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| ''[[England Genealogy|England]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]'' '''Civil Registration''' {{England-sidebar}} | | ''[[England Genealogy|England]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]'' '''Civil Registration''' {{England-sidebar}} |
| == Onlline Resources ==
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| [[Image:SomersetHousebyAnonpublAckermann&Co1836.jpg|thumb|right|250px]] Civil registration is the government recording of births, marriages, and deaths. Civil registration records are excellent sources of names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths. Because they are indexed and cover most of the population, English civil registration records are important sources for genealogical research. Learn more about using these records for family history from the [https://www.gov.uk/research-family-history-general-register-office GOV.UK website].
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| ===Births, Marriages,Deaths===
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| *[http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/england-and-wales--birth-marriage-and-death-browse-1837-1983 England & Wales Birth, Marriage, and Death Browse 1837-1983], ($), index
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| ===Births===
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1473014 England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975], index, incomplete. Also at [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9841 Ancestry.com], ($), index. Also at [http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-30042/england-births-christenings-1538-1975?s=218489221 MyHeritage], ($), index
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285338 England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008], index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8912 England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915], index
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| *[http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/england-and-wales-births-1837-2006 England & Wales Births 1837-2006], ($), index
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| *[http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-30042/england-births-christenings-1538-1975?s=218489221 England & Wales Births, GRO Indexes, 1911 - 1954], ($), index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8782 England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916-2005], ($), index
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| <br>
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| ===Marriages===
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285732 England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005], index . Also at [http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/england-and-wales-marriages-1837-2008 FindMyPast], ($), index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8913 England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915], ($), index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8753 England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005], ($), index/images
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| <br>
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| ===Deaths===
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285341 England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007], index. Also at [http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/england-and-wales-deaths-1837-2007 FindMyPast], ($), index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8914 England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915], ($), index
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| *[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60630 England and Wales, Death Index, 2007-2013], ($), index
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| == General Register Office - Historical Background == | | == General Register Office - Historical Background == |
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| ::- [http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/ Registers and Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Protectorates (RG36)] - 1895-1965 | | ::- [http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/ Registers and Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Protectorates (RG36)] - 1895-1965 |
| ::- Indexes to all the above "Miscellaneous" series from 1826-1945 are found in RG43 | | ::- Indexes to all the above "Miscellaneous" series from 1826-1945 are found in RG43<br> |
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| === Indexes at The Family History Library ===
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| [More to be added] While finding British subjects who were born, married or died abroad can be a challenge, indexes are now available to make the task easier. In additional to the above listed links to online indices to British citizens living overseas, the Family History Library also has many indexes as well as microfilm copies of many British church records for persons that lived in foreign countries and for ecclesiastical returns from British Army (the military establishment). See {{further|British Persons Abroad}} a guide to British Overseas in records at the Family History Library and The National Archives, UK<br>
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| FamilySearch's British (and Irish) collections in the Family History Library has obtained copies of available General Register Office's series of indices. These may be ordered for and obtained for viewing and researching at any of its 4,600 FamilySearch Centers worldwide. Before ordering however, be certain to view the above table for currently available online indexed registers as most have by now, been indexed and accessible online at various websites.
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| The National Archives is custodian to the vast collections of the British overseas and in military returns. However, these have now been indexed to a significant extent. To view each index series, see the links listed in the above table and/or view the following links to find even more options available to the researcher in the use and availability of these precious registers:<br>
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| *Indexes and records to [[British Citizens Overseas and Military Personnel 1627-1969]].
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| *see [[British Births, Marriages and Deaths Overseas]] <br>
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| == Information Recorded in Civil Registers == | | == Information Recorded in Civil Registers == |
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| *Some children were registered as "male" or "female" if a name had not been selected before registration. | | *Some children were registered as "male" or "female" if a name had not been selected before registration. |
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| == Locating and Ordering Civil Registration Records == | | === Ordering Certificates Online === |
| | ''Tip for Marriages: If your ancestors married in the Anglican church after 1837, there is no need to pay £9.25, as the Church marriage register will be an exact duplicate of the civil marriages.'' |
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| Civil registration records are kept at the superintendent registrar’s district office. Duplicates are kept at the General Register Office, part of the Identity and Passport Service.
