marriage using the same +/- 5 years.
4) Always do searches for the whole of the UK, not just the county you think she may have married/died in.
5) Names should be searched:

i) Exact Spelling for Forename and Surname then
ii) Exact Spelling for Forename and Soundex/Phonetic/Similar for Surname
iii) Phonetic/Similar for Forename and Soundex/Phonetic/Similar for Surname

6) If you do not find a suitable marriage/death then try searching the following ten years i.e 1906 +/- 5
7) If she in consistent with her place of birth then Search All Records with an exact match on her forename, nothing in the surname and her year of birth +/- 5 years. Place her town of birth in the "Keyword" field and not "Location". Make sure "exact" is ticked for the keyword. i.e. Looking for a Susan Dodd born in Sheriffhales, Shropshire in 1845 I would enter the following.

First and middle names: Susan (restrict to exact)
Last name: LEAVE BLANK
Birth: 1852 +/- 5 Exact Only Location: LEAVE BLANK
Keyword: Sheriffhales Exact
Collection Priority: UK and Ireland Show Only Records From These Locations
Restrict to: HIstorical Records, Family Trees, Stories and publications, Photos and maps.

Make sure your results are sorted by category, not relevance.

The categories she will show up are census, births and family trees.

Quite often she will be in people's family trees with an unknown surname because they never found the marriage.

Quite often you will find somebody who looks like her in a census with her married name and you can search for the marriage just based on surnames.

There are a lot of tricks to finding people on Ancestry so that is a quick over view of the basics.

With familysearch their algorithms for finding similar names is excellent.

Always enter England as the place of the event you are searching for and ensure its ticked so you don't get pages of hits.

[descartes46]

On ancestry try the following.

1) Find the last census where you can find her under her maiden name.
2) Search for a suitable death from the middle of the census year +/- 5 years. i.e If the last census you can find is 1891 then search for deaths 1896 +/- 5years.
3) If a suitable death is not found then search for a marriage using the same +/- 5 years.
4) Always do searches for the whole of the UK, not just the county you think she may have married/died in.
5) Names should be searched:

i) Exact Spelling for Forename and Surname then
ii) Exact Spelling for Forename and Soundex/Phonetic/Similar for Surname
iii) Phonetic/Similar for Forename and Soundex/Phonetic/Similar for Surname

6) If you do not find a suitable marriage/death then try searching the following ten years i.e 1906 +/- 5
7) If she in consistent with her place of birth then Search All Records with an exact match on her forename, nothing in the surname and her year of birth +/- 5 years. Place her town of birth in the "Keyword" field and not "Location". Make sure "exact" is ticked for the keyword. i.e. Looking for a Susan Dodd born in Sheriffhales, Shropshire in 1845 I would enter the following.

First and middle names: Susan (restrict to exact)
Last name: LEAVE BLANK
Birth: 1852 +/- 5 Exact Only Location: LEAVE BLANK
Keyword: Sheriffhales Exact
Collection Priority: UK and Ireland Show Only Records From These Locations
Restrict to: HIstorical Records, Family Trees, Stories and publications, Photos and maps.

Make sure your results are sorted by category, not relevance.

The categories she will show up are census, births and family trees.

Quite often she will be in people's family trees with an unknown surname because they never found the marriage.

Quite often you will find somebody who looks like her in a census with her married name and you can search for the marriage just based on surnames.

There are a lot of tricks to finding people on Ancestry so that is a quick over view of the basics.

With familysearch their algorithms for finding similar names is excellent.

Always enter England as the place of the event you are searching for and ensure its ticked so you don't get pages of hits.

Thanks Mark you're a star.

[SRD]

You don't mention using FreeBMD. Searching for deaths and marriages in the years between census is easy there and, whilst not having the relevance options, often throws up few enough matches to check the married names against the following census.

[MarkCDodd]

Ancestry uses FreeBMD's index but has far more search options.

The algorithms used to find phonetics is superior on Ancestry than FreeBMD.

FreeBMD, and therefore Ancestry, are not as accurate as more recent indexes done by Find My Past and The Genealogist.

Genes Reunited use the Find My Past indexes.

FamilySearch uses Ancestry's census indexes which are not as accurate as The Genealogist.

I often use a combination of sites to find missing BMD and census entries.

It is also useful to search the local indexes, such as West Midland BMD and Staffordshire BMD, as not all record made it to the GRO index on which FreeBMD is based.

http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk/

I have also found large holes in the FreeBMD index and that on Find My Past so I occasionally do a manual check of the forms.

