Hi

[CarolK]

Thank you all for your help, I have just finished ordering the cert, it went flawlessly so we shall see how long it takes to reach the usa!

[Pam Downes]

According to the website, the certificate should be despatched on Friday (fourth working day from today) though it does say on the home page there is currently high demand so there might be a delay.
The guy told me this morning that it should take approximately ten days once it's in the post, but I believe that there can be problems with the US mail. I know Canadian mail takes either four days or four weeks.
So you've got a minimum of a fortnight in which to go and do something useful, before you start to anxiously wait for the postman.

[CarolK]

Thank you so much! That just gives me time to read more on this forum lol. I now need to decide what my next step is and where to look for it, lots to learn.

[Pam Downes]

Start by tracing your mum's family, then you can use the same system to hopefully trace your father's.
You no doubt have some details regarding the names of your mum's parents which will help confirm things you find, e.g. their marriage on FreeBMD, plus if your mum had any siblings, you can confirm their births and mother's maiden name. Then work your way back with each generation. Remember compiling your family tree is not a race. Take your time, and make sure that what you find is the correct entry. Don't assume that the first John Smith you find born 1900 and living in London is 'your' John. I have two Thomases baptised a year apart in 1799/1800 in a small village and I'm not sure I will ever be able to say which one is definitely mine. Need to do more work re ages in the census and at death/burial.

I find it essential to have a spreadsheet with names, who they married, birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial, the various census, 1939 Register, then other headings such as school registers, military, wills, electoral rolls, etc. Helps me keep control of who I'm searching for, and what I've found.
Remember births and baptisms, and deaths and burials, are not the same.
When recording information from the GRO Index, a registration district is not the name of the place where someone was born, although often the district includes a town of the same name. e.g. places in Spilsby registration district.
https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/spilsby.html
If you want to find out the places in a registration district click on the name on FreeBMD.

Any other questions you have, just ask. However basic you think your question is, no-one is going to regard you as stupid. We were all newbies once, asking those same questions.

[CarolK]

I do have another general question which maybe shouldn't be here, but wasn't sure where.
In the 1939 English and Wales Register, some of the pages have a blacked out line that reads"This record is officially closed" can someone explain the reason for this.
Many Thanks.

[Pam Downes]

It's usually because the person is still, or potentially still, alive.
I don't know about Ancestry, but Findmypast do regular updates, for instance when someone's date of birth makes them aged over a hundred, or an death registration in the GRO Index matches a currently-redacted entry. You can also submit death certificates to FMP for a person that has died and they will then open that entry in the Register. Though if I remember correctly I think you have to know where the person would have been living in 1939 so they open the entry for the correct Joe Bloggs.
There are probably instances where an entry is redacted because the year of birth has been indexed incorrectly, but again I think if you can prove it then FMP at least will open the entry within a few weeks.

[CarolK]

Thank you so much.