Vol and page numbers of BMD index entries?

[benny1982]

Hi

My 3xgreat grandparents wed in the Sep Quarter of 1845 in the Abingdon reg district. Ref Vol 6 page 185. To try and narrow down the date I typed all marriages that took place in that quarter in that district on the Freebmd search engine. I then cross referenced any against the IGI and on page 183 a Joseph Simmons wed an Elizabeth Barnes and the marriage is on the IGI as having taken place 31 July 1845 in South Hinksey. A Keziah White is on Vol 6 page 167 as is a James Waddel and the IGI says they wed 9 September 1845 in Abingdon yet their page number is 167 and the marriage that is on page 183 took place earlier in the quarter?

How are those pages arranged?

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

Would the discrepency be when the actual marriages are registered and not the actual date of marriage.
Or just could be alphabetically.

I don't know Ben, I'm just guessing.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi Steve

I always thought that marriages were usually registered on the day as they had to be performed in front of a registrar.

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

Hi Steve

I always thought that marriages were usually registered on the day as they had to be performed in front of a registrar.

Ben

I don't know about years ago Ben, but today I know you do. Perhaps someone else could help.

I just thought the registrars then, would 'collect' the marriages, as they did with births.
I really don't know. Sorry mate.

Steve.

 

[Gerard]

From 1 July 1837 all births, marriages and deaths were registered locally and the registers have been retained by the local register office ever since.

Every quarter each register office submitted copies of all births, marriages and deaths registered during the preceding three months to the Registrar General at the General Register Office (GRO) in London. These copies were bound into volumes and name indexes made of the name of each person born, married or deceased identifying the volume number and page within that volume on which the name appears. These indexes are variously known as GRO indexes or St. Catherine's House indexes (from the building where they were housed for many years).

The original GRO index books have always been open to free public inspection and eventually copies were made widely available on microfilm and microfiche in major libraries, CROs etc... More recently still, they have been published on commercial websites.

The copy registers are today held by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and copies of any entry may be purchased from them (in the form of a birth, marriage or death certificate) by quoting the details from the index and paying the appropriate fee.

The GRO indexes were compiled from copies of the original register entries. Errors and omissions could and did occur both in the copying of the register entries and in the compilation of the indexes. To compound these problems, the original manuscript index books were copied into typed indexes and further errors and omissions introduced. As if this was not enough, when the index books were filmed, pages were occasionally missed and some of the images are not always completely legible. In consequence, it may prove difficult, if not impossible, to find reference to some events.

For this reason, if possible, you are more likely to find the event you are looking for at a local RO. I realise that this is not always practical for overseas buyers or convenient for some UK buyers.

Gerard

 

[davelambert271]

Hi
I think I can answer your question
I have been searching the parish registers of a small parish in Norfolk. They used the same book for births and marriages and deaths. The births started at the front of the book, then so many pages were left blank, before the marriages started, then the same for the deaths. When the births reached the end of the pages allotted for them, because there were not so many marriages or deaths, the empty pages were used. This continued throughout the book until it was full.

dave

 

[benny1982]

Hi
I think I can answer your question
I have been searching the parish registers of a small parish in Norfolk. They used the same book for births and marriages and deaths. The births started at the front of the book, then so many pages were left blank, before the marriages started, then the same for the deaths. When the births reached the end of the pages allotted for them, because there were not so many marriages or deaths, the empty pages were used. This continued throughout the book until it was full.

dave

It seems to fit now. So it could be that the marriage took place in late July or early August 1845. I am awaiting the cert anyway but was just hoping to get a rough date by using this method until the cert arrives.

Also another query is William died in the March quarter of 1900. On the same vol and page number is an Elizabeth Dandridge and someone who has researched her says that she died 7th Jan 1900. Does this mean William died within a few days of her or a week etc?

 

[davelambert271]

Hi Ben
I suppose it depends on how big the parish is, and how many deaths there were in the period
March Qtr could be any date between 1st Jan and 31 Mar

dave

 

[benny1982]

My way is a good idea of trying to guesstimate the date of an entry within a quarter.

 

[benny1982]

William Snell married on the 17th August 1845 in Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire.

He died on the 22nd February 1900 in Marsh Baldon. If that Elizabeth Dandridge died 7th Jan according to another persons tree and her death is on the same page as William and there are 8 entries on a page then it would appear that only 8 death occurred in about 6 weeks in the Abingdon district which seems a bit few so maybe the person who has researched has the date slightly wrong or they registered her death later after an inquest or something. But it wont affect my ancestor as he died 22nd Feb 1900 and it was registered 23th February 1900.

He managed to see in the 20th century which makes it more interesting.