family tree

[mycatis]

Hi everyone, It's my ex's birthday in a couple of weeks, he's going to be 30, we've known each other since we were 15 and I wanted to do something nice (personal) for him I was thinking of doing a short family tree,(just back to his grandparents) making it look nice and framing it etc  Do you think this is a good idea or will I look cheap :) Also do I have to pay at my local library if I just want to look at records? (for names/dates etc) cheers

[Artful]

No idea if you have to pay mycatis but I am sure another ABer will tell you about that.
As for a hand made family tree as a present, I think that's a lovely idea: it's something that thought and patience will have gone into, it's 100% personal and touching. I always think the presents which mean the most are those that have been made by the giver for the receiver (is that english?!!). And obviously the pair of you have remained on good terms if presents are exchanged - that is so nice and I really mean that.

[Sammy Snake]

The only records you will be able to look at in a library for events that recent are the GRO indexes which are the references of all births deaths and marriages in the UK.   These are arranged by year and then by quarter in each year and all surnames are listed alphabetically.

All you will find from these is the name and a reference to the district the event took place and the volume and page that it is recorded in.  So you would have something like:

1968 Dec Quarter, Smith, John, Wolverhampton, 6b 998.

You won't get the exact date and you can't actually look at birth certificates or things like that although you can then use the refence number found in the indexes to send off for the certificate, at a cost of �7.  There is usually no charge for searching the indexes.

A couple of weeks is not really enough time to do it, is there a family member you could ask that might hold the relevant certificates to get the dates from?

[mycatis]

Yeah I suppose I could ask his mum, I really just need the maiden names of the women in the family, would that be available do you think?

[mycatis]

Thank you Artful that was how it was meant rather than just being cheap :)

[Sammy Snake]

If you look up a marriage of John Smith for example, if the marriage is after 1912 then the index will also show the surname of the bride so you could get the maiden name that way, yes. It would say something like

1936 Sept Quarter Smith, John,  Jones  Wolverhampton 6b 185   (Jones being the surname of the bride)

The problem you may have is that with a common name, such as the ones used in my example, there will probably be more than one with that name and therefore you may have a problem deciding which one is yours.

Some counties have free websites where you can look up births death and marriages, it depends which county you want.  For instance www.staffordshirebmd.org.uk or www.lancashirebmd.org.uk (get the idea?) so it might be worth trying the county you need.  They are not complete so even if the county does have a site, the event you want might not be on it but it must be worth a try if it saves a trip to the library!

Good luck to you though, it is a very nice idea and I hope you pull it off.  

[Sammy Snake]

At the end of the day, I've been doing my family tree for some time now and have subscriptions to sites that could 'possibly' help you - I say 'possibly' as I wouldn't like to build your hopes up.

If you get really stuck, If you are able, let me know who you are looking for - without giving the game away to your ex if possible! - and I will see if I can find what you need.

[Haj]

You could order his birth cert which will give you the names of his parents, then order the parents birth certs which will give the grandparents names. I did this recently at my local registry office and it cost �7 per cert and they were each ready for collection the day after I ordered them, so you certainly do have time to do it.

To order a birth cert you just need a name, year of birth and you have to apply in the town that they were born. I found it very straight forward until I came across a relative born in Wales!! For some of mine I didn't know a year of birth so I guessed. If they couldn't find it they refunded my �7!!

It'll be much cheaper just to ask his mum tho.

Also, try your local Hobby craft type store. In the one near me I saw a lovely family tree set. It was about �4 and included a paper tree and name plates etc, really nice.