A Hidden Agenda

There is a new list on the block; well it sounds good and street wise but they are calling it the hidden BMD index. Typical newspaper type talk and ever so slightly exaggerated. They are talking about the new site set up using data from the National Archives. The data that is included is from the Non-parochial and Dissenters Registers to be found under the National Archives reference numbers RG4 & RG5. The aim of this site is to provide you with access to various unpublished registries from 1534 to 1865, which can usually provide records of three generations of a family or more. Usually proving to be the only record of the event, these previously unpublished records are a fantastic resource for the family historian. The site says that birth, marriage and death records are the most important way of tracking down your ancestors. The trouble is the BMD records in the General Record Office main index only go back as far as 1837 and even then many events are missing from these records due to the nature of the material. The hidden birth, marriage and death records have been compiled from various unpublished registries and many unusually include records of three generations of a family. These are a fantastic resource for the family historian and often prove to be the only record of the events. But they are not all the BMD entries to be found what of those in the C of E registers? At the end of the day the vast majority of people that lived in the UK were and still are today nominally CofE and their records are to be found (if at all) in the church registers which means that generally you will have to go to the local archives and trawl through unindexed registers until something of interest turns up. I hate to be a kill joy but until the rest of the country is working as hard as Gordon on the Lincolnshire parish registers and the Lincolnshire Family History Society in getting everything in the Lincoln Archives indexed then we still have to do some work for ourselves. Thank goodness. It is rather boring when it is all laid out for you. Work on the Isle of Wight branch of my family tree consists of going to Newport Archive office and opening a large drawer full of index cards, getting out the Barton section, this is my research carried out because everything I need is there. All the parish registers have been copied and entries put into alphabetical order. In addition, never take anyone’s word for anything, always check it out for yourselves. Take a look at www.bmdindex.co.uk/ it does have some interesting links to other sites connected with genealogical suppliers. Oh and I almost forgot. As usual you do have to pay to view most of the details. Before you do pay up though have a quick check of the IGI because many of the entries have already been put on line by the LDS and are available for you to look at for free.
Bits and Bobs
The Old Bailey – 17th July 1728 - Ann Hatfield, alias Pack, alias Selby , was indicted for feloniously marrying William Pack , her former Husband Francis Selby , being alive . It appeared that the Prosecutor came from Stamford in Lincolnshire to look for his Wife, and found her at the Horns in Rosemary-Lane, where he was informed she was married to another Husband, but the latter Marriage not appearing plain, she was acquitted.