If you are in Wales you should find that one or more of the libraries in
your local authority has a subscription to Ancestry and you should be able
to use a computer there using your library card to gain access to their
databases. Ancestry has scan images for marriages indexed by the names at
the top and bottom of each page. I do not know whether this will continue
next financial year.
FreeBMD has images of marriage pages, up to 1945 I think, available for
free via the 'View Images' route on the home page
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
but you will need to search for the relevant images. I suggest looking for
Maurice Cross first, as the more uncommon name.
To find the right page try a bit of statistics. In a quarter that has been
completely transcribed, CROSS entries are found scan page 132 (use the
'spectacles' image next to the search results on FreeBMD to find the scan
number).
In that quarter marriages starting with C run from scan page 88 to 136, 49
pages, and CROSS was on the 45th page out of 49, about 90% of the way
through letter C.
Now try March quarter 1938. Pages go from 98 to 152, 55 pages, and 90% of
the way through would be around 49 or 50 pages in, say number 147 or 148.
Sure enough CROSS names start towards the end of page 147. Maurice isn't
there. Now simply do the same process of looking for about 90% of the way
through letter C pages for each quarter in turn. If you find Maurice CROSS,
try looking for Ethel POWELL in the same quarter. POWELL is about 79%
through letter P.
FreeBMD is constructed from transcriptions by volunteers. To join over
10,000 volunteers who have contributed, see the 'Join FreeBMD' link on the
home page. With more volunteers doing accurate transcriptions more entries
will appear in the FreeBMD database.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/progress.shtml shows you the coverage so far, over
162 million records.
Bear in mind that just before and in the early stages of WW2 there was a lot
of population movement as people went into the forces, munitions factories,
land army etc. or were evacuated from industrial towns. The marriage might
turn out to be some distance from where the couple normally lived.
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/ is a guide to registration districts in
England and Wales at various dates, and shows which registration districts
hold which registers. Of course if you order your certificate online from
the GRO you don't have to bother working out which district holds the
records.
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: "sylvia morgan" <sylviamorgan213(a)hotmail.com>
To: <monmouthshire-l(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 8:08 PM
Subject: [MON] CROSS POWELL marriage about 1939
Hi
I have been unable to trace the wedding of Ethel POWELL and Maurice CROSS
which took place 1938-1940 in one of the churches between NewbriidgeMon
and Newport Mon in the Ebbw valley. Its not on freebmd. Are there parish
records to be searched? Is there someone who can suggest which registry
office I could contact?
thanks
Sylvia