| | Civil registration certificates are closed to the public. The only way to obtain one is to order a copy from the Register General Office for England and Wales. You may order through the Internet, telephone or post. The quickest way is to order online, quoting the full reference. ''You should also take care to order only through the official GRO site, and not through any other site, which will often charge more, and take longer.'' |
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| ==== Ordering Certificates Online ====
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| Civil registration certificates are closed to the public. The only way to obtain one is to order a copy from the Register General Office for England and Wales. You may order through the Internet, telephone or post. The quickest way is to order online, quoting the full reference. You should also take care to order only through the official GRO site, and not through any other site, which will often charge more, and take longer. | |
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| The current price of a certificate is £9.25 pounds sterling with Full Reference. Full Reference includes the type of certificate requested, individual's name, registration district, quarter, year, volume and page number from the indexes. For more information, see their Web site at: | | The current price of a certificate is £9.25 pounds sterling with Full Reference. Full Reference includes the type of certificate requested, individual's name, registration district, quarter, year, volume and page number from the indexes. For more information, see their Web site at: |
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| *The names of the parents, if known | | *The names of the parents, if known |
| *An approximate date and place of the event | | *An approximate date and place of the event |
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| == Indexes to Civil Registration (England & Wales) Registers ==
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| Indexes can help you find an entry for your ancestor. The General Register Office (GRO) creates nationwide indexes after receiving quarterly returns.
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| ==== Content ====
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| These indexes are arranged by calendar quarter and year, alphabetically. The index gives the name, registration district, volume, and page number. Later indexes also include the following:
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| *Age at death (post-1865 death indexes)
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| *Mother’s maiden name (post-June 1911 birth indexes)
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| *Spouse’s surname (post-1911 marriage indexes)
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| *Birth date (post-March 1969 death indexes)
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| With the index reference you can send for the certificate (see above).
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| ==== Search Tips ====
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| If you cannot locate an index entry, consider the following reasons:
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| *Surnames are often found under unexpected spellings.
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| *Events are filed by the date registered, not the date they occurred (for example, a birth on 20 March which was registered on 6 April will be in the April-May-June quarter).
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| *Indexes were prepared by hand and may contain copying errors (for example, "T" for "F") or omissions.
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| *A person may have been registered under a different name than he or she used later in life.
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| *Some marriages were indexed by the name of only one spouse.
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| *A woman’s surname in the marriage index may be her surname from a previous marriage.
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| *Family information (particularly age at death) is often misleading.
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| *Persons with common names may be difficult to identify in the index.
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| *Some deaths were registered as "unknown."
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| *A child born before the parents’ marriage may be registered under the mother’s maiden name.
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| *Some children were registered as "male" or "female" if a name had not been selected before registration.
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| Knowing the district name and at least an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, or death occurred will reduce your search time.
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| === Online Index to England and Wales Civil Registration ===
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| In recent years volunteers began transcribing the microfiched indexes and placing them online. Two sites with online civil registration indexes to births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales are located at:<br>
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| 1. [http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl FreeBMD] - After selecting the event to search, features include:
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| *Name
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| *Date the event was registered (with date range)
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| *Name of the district or county
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| *Name of parents or spouse
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| *Search by exact or phonetic match
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| The results show the following for each individual:
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| *Type of event (birth, marriage, or death)
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| *Name of the individual
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| *Year and quarter of the year when registered. (Only the last month of the quarter is given, i.e. March, June, September, or December.)
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| *Name of the district where the event was registered. (Remember: A district could encompass a number of locations and was responsible to register the event.)
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| *Volume number and page number
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| Since this is an ongoing project, there are always additional years being added to the online indexes. A set of graphs on the site shows which years have already been indexed. On the Home Page, click 'Information', choose 'Statistics' and select 'Coverage Charts' for the latest updates. It is also possible to report transcription errors and add "Postem" notes if you locate an entry which is incorrect or that you have more information about.
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| You should bear in mind the way in which national indexes were compiled from 1837 onward. The quarterly returns sent were manually arranged in alphabetical order and the index compiled was manually written by clerks up to 1865. From 1866 to 1910 the indexes were typeset from the handwritten slips, then typewritten until the 1960s, when computers were first used. From 1984 onwards the indexes have been 'born digital'. Some of the early handwritten indexes between 1837 and 1865 were withdrawn when they became worn, and replaced with typed copies. This extra stage of copying means that these indexes have a higher level of errors.
