Be patient... the information is out there; Ask Chris FAMILY TREE EXPERT.

LEIGH Ellis has been inspired by Who Do You Think Your Are? and this column and wants to know more about great grandfather Leslie Ellis and his wife Elsie Mary. Leslie was born on May 24, 1911, in Chesterfield and Elsie Mary Ashford was born August 27, 1917, in Birmingham.

Her mother's maiden name is said to be Houldcroft..

The Free BMD website confirms Leslie Ellis was registered in the June 1911 quarter in Chesterfield.

Applying for the certificate gives us the information that his father was Harry Ellis and his mother's maiden name was Jane Phipps. From this we were able to find the marriage indexed, also on Free BMD, in the December 1899 quarter in Chesterfield.

Getting this marriage certificate from Chesterfield Register Office will give the names of both of this couple's fathers - assuming neither was born out of wedlock, although even then there is nothing to stop someone listing who they say is their father.

As Harry Ellis and Jane Phipps were married before both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, these can additionally be checked for information as to when and where they were born. From this we see Harry was a coal miner, originally from Worcestershire and aged 27 in 1901 while his wife was 20.

On the Ashford side, Elsie was indeed born in Birmingham on that date and from her birth certificate we know her mother was Elizabeth Houldcroft and her father was Joseph Ashford..

The next step back is to find the marriage of Joseph and Elizabeth and this also was indexed on Free BMD, in the June 1911 quarter. I searched for Joseph Ashford's marriage and the likely reference has a page number, 333, to the right.

Clicking on this revealed that an Elizabeth Houldcroft was married on the same day confirming we have the right reference.

Leigh's next step here was to get a copy of that marriage certificate from Birmingