When I first started genealogy I disregarded birth, marriage, and death (BMD) index records because I thought that they didn't provide enough information for me to positively identify who I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, I DID try to learn how to use them - I just didn't find any useful information about how to do this. Hopefully this post helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding indexes.
What is information is in a BMD Index?
The majority of England's BMD index records only supply the yearly quarter that the event occurred, the first and last name, and the place that the event was registered. The months belonging to each quarter have been summarized in the infographic.
If the person you are searching for has a common name then this presents a major challenge, especially if there are many individuals that are close in age. So how do you make a BMD index useful without having to order the actual record?
How to use BMD Indexes?
The first post I wrote for this blog explained how I apply the mathematical concept of 'degrees of freedom' when setting up a search or analyzing a record. This technique could be applied to any type of record, however I find that it is the most beneficial when dealing with records that have minimal information. Because an index supplies fall into this category we need to know a few facts to narrow down the search. Lets walk through the steps used when preparing a search by looking at the example I gave in a previous post.
STEP 1: Identify what information is contained in the index you are searching
The easiest way to check this is to find a record from around the time you are searching. For example, older birth indexes dont feature the mother's maiden name, while ones around 1900 started listing this information. It is important to identify how many types of information are included so that the degrees of freedom formula can be correctly applied.
Im looking for a birth index from approximately 1875 so I know that it includes the following information:
- Child's first and last name
- Year of birth
- Quarter that birth was registered in
- County of registration
- Borough of registration
From here forward I will be referring to the 'pieces of information' as 'variables'.
Note: You cant search on Familysearch for the quarter that the birth occurred in, therefore if this is one of the known variables than it needs to be applied when analyzing the record NOT searching for it.
STEP 2: Identify what information you know about the variables identified in Step 1
This step is crucial as it allows your search to be narrowed down without having to manually go through the records and analyze each one individually. It also makes you confirm that you have enough information to identify the individual in the index. For example, if all you know is a name you could have a large number of results without being able to narrow them down.
In this example I am searching a woman named Elizabeth 'Bessie' Sword. From the five variables in Step 1, I know the following:
- Name: Bessie Sword
- Year of Birth: 1875
- Quarter of Birth: Q2 - June
- London
What I want to find out is where she was born in London. I have seen conflicting information about this event. Earlier records say Southwark, while later records say Blackfriars. I have even seen a record that said Bow! Her family lived in all three boroughs therefore all must be considered.
STEP 3: Apply the Degrees of Freedom formula
The Degrees of Freedom (D of F) formula is often applied when solving algebraic math problems as it allows one answer to emerge from a complex problem. The formula is quite simple yet effective. The total variables are what was identified in Step 1, whereas the known variables is what was identified in Step 2.
Total Variables – Known Variables = D of F
Lets continue with the example:
5 - 4 = 1 D of F
Since the equation produced one degree of freedom I should know enough information to identify her in the birth index.
STEP 4: Enter the information from Step 2 into the database search form
Its important to just enter the information from Step 2 and not fill in any of the other search fields because doing so may confuse the algorithm performing the search. In my previous post I talked about over and underspecified searches and what happens when you perform one of these. Changing your inputs into the search form to differ from the information in Step 2 could result in one of these.
I have chosen to perform the search on Familysearch. As mentioned above, the yearly quarter cannot be entered into the search form and therefore must be applied when analyzing the results. As you can see below, I have entered the other three searchable pieces of information in their respective fields.
STEP 5: Review and analyze the results against other known information
When I performed the search in Step 4, then limited my results to the Birth Index collection, I only obtained one result.
Although I know she was born in June, I am fairly confident that this is her. It was not unusual for a birth to be registered in the following the month, especially if the child had a late birthday. Additionally, I know from a Poor Law record that Bessie was born on Church Street. By consulting Booth's Poverty Maps (which were compiled around this time) I can conclude that there was a Church Street in St. Saviour's, Southwark.
Not all searches performed using this method yield one result. Matter of fact, this situation is uncommon unless you are dealing with a surname that is not native to a specific area. The Sword surname is rather unique in the London area. At most there were only 4 Sword families in the entire Greater London Area!
Search Related Problems
What do you do if after completing Step 3 there is more than one degree of freedom? Or what about if you follow the steps above and didnt get any results? If you got no results check your information. Is there something you were unsure of? Did you enter everything correctly? If your unsure of something try increasing the degrees of freedom in your search.
In algebra, a problem with two degrees of freedom is still solvable though it is slightly more difficult. Often the best approach in this situation is trial and error. It is much the same for genealogy. If the search returns a reasonable number of results that you can manually go through than try to analyze each one and identify the best fit.
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