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| There have always been checking procedures, but there was rarely enough time or funding to carry them out properly, so it is not surprising that the indexes are incomplete and contain inaccurate entries. If you cannot locate an entry, it is sensible to go to the <u>primary</u> source of registration at the local Registration District.
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| ==== Using the indexes in FreeBMD to find where a marriage took place ====
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| '''Find a marriage record in FreeBMD, but don’t know which parish it was in?''' An article, “Get more out of FreeBMD,” in the October, 2010 issue of ''Family Tree Magazine'' UK discusses how you could use FreeBMD to find the parish where a marriage took place. This article was followed up in the December, 2010 issue with another article on the subject, “Parish Match” by Sophie Pigott. Roughly the steps, as listed in these articles, include the following:
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| <br> 1. Search in www.freebmd.org.uk for the district, volume and page number of the marriage entry.<br> 2. Go back to the Home Page. Select the Information Link in the middle of the Home Page (it is red and has a box around it).<br> 3. Scroll down to the Statistics section and click on the Districts link.<br> 4. Scroll down to the Page Ranges section, then click on the second ‘here’ link, “Index by District.”<br> 5. Using the entry for your marriage in FreeBMD, find and select your district.<br> 6. Scroll down to the marriages and use the year and quarter to identify the page numbers.<br> 7. Determine if the page number listed falls at the beginning, middle or end of the pages by:<br> a. Finding a list of parishes in the district that existed at the time of the marriage.<br> b. Alphabetize the list. (You can use maps.familysearch.org to generate a list of all parishes in a county in 1851. Beyond that they suggest you Google ‘old parishes in …’)<br> c. Calculate from the list how many parishes were in the district. Then figure out from step 6 how many pages were used during that quarter. You should get a feel for whether the marriage was in the beginning, middle or ending parishes of the list.<br> 8. Choose a parish near the middle of the list and go to the parish registers to find the numbers of the first and last marriages in that quarter. That will give you context for where your marriage might land.<br> 9. Calculate whether your number is before or after those of the parish you chose. You should be able to spot check the marriage pages and quickly work your way to the one you need.<br>
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| This is really an exciting strategy that will save hours of searching through parish registers to find where a marriage was solemnized.
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| For more detailed information see the above issues of ''Family Tree Magazine''.<br>
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| 2. In January 2014 FamilySearch.org added three new databases which index records from 1837 to 1920. There are no links to images.
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285338 England and Wales, Birth Index, 1837-1920]
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| :see also [[England and Wales, Birth Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285341 England and Wales, Death Index 1837-1920]
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| :see also [[England and Wales, Death Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]
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| *[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2285732 England and Wales, Marriage Index, 1837-1920]
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| :see also [[England and Wales, Marriage Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]
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| 3. [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ UKBMD website] - Select the desired county to determine if there is a local bmd index project. (Not all counties are currently indexing the civil registration indexes for births, marriages, and deaths.) Most county-wide indexes include through 1950. All the counties have incomplete indexes and the project is on-going. Continue to check back often for updated and added information. By signing up, e-mail updates are available from the county extraction directors.
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| Search features include:
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| *Name
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| *Date the event was registered
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| *Name of the district and county
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| *Date range
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| *Names of parents or spouse<br>
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| The results show the following for each individual. This is the information you need if you want to order a copy of a certificate from a local register office in England and Wales.
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| *Type of event (birth, marriage, or death)
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| *Name of the individual.
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| *Year when event registered.
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| *Name of the region. The name of the local BMD project area
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| *Name of the place where the event was registered. For births and deaths this is the district name, a district is a geographic area that was responsible to register the event. For marriages the name of the church or register office is given.
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| *Name of the register office that now holds the registers. This is the office to which applications should be made for copy certificates.
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| *Reference number. The unique reference number required to order a certificate from the local register office.
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| The registers in local [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/cam.html Registration Districts] in both England and Wales are the <u>primary</u> registration information of births marriages and deaths. Research has shown that the national index contains many errors and omissions. The indexation of primary records is based on year of event unlike the national index which is compiled from quarterly returns and is therefore more likely to locate the event you seek.