Although genealogical research is much easier than even 5 years ago, there are still skills that need developing and that only come with practice.

[Antie Em]

The census on Family Search was transcribed and indexed many years ago by the LDS Church. It was issued on disc before it went live and is very accurate. Ancestry bought the 1881 census, including the indexing from the LDS church. It's probably the most accurate census on Ancestry.

[Northern Lass]

on free bmd you can put an asterisk in if you don't know the spelling so if you want Davison you can put

Dav*

I have found that very helpful when searching.

[descartes46]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice. I think I've now found a possible marriage for Martha BAKER (b.1828, Lichfield):

1851 Age: 23 Marriage to William C BrownLichfield, St Mary 17PL/1/170
BAKER Martha BROWN William C 1851 Lichfield, St Mary Newcastle-Under-Lyme Staffordshire 17PL/1/170

I've also followed Martha through the census records until 1891
1828 Birth Lichfield, Staffordshire, England
1851 Age: 23 ResidenceLichfield St Mary, Staffordshire, England
1861 Age: 33 Residence 10, Butt Street, Rushall, Rushall, Staffordshire
1871 Age: 43 10, Butt Street, Rushall, Staffordshire
1881 Age: 53 Residence Winterly Lane, Rushall, Staffordshire.
1891 Age: 63 Residence St Michael, Staffordshire, England 33, Townfield, Lichfield.


I've not been so successful with finding a possible marriage record for her sister Alice BAKER (b. 1823, Lichfield). Any chance somebody could have a look for me?

Thanks,
Darren

[Jimmy]

On this in 1861 census Lucretia Martin married Charles Trawford, on the IGI there are a few children with parents John and Alice Wilson.

Marriages Sep 1852.
BAKER Alice. Lichfield. 6b. 399.
Jeffery Ann Rodd. Stoke T. 6b. 399.
Martin Lucretia. Lichfield. 6b. 399.
TRAWFORD Charles. Lichfield. 6b. 399.
Wilson John. Lichfield. 6b. 399.

[Jimmy]

1861. Whittington, Staffordshire.
John Wilson 28. Ag lab.
Alice Wilson 24.
John Wilson 4.
William Wilson 2.
John Wilson 57. Father. Widow. Ag lab.

Same family
1871.
John Wilson M 38. Elford, Staffordshire.
wife Alice Wilson F 34. Curborough, Staffordshire.
son John Wilson M 14. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son William Wilson M 12. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Thomas Wilson M 7. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Arthur Wilson M 5. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Frank Wilson M 1. Whittington, Staffordshire.

[descartes46]

1861. Whittington, Staffordshire.
John Wilson 28. Ag lab.
Alice Wilson 24.
John Wilson 4.
William Wilson 2.
John Wilson 57. Father. Widow. Ag lab.

Same family
1871.
John Wilson M 38. Elford, Staffordshire.
wife Alice Wilson F 34. Curborough, Staffordshire.
son John Wilson M 14. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son William Wilson M 12. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Thomas Wilson M 7. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Arthur Wilson M 5. Whittington, Staffordshire.
son Frank Wilson M 1. Whittington, Staffordshire.

Hi Jimmy, thanks for the find. Apprciated. This Alice seems to be 14 years younger than she should be?? Our Alice should be born around 1823. This one is c.1837. Darren

[Jimmy]

I don,t know the area so it could be the right one but here age is out.

[Margarett]

Just as a point of interest, the 1881 census was transcribed for the LDS church by members of Family History societies in the UK, about 20 years ago. I was one of the transcribers and checkers doing it as a volunteer for the BMSGH. It was hard work, no computers then, and we were sent often poor photo copies through the post to work from. Very rewarding though, as I "found" several of my ancestors during transcription. Thanks, Auntie Em for saying that they are accurate!

[descartes46]

Just as a point of interest, the 1881 census was transcribed for the LDS church by members of Family History societies in the UK, about 20 years ago. I was one of the transcribers and checkers doing it as a volunteer for the BMSGH. It was hard work, no computers then, and we were sent often poor photo copies through the post to work from. Very rewarding though, as I "found" several of my ancestors during transcription. Thanks, Auntie Em for saying that they are accurate!

Sounded like a great project to get involved with! I'm hoping to get into some kind of archiving job when I graduate from uni next May.

[MarkCDodd]

LDS are brilliant. They come in and train your indexers and provide terrific equipment for doing it.
They have helped my Genealogical Society many times over the years as they want indexes to be as accurate as possible.
Accurately tracing ancestors is an important part of their religious beliefs so they are very thorough in what they do.