* GRO Birth Indexes and how to Cite against Birth Fact

[David Potter]

Hi Forum

Looking for inspiration once again. I have a small number of quite valid GRO Birth Index records that I do not need or wish to press further with and purchase the birth certificate.

I'm wondering how best to cite these against the persons birth fact - but more interested in how to state the place of birth for something quite generic like say: 1899 Q4 Cheltenham 6a 123. Should I make Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England the virtual place of birth or should I widen it to only Gloucestershire, England?

All advice welcome.

[ColeValleyGirl]

One option would be to state the place as "Cheltenham Registration District" to narrow it down somewhat. (Assuming you assume that the birth is registered in the district in which it took place, but that's a whole other kettle of fish).

[jbtapscott]

I suppose there is no correct answer to this as everybody will have their own views.

Personally, where my source is the GRO Index I create a source record with Source Type = "Birth GRO Index", with the index details in the "Publication Information" field. Unless I have more specific data (e.g. Census record or Birth certificate, etc), then I set the Birth Fact Place as (in your example), "Cheltenham, Gloucestershire". Yes, it can be argued that this is not "guaranteed", but I believe the registration district is as close as I will get for "distant" individuals. I also make clear on my website that I have taken this approach.

[Jane]

Personally I put "Registration District " in the Address field. As I routinely include the address in reports, it makes it easy to read, while allowing the mapping to work reasonably well. So I would see

He was born on Q4 1887, Registration District, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

[AdrianBruce]

One option would be to state the place as "Cheltenham Registration District" ...

Me too. I guess that some Reg Districts might be fairly synonymous(?) with the place that they are named after but plenty of mine have a major hinterland, so I'd fear serious misleading if I entered "Nantwich" rather than "Nantwich reg. district".

[David Potter]

Thank you everyone.

Those replies were extremely useful - and I'm not so far away from what you suggest. Using the Address field = Registration District is a real winner.

Thank you all very much.

[victor]

On Ancestry I get the birth registration details shown in a few rows. Like

Name
year and Q
Registration District name
Vol and Page

I then use a snip tool to copy the area with all the details.

Once done I paste it as a media next to the persons birth date.

Doing it this way gives the GRO details next to the persons name in narrative reports instead of under 'sources' at the end of the report

[David Potter]

Thank you Victor - yes I am aware of that possibility. But for my needs I like to download the GRO image (if available) - highlight the individual concerned using image editing software and then create a Source defining the GRO reference data and attach the image there.

[Jane]

You really don't really need to highlight the person in the image, just use the Frame link tool to link to the name on the image.

[David Potter]

Hi Jane - Thank You

Does this technique permanently adjust the image or does it only 'exist' within the FH database? The reason I ask is that my technique is transferable to any platform that can host images such as Adobe Elements.

[Jane]

Only in FH, but Mike's export routine would cut out a copy of the section for import into other programs.

I tend to use the technique for newspaper pages rather than GRO Indexes as like Victor I don't bother linking to the Index pages.

[David Potter]

Thank You Jane.

And Victor