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| 4. [http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/nameindex/ai_content.php The Genealogist website] has indexed and posted online most of the births, marriages and deaths throughout the country. The indexes provide the same information as listed above.
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| 5. [http://www.findmypast.co.uk Findmypast] & [http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ Ancestry.co.uk], paid subscription sites, have all the civil registration indexes available online from 1837 to 2010. These sites are available for free in the Family History Library and Regional Centers; also available at many public libraries, university/college and many family history society search rooms.
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| 6. [http://worldvitalrecords.com WorldVitalRecords.com], a paid subscription site, has all of these indexes available online also. This site is available for free in the Family History Library and Family History Centers. [http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=ukbmd1983_births Births: 1837-1983]; [http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=ukbmd1983_marriages Marriages: 1837-1983]; [http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=ukbmd1983_deaths Deaths: 1837-1983].
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| == Registration Districts == | | == Registration Districts == |
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| The following sources will help identify the district that served the place where your ancestors lived: | | The following sources will help identify the district that served the place where your ancestors lived: |
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| ''The Imperial Gazetteer'', included on the [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp Vision of Britain] web site, gives parishes and their civil districts. (See [[England Gazetteers|England Gazetteers]].) [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/index.html Genuki.org.uk] also provides of list of Registration Districts. | | ''The Imperial Gazetteer'', included on the [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp Vision of Britain] web site, gives parishes and their civil districts. (See [[England Gazetteers|England Gazetteers]].) [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/index.html Genuki.org.uk] and [http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/ UKBMD.org.uk] also provides of list of Registration Districts. |
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| Population Tables are available for each census year. They give the population for the various localities and are arranged by county, district, and parish. The indexes to these tables are very helpful because they give the district for each place listed. District boundaries changed over time, so it is helpful to refer to these indexes. The Family History Library call numbers for the indexes are as follows: | | Population Tables are available for each census year. They give the population for the various localities and are arranged by county, district, and parish. The indexes to these tables are very helpful because they give the district for each place listed. District boundaries changed over time, so it is helpful to refer to these indexes. The Family History Library call numbers for the indexes are as follows: |
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| *[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/RegOffice/ Genuki] | | *[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/RegOffice/ Genuki] |
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| Keep in mind that over time district boundaries have changed, and some districts have been abolished. | | Keep in mind that over time district boundaries have changed, and some districts have been abolished. |
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| == Records at the Family History Library ==
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| The Family History Library has microfilm copies of the civil registration indexes of all births, marriages, and deaths for England and Wales from 1837 through 1980. A microfiche copy of the indexes covering 1837–1983 is also available. The library does not have any actual civil registration certificates. However, under the section above, "Information Recorded in Civil Registers", note that post-1837 church marriages are an exact replica of the civil certificates of marriage. Thus the library has microfilms of church baptisms, marriages, or burial records for the same time period for many areas.
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| To locate the Indexes with their microfilm and microfiche numbers, type in ENGLAND in the 'Place Search' of the FamilySearch Catalog and search the topic 'Civil Registration - Indexes'. Here's a link to catalog entry for the {{FHL|744657|title-id|disp=Civil Registration Indexes of Birth, marriages and deaths for England and Wales}}.
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| They are also listed in the following book:
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| *''England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes on Microfiche and Microfilm.'' Salt Lake City, Utah: Family History Library, 1997. (Family History Library book {{FHL|784663|title-id|disp=942 V2}}ic 1997).
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| === Family History Library Training Online ===
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| {{Online course badge
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| | link = https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/civil-registration-and-beyond/304
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| | name = Civil Registration and Beyond
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| }}
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| The Family History Library offers an online series of five lessons on genealogical research in England entitled "England Beginning Research." This video series includes one lesson on Civil Registration and is available for anyone to view at their own computer. These lessons are available on [http://www.familysearch.org/ www.familysearch.org] in the [https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html Learning Center]. You can navigate to the Learning Center from most pages on familysearch.org: In the upper right corner, click '''Get Help''', then select '''Help and Learn Home'''. You'll see menu options near the top of the page. Click '''Learning Center''', then search for "England Beginning Research." There are no registration or password requirements for viewing these lessons.
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| {{featured article}} | | {{featured article}} |