Index entries for births from Q3/1911 onwards include the maiden name of the mother. This is an excellent differentiator which often enables you to choose the correct entry (and to build family groups - which may also help to differentiate). Of course, if the maiden name is a common one, the problem may well remain. David Hallam [email protected] www.beeston-notts.co.uk > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Debbie > Sent: 05 February 2012 15:45 > To: Nottingham History Society > Subject: [NTT] Question > > > Hi Everyone, > > In reading the post, it says: > > You should also, however, try and trace them at FreeBMD, which > has many millions of birth, > marriage and death records from the General Register Office for > England & Wales online. > This can be found at: http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl > and does not require a > subscription. The GRO records go back to July 1st 1837 and then > you are back to the parish > registers. > > My question is....If you have a common name, there is no way to > know which family is truly yours > without sending for the certificate? Correct? > > Thank you > Debbie > USA > > > Notts Surname List > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/notts.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

From: "beeston-notts" <[email protected]> > Index entries for births from Q3/1911 onwards include the maiden > name of the mother. > > This is an excellent differentiator which often enables you to > choose the correct entry (and to build family groups - which may also help to > differentiate). Of course, if the maiden name is a common one, the > problem may well remain. > > David Hallam < And from the first quarter of 1912 the GRO marriage indexes link the parties to a marriage with the surname of the person they married alongside the entry. Before that date it is not always easy to discover who married who when there were very often two marriages to a page and sometimes four. Of course, this is where the census returns come in very valuable. For marriages after 1912 it is often possible to resolve the problem because you are going to find them in the 1911 census - but even then, there is often a problem, say, when you find a man's name and two women called Mary in the same entry at FreeBMD, etc. Which Mary did he marry? And that is often a situation where only buying the certificate can resolve it. Researching family history, inevitably, costs money, just like any other hobby and I never tire of telling beginners this. So many newcomers seem to think it can all be done online or just by asking questions in a mailing list. IT CAN'T! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE