Tracing Records

[paddywak]

I've recently started to try & trace my fathers family. We know absolutley nothing about them, as dad very rarely spoke about them, the only thing we know is he had a sister who died of TB while very young & an "uncle" William Rooney (died in the mid 60's) who helped raise him, but we dont know if he was actually a blood relation. However I have now found a Certificate of Registration of Birth (dated 30-09-05)giving the entry & register numbers in the district of Hunslet.So could somebody please tell me how I go about getting a copy of the actual Birth Certificate etc

[scatty mare]

Hi, if the registration number is in the format HUNS/01/23 you can apply for the certificate online via the YorkshireBMD website: http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk/birth_app_info. html The phone number of the Leeds Register Office can be found by clicking the link in the 'Postal Applications' section if you need further advice regarding your application. Good luck!

[paddywak]

thanks very much scatty mare I've never tried trace any of my family history before & I'm grateful for any advice & hints.

[scatty mare]

Have you joined Genes Reunited? http://www.genesreunited.co.uk It's very difficult when you don't have much information to start you off, maybe you'll find your Father's name has already been added by another relative - it's worth a try and free to search, although you will have to pay a small yearly subscription if you want to contact other members. When you have your Father's birth certificate you should then be able to trace his parents' marriage on FreeBMD http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ and apply for the certificate online at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ (which covers England and Wales). This certificate will give you your Grandfathers' names and professions and hopefully a starting point for searching the census. Ancestry is really good and I think they are still offering a free 14 day trial http://www.ancestry.co.uk/

[scatty mare]

Oops, I meant Great Grandfathers' names. This is all assuming you're not searching for a very common surname - which always makes life more difficult!

[paddywak]

Once again thanks for all the input. I've been on Genes reunited but as I said I've only just started. & the only tree with the same family name (DURKIN) doesn't appear to have connection. I've asked older relations who are still alive but they are all from my mothers side & all agree that dad very rarely about talked his family, in fact tho they all agree he had a sister they but can't agree on whether she was called Agnes or Bridget. Still I've managed to get a couple of my nieces interested so hopefully between us we'll make some progress

[spudqueen]

Go down the library and borrow a book on genealogy or buy one of the popular family history magazines from WH Smiths to give you a good idea of how to get started and to give you some good pointers. Good luck!

[Surreylass]

so you are wanting your fathers birth certificate?

i'll help you with the family history search if you want as i have full subscription access to census'

[paddywak]

Hi surreylass sorry for the delay replying but we've just got back from a long wwekend at my sisters. I would certainly appreciate some help. I've managed to find out some more info & i'll get back to you tomorrow when I,ve had time to sort things out

[paddywak]

The only info we have is a certificate issued to prove dad was baptised a RC prior to his marriage in 1941. It gives his date of birth (19-08-1909) date of baptism (06-09-1909)
& place of baptism (St josephs RC Hunslet). It gives my grandfathers name as Edward Durkin & grandmother as Beatrice (nee Feely) This certificate is number 99 & headed "Testimonium de Baptismo" & was issued 04-07-194, unfortunatley the issuing priests' name has faded. Thats all we've got, but as people didn;t move about so much in those days I imagine he was born somewhere locally.