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Searching for exact New Zealand dates of birth, death, marriage

Discussion in 'Search tips - discussion' started by Val, Jan 14, 2021.

  1. Val

    Val LostCousins Star

    I have been using the BMD indexes at bmdhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz and have found a way of getting to the exact date of birth, death or marriage.

    Here's how I do it:
    I'm looking for the birth record of Nellie Lucy Farquhar whose dob is around 1911, so I enter her name (and parents if I know them), and the search dates - say 01/01/1909 to 31/12/1912.

    In this instance it only brings up one with a registration number of 1911/3360.

    Now I can refine the information by putting in the dates 01/01/1911 to 31/12/1911 - the entry is still shown (if it isn't, then the dob could be in the previous year even though the registration is in 1911)

    As I know this dob is in 1911 I can refine the dates - I usually start with 01/01/1911 - 01/07/1911 - if you get an entry then you can start refining from here, if not then the birth is in the 2nd half of the year, so put in 01/07/1911 to 31/12/1911.

    In the example, her dob is found within the first half of the year, so then I start with changing the 01/01 to 01/02 and so on until I get no results. For this young lady I get no results when I start the search from the 01/02 so I know that she was born sometime in January. So the next step is to refine the January dates. I usually go in chunks of 5 or 10. When I put in 10/01/1911 I still get a result but when I put in 15/01/1911 there is no result - so now it's just a question of trying all the dates in between until you find the date. Hers is the 12 January 1911.

    You can check it by putting in the dates either side, if I put in the 11/01/1911 to 11/01/1911 I get no entry, and if I put in 13/01/1911 to 13/01/1911 I get no entry.

    It works just the same for deaths and marriages.

    Hope this was helpful.
    Val
     
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  2. VTinOZ

    VTinOZ Member

    The same works when searching the Australian New South Wales BDM.
     
  3. Val

    Val LostCousins Star

    Thanks, I didn't know that.
     

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