records centre lookup help

[Carrie Meerten]

Is anyone going to the records centre (or somewhere they can look up bdm ref numbers). I really need some |help| please. I am after a marriage that is not listed on the freebmd or ancestry sites.

Name of Edwin (aka Edward) Parsons, born abt 1843 (jun 1/4 1842, vol 8, pg 162) in Wimborne, Dorset. He married sometime between 1861 and 1871. On the 1861 censuse he was single with parents, on the 1871 census he was married with 2 kids eldest one being born abt 1866 making the marriage possibly 1865 ????

[Clive Blackaby]

Hi,
Just a couple of hints if you don't get any takers :)

You've looked on FreeBMD, and drawn a blank. Have a look to see which quarters are yet to be completed on that site

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/progressM.shtml

Unfortunately for you, most of the quarters you want are incomplete, but it may narrow your search a bit. 1866 onward is more or less complete, so you are down to about 5 years or 20 quarters, and from the ages of the children you should be able to guess the most likely. I'd start Jun 1864 and work outwards.

Next, spring £5 on 1837online.com, where you can look up the marriage by name. That will give you 50 pages from the register indexes from which FreeBMD is compiled, and should be more than enough to cover your needs You shouldn't need more than 2 pages for each of the quarters.

Parsons is not an uncommon name, so you probably shouldn't assume that the first one you find in the right geographical area is the right one. Having bought the subs to 1837 you may as well use the lot as they expire after a while.

Incidentally, I've had a look on BIVRI 2nd edition for you, and found no matches, but the West Country is a bit thin on all LDS records, so I'm not surprised

[Pat English]

I had a few spare units on 1837online and it only took three to find your Edwin Parsons, as you had narrowed it down so much, so here goes...
Parsons, Edwin, marriage July-August-September 1865 Wimbourne (that's the way they spell it on the record), volume 5a, page 451

So now you should be able to order a certificate. I would recommend using the 1837 site if you can afford it and have enough things you want to look up. It has come up trumps for me dozens of times after I have failed on the free sites.

Best wishes,
Pat

[Carrie Meerten]

|bowdown| A very BIG thankyou for that. Much appreciated.
Now I can order the certificate to confirm wifes surname etc.