More from GRO

This is the announcement on the GRO site yesterday 9 November 2016

From 9 November, we are trialling emailing PDF copies of registration records. Records will not be immediately viewable, but emailed as a PDF.

The pilot is in 3 phases, starting with our digitised records:
Births: 1837 – 1934 and 2007 on
Deaths: 1837 – 1957 and 2007 on
Marriages: 2011 on
Civil Partnerships: 2005 on

Full details are in ‘Most Customers Want to Know’

Phase 1 closes on 30 Nov, or when 45,000 PDFs have been ordered, whichever is sooner. Details of phase 2 (3 hour PDF service) and phase 3 (records not digitised) will be announced here shortly.


Indexes: The GRO historic birth and death indexes are searchable now, via our online ordering site

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

Functionality added to General Register Office website

The website to use when ordering certificates - English and Welsh birth, marriage and death certs is the website of the General Register Office.

The significant changes are

• For births the mother's maiden name will be shown. Previously this was only for births after 1911.
• For deaths age at death is included.
• These are new indexes so may reveal those events missing from other databases because of transcription errors.
• Searching is free
• Once you find a record you will be able to order a certificate with the information that has been found.

This is the link to the site

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

The first thing to do if you have not already used the site is to register. It is free.

Follow the link to the page above and this is what you will see

Follow the register link on the right hand side, Complete the registration process which will be activated once you confirm your email address by acknowledging the mail you will get from the GRO.

Once your account is activated you will be able to search the GRO database for births and deaths.
Click on the link on the GRO page "Order Certificates Online.....inexes" or click the link here to take you directly to the search page GRO Search.

This will take you to the login page. Once you have identified yourself (don't forget you password) you will be taken to this page.

Follow the first link "Search the GRO Indexes".

Clicking either "birth" or "death" will take you here. This page is for births - or you will see a similar page for deaths

Complete the form with the information that you have. Resist entering too much. Only the starred items are essential for a search. Experiment with different choices if you don't initially find what your are seeking.

One-Name Study

I have taken the plunge. I have joined the Guild of One Name Studies and registered the name "Neville" as a one-name study. (http://one-name.org)

Neville is my maternal family name. The name itself is well researched since post the Norman Conquest the Nevilles were a Noble Family. It is also a common name - amongst commoners one could say - certainly not noble.

There has never been any suggestion that my family were descended from those noble lines. But it will be interesting to see the origins.

This is what it says on Ancestry

Neville Name Meaning

Irish and English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Neuville in Calvados or Néville in Seine-Maritime, both so called from Old French neu(f) ‘new’ (Latin novus) + ville ‘settlement’ (see Villa). Irish (Munster): assimilation of the Gaelic name Ó Niadh (see Nee) and sometimes of Ó Cnaimhín (see Nevin).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press

I am intrigued by the source quoted here as Dictionary of American family names and that will be my first challenge to examine the source for the origin of the name. Where did "Dictionary of America" get the information.

My initial strategy

1. Seek advice from One-Namers on how to get started
2. Research the origins of the Neville name
3. What resources are there relating to the noble Nevilles
4. Are he origins of the Neville name consistent
5. Were the noble Nevilles diffused to commoners
6. Collect data and organise
7. Determine a system for organisation
8. Design a suitable database
9. Build a suitable website or websites
10. Find Neville volunteers.