How can I find a birth, death or marriage certificate online without paying for it?

Question

Is that possible? I'm trying to find out my family heritage. Thanks for helping if you can.

Answer 1

UK answer.

There is only freebmd that is free to search and they only have partial records, there are no UK certificates on line here in the UK there never has been, and I doubt they will ever be made freely available for the public to view.

I did however get a free copy of my gr/gr grandads death certificate from this site. http://historyresearch.utah.gov/guides/d...

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Here is one for selected counties and selected years in West Virginia:

http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.a...

There are none that cover entire nations. You have to hunt for them. Some states have more than WV, some have less.

Speaking of hunting, the resolved questions have links to 400,000 free genealogy sites.

Answer 3

I don't know of any sites were you can get certs for free (I sure wish I did though).

What time frame and country are you talking about?

Sometimes you can get more or less the same information by looking at census or other records. Most of us try to avoid buying certs unless there is a piece of information that we really want to know.

Answer 4

You can register online at ancestry.com and search from their.  I did it a few months ago and was able to find birth, death and census records.  I don't remember seeing any marriage license's but I wasn't really looking for them. SO good luck.

Answer 5

I don't think you can get that free.  You might want to try the LDS Church.  They have really great genealogical information and good friend ly people who are willing to help.  They can probably answer a lot of your questions and help you find what you are looking for.  Good luck.

Answer 6

You don't need birth/marriage/death certificates to find your family heritage.  However, sometimes ancestry.com or some other sites do show such certificates.

Try:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Good luck!

Answer 7

If you're researching British ancestors, the following sites will give you RECORDS, but you cannot view certificates -

* www.freebmd.org.uk - but the results aren't complete

* www.familysearch.org - but the results are down to personal interpretation

* www.genesreunited.co.uk - but you pay a small amount to view records

TO OBTAIN CERTIFICATES -

If you want to view a full birth, marriage or death record you will have to pay to ensure you get the best information possible. You can buy birth, marriage and death certificates from www.gro.gov.uk for £7.

Yes, you can go through your research without buying any certificates, but you're relying on other people to tell you that their research is correct, when it may not be so. I only buy the certificates when I can't come to a conclusion about a birth, marriage or death without it. For example, if I can't determine a child's parentage, spouse or reason for death. You really should do the research yourself, and rely on other people only for clues. That way you'll know your research has good foundations.