Sources of Information

Scotlands People
This website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has been the primary source of BMD data (as my ancestors are mostly Scottish!). Where BMD certificates have been obtained, the text in the family tree will indicate this e.g. Source: birth certificate.

There are entries where the BMD certificate has not been obtained but summary information has been obtained from the scotlandspeople web site. In these instances the source will be stated as "Source: scotlandspeople.gov.uk". The usual reason for this is that I have not yet obtained the certificate. I'm confident that the information has been properly transposed from the original certificate. My ultimate ambition is to obtain the certificate to gain irrefutable proof.

Note though that when quoting the source information from scotlandspeople.gov.uk, only one date is given for either birth or christening dates before 1855.

Family Records Centre (FRC)/1837online
This covers England and Wales and is the other primary source of information. The 1837online web site and visits to the FRC at best only provide the quarter (March, June, September, December) in which the event took place. This may be quoted if the certificate has yet to be obtained (e.g. Dec 1900).

Where the BMD certificate has been obtained, it will be clearly stated e.g. Source: birth certificate.

Census
I have categorised census data separately. This provides names, addresses, ages and relationships. This information is as accurate as when understood by the enumerator undertaking the census. Hence, this data may be prone to misinterpretation or transcription errors.

When this is quoted as a source of information (e.g. Source: 1881 England Census), it can provide approximate ages of people in the absence of other BMD information.

This is useful information but it is not as accurate as BMD certificates.

Free BMD
This is a project where England and Wales BMD data has been transposed and published on a web site. This is a cheaper alternative to using the 1837online web site and provides a useful pointer as to where to look in the 1837online web site or visiting the FRC. It is easily searchable for names.

The downside is the accuracy is far from 100% as you are depending on the accuracy of the transposers.

Useful bit do not take as 100% accurate. I have not quoted sources of information from this web site.

Family Search
This is provided by the Church of the Latter Day Saints and is a massive resource available from the internet. People worldwide have researched and transposed many records (parish records, BMD etc) and publish it on this web site.

Again, an extremely useful resource but cannot be considered 100% accurate. As part of my research, transposition and misinterpretation errors have been found frequently. Hence, I have not quoted sources of information from this web site.

Other Websites
There are a large number of other web sites that provide information about the Pender family tree. These have been extremely useful in providing a framework to use as part of my own research and verification process.

It is my intention to verify information obtained from such websites and seek ultimate proof in the form of BMD certificates.

Note, where information has been provided on the family tree without quoting a source of information, this information has been obtained via another Pender family web site and as yet has to be verified and proven.

Information from the Family
Information is also of course provided by family members. Where this is used the source is quoted as "Source: family". The initials of the relative may also be quoted. Again, BMD certificates will be sought to ultimately verify this information.

Information published on this web site
As a policy, I do not publish details of the living.

Mistakes and errors
If you have reason to believe information on this web site is inaccurate or wrong, please contact me by email. I will be pleased to make corrections especially if you can produce irrefutable proof (e.g. copies of certificates).

My email address is shown below: