Family Tree Help recent death

laurence2163

Hope this is the right board

My mum is trying to compile her family tree and is having a great deal of difficulty locating information on her second cousins. She was notified of the death of one last year. She has his full name, date of death and location of death, but she is trying to trace his birth details to link them with his parents.

Anyone got any specific advice for locating someone with just this info, thanks

margaretclare

If you send for the death certificate it will give these details so that you can take the research one generation back.

Margaret

laurence2163

margaretclare wrote: »

If you send for the death certificate it will give these details so that you can take the research one generation back.

Margaret

Margaret do you what details will it contain, we get the impression that he has died with no immediate family. Would it contain his date of birth?

aaroncaz

laurence2163 wrote: »

Hope this is the right board

My mum is trying to compile her family tree and is having a great deal of difficulty locating information on her second cousins. She was notified of the death of one last year. She has his full name, date of death and location of death, but she is trying to trace his birth details to link them with his parents.

Anyone got any specific advice for locating someone with just this info, thanks

you can look up his birth on ancestry for free:

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx

I have been researching my tree for over a year now, and have gone back to the 1700s, birth details on death certs, are not always correct, the person who reg the death, may have got it wrong, not known for sure, etc..... my great grandmothers birth is out by 2 years!! Sometimes people didnt know when they were born, though this is early on, say the late 1800s!! Be prepared to look a few years either side of what the death cert says.

aaroncaz

laurence2163 wrote: »

Margaret do you what details will it contain, we get the impression that he has died with no immediate family. Would it contain his date of birth?

Before the 1950s or 1960s, death certs didnt show date of birth, after that, they do, it will show address at time of death, where the person died, from what he died and who registered the death.

aaroncaz

also this is a great board for ppl researching their tree, they give you loads of help, and can look things up for you.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbhistory/F2233810

laurence2163

aaroncaz wrote: »

you can look up his birth on ancestry for free:

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx

I have been researching my tree for over a year now, and have gone back to the 1700s, birth details on death certs, are not always correct, the person who reg the death, may have got it wrong, not known for sure, etc..... my great grandmothers birth is out by 2 years!! Sometimes people didnt know when they were born, though this is early on, say the late 1800s!! Be prepared to look a few years either side of what the death cert says.

Thanks for the advice guys, but like i said i know the full name, date of death, where he died, but i haven't a clue when he was born and need to confirm his parents. Ancestry and Freebdm seem to be great if you are looking for someone born in the 1800's but i am finding it so difficult to locate someone who was probably born between 1935-1955.

Cylindus

I would get the death certificate as it gives the age at death, then you can use ancestry to look up the relevant years on the birth index. For births after 1912 the mothers maiden name is listed too which can help. This may take some time but I found a John Smith I was looking for this way so it can be done.

Good luck

Anniek1969

Don't know where the records are kept in England (i'm assuming you're in England) although I think it might be the National Archives, but in Scotland we can search on a website called Scotlandspeople but it only allows you to search births up to 1906, marriages 1931 and deaths till 1956. There is however the general registrars office in Edinburgh and an office in Glasgow where you can search more recent certificates via computer so it would be worth trying your local registrars office to see if they have a similar place to access the records.

If he was married his marriage certificate would give his parents names if not then you would probably have to try and get a copy of his birth certificate not too sure what info you would need for this but his approximate year of birth and place of birth might be enough.

aaroncaz

laurence2163 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys, but like i said i know the full name, date of death, where he died, but i haven't a clue when he was born and need to confirm his parents. Ancestry and Freebdm seem to be great if you are looking for someone born in the 1800's but i am finding it so difficult to locate someone who was probably born between 1935-1955.

for someone born in this period, you cant do a search on ancestry, so its a case of trawling through all the years, page by page, as far as i know, there is no easier way.

Elle00

aaroncaz wrote: »

for someone born in this period, you cant do a search on ancestry, so its a case of trawling through all the years, page by page, as far as i know, there is no easier way.

Yeah I second this. I've done a substantial amount of family history research and from what you've said I too believe this is your only option.

Basically you should look at the death entry and estimate the year of birth from that. Then go to the BMD section of Ancestry and enter "Births 1837 - 1983". Type in your relative's name and the estimated year of birth and to start with, select the option to search 2yrs either side of that year (extending to 5yrs if you have no joy then 10yrs).

You'll need to click on the page that comes up for each quarter and trawl through to find any suitable matches. If there are several candidates you'd need to then order the birth certificates for all and see if anything on them (like parents names or address of birth) ring any bells. Sometimes it can be hopeless, like I have given up on my "John Murphy born in Liverpool" but often if you have a slightly more unusual name (like Norrington) or have a place of birth in mind as very likely you're likely to cotton onto the right man. And the earlier the event took place, the lower the population!

You can never be 100% certain in tracing your family tree but you can be 99% confident a lot of the time. I use https://www.genesreunited.co.uk for any genealogy questions I have btw - the tips board. If you want me to look for this relative for you I'm happy to spare you 20mins and see if I can find what you're looking for - just PM me the details you have.

Elle x.