FREE BMD



WEB SITE

HOMEPAGE

MEMBERS CHAT AREA
F.A.Q. DATABASE
LISTOWNER
VISITORS HELP PAGE
FAMILY HISTORY
SOCIETIES/CENTRES
VIRTUAL POST OFFICE
SITE RING
AREAS WE COVER
PHOTO CENTRE
NEWBIE GUIDE
SITE SECURITY
MEMBERS HOMEPAGES
AWARDS WE'VE WON
APPLY FOR AN AWARD
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
FREE E-MAIL ACCOUNT
UK-NORTHWEST LIST
TRADING POST
VISIT OUR GUESTBOOK
SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK
FREEBMD INFORMATION
MAILING LIST COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
TOP 50 SITE'S


FAMILY HISTORY MADE AS EASY AS IT GETS !


Have you ever spent hours wondering when your searches of the GRO indexes of births, marriages and deaths will provide your 'missing' ancestor? Of course you have, you’re a family historian!  And, however experienced you are, I'll bet you remember the early days when indexes didn't make sense and you didn't know how to order a certificate.

This was the point I discovered FreeBMD at
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com and found dreams can come true - with a bit of hard work.  At first the hard work was understanding what indexes provide and working out that is not the full story.  I slowly learnt that you have to narrow down the possibilities and, if you really want to know who married who, you have to order the certificate.  Now, that bit was easy because hints and tips for obtaining certificates are provided from the website.  

I had worked out that the FreeBMD volunteers were transcribing all the English and Welsh births, marriages and deaths indexes from 1837 to 1900.  I had also worked out that a searchable database of those records was being created - made available world-wide through the Internet - for free.  However, I never dreamt that I could be of use.  I thought you would have to be a real computer boffin with hours of time to spare.  WRONG!!  I found out that, if you have a computer, with an Internet connection and can spare even half an hour a week, FreeBMD needs you! You don’t even need to be a fast
typist - just accurate!

So I volunteered to help and got the shock of my life!  Just when I thought transcribing was a relaxing hobby, I awarded myself some personal search time on the database. And there it was, a marriage that a professional researcher in London had told me didn't exist on two occasions!!  I nearly screamed with joy - it was all worthwhile.  I can only hope I have filled the same gap in somebody else's tree with the transcriptions I have contributed.

If you are interested in helping us complete transcription of the 100 million birth, marriage and death records from 1837 to 1900, please visit the FreeBMD website and follow the links.  Alternatively, you may contact me at
[email protected].  I am going nowhere until this project is complete and we (the willing slaves of FreeBMD) can use all help offered.  Details of the actual transcription process are given below:

Some people work from microfiche (I am very attached to mine after many hours
transcribing),  others work from photocopies but (these days) most people download high quality scans in manageable chunks from the FreeBMD website.   Whatever method you use, simple records are typed into the SpeedBMD program (easily downloaded from the FreeBMD site) which does most of the thinking for you. Working off line, you can often just press a single key to enter names and registration districts - it suits one finger typists perfectly! When you’ve completed a page of records, you can either upload them to the database yourself, or email them to your co-ordinator who will do it for you. And, there is a mailing list for extra support!

Thank you for sharing my enthusiasm.  I hope you will be able to contribute (every little helps) but, if you are unable to transcribe, please enjoy the FreeBMD database in your personal research and tell others about it.

Virginia Gretton
Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England

Email Login
Password

New users sign up!


To get your FREE UK-NORTHEAST e-mail account - click "New User - sign up" above.


   Search this site or the web        powered by FreeFind
 
  Site search Web search