hi not new to researching my family tree, but ive been fortunate in not having to order certs before. Could someone please tell me the best, quickest, cheapest way of doing this please. I just dont want to make too many mistakes. thanks ever so much maz

MarianKntt@aol.com wrote: > hi > not new to researching my family tree, but ive been fortunate in not having > to order certs before. Could someone please tell me the best, quickest, > cheapest way of doing this please. I just dont want to make too many mistakes. The best way is through the GRO themselves or through the relevant register office. The cost is the same (7GBP) but the register office may charge postage which the GRO doesn't. You can order online with the GRO but may not be able to do so through a register office. (www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/) Delivery takes 5-10 days (or thereabouts) depending on where in the world you are. If you are ordering through the GRO, make sure you have their reference number which you can find on www.freebmd.org.uk or www.findmypast.com or www.familyrelatives.com or www.ancestry.com and also that you ensure you check the "yes" box to say that you have the reference otherwise it will cost more. Don't worry about filling in all the information in the form. The GRO don't use it all, only the sections marked with an asterisk (*). You can use reference checking points if you have the choice of more than one and they'll issue a cert for the first one that matches the points you've given. A word of warning though: *don't* use the father's occupation as a checking point! It can change from certificate to certificate and from census to census. It also depends on who is giving the information. If you decide to order from the register office, then you don't need the GRO reference because register offices use a different system but you will need to given them a date or date range for births and deaths. For marriages you will usually need to know the church where the marriage took place. Whatever you do, *don't* use one of the firms who offer to get certs for you. They charge over the odds (anything up to 60GBP) and some of them give the impression they are the "official" site. They aren't. The only genuine official site is the GRO itself. Only the GRO and the register offices are genuine official sources. The certificate sites will use them themselves. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, SOM