I live in Australia and I have generally found that the most effective method of family history research has been birth, death and marriage records, going back to the UK I have found that Census records are good for late nineteenth century research but going back earlier I have not found them to be very helpful.

I have found that the birth and death records only seem to mention the person concerned and not other details such as their parents. Also the marriage records only mention either the bride and groom without also mentioning the other party. This has made it very difficult to find records when names are very common and/or dates are a bit uncertain.

I was just wondering is there a more effective way of searching records to find more information about my ancestors or are there some other records I should be looking at?

The ancestors I have had trouble finding include John Downey who married Mary Hills (or Hill) around 1838 in England. John was born in County Kerry, Ireland around 1816. Mary was born in England around 1815. They seem to have migrated to New Zealand or Australia around the 1840s or 1850s.

They seem to have had children John, Henry, Mary, Edward and Frances in England, and Michael Joseph, Bridget Ann, Catherine Jane in New Zealand and/or Australia, but I can’t find any UK records for them.

I also have a James Booth born in Lancashire, England around 1828 but can’t find any UK records for them, Mary Gill born around 1809 in England and daughter of James Gill as well as Elizabeth Spratt born around 23 March 1776 in Holborn, London but I’m having trouble finding records. Is there a better way of searching?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Geoffrey