In answer to my own recent query on the Glamlist as to what indexes, if any, one could search *in person* at a local Register Office, I have ascertained from Cardiff Register Office the following facts which I will expand on if and when the 2 other ROs I contacted respond; http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html#LocalROs ########################### What local Register Offices have to offer visitors a.. Members of the public are not allowed access to the actual registers deposited at Register Offices. b.. There is 'general search' facility available whereby a person can pay a fee of £18 and search through the index books of births deaths and marriages for a period up to 6 hours. Registration staff then check each reference against the register to determine whether or not it is the 'correct' entry. c.. Indexes at each RO are complied by RO staff from the actual registers in their custody.An index book will only show the full name and page number in the register; they are in date order and then broken down into alphabetic. No maiden name or spouse/ parents names are shown in an index book. d.. There is a £7.00 fee for the issue of the certificate. e.. Some offices are so small, or facilities so poor, that they are not able to let the public search and it is often easier for staff to search themselves. Staff are obliged to search a five year period free of charge. f.. Some offices have been lucky enough to compile their own computer data base and most offices have been computerising all current records since the mid nineties. g.. Marriages are the hardest to find as there are individual registers for each Anglican Church and each registered building where an ' authorised person ' has been appointed. At Cardiff they have the majority of their marriage records on a computer data base but most offices haven't yet. Cardiff have been compiling a yearly index for marriages irrespective of which Church the marriage took place at but this has only happened for about the last 10 years. h.. The reference taken from the GRO indexes is a national reference not a local one and means nothing to the individual register office; the quarter year is the only thing that helps them. ####################### Gareth Admin for the Rootsweb DYFED, CGN & PEM lists Genuki Wales http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/ Lookup Exchange http://home.clara.net/tirbach/lookup.html Help Page http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html Cwmgors/Waun http://www.tytwp.plus.com/Waun/Waun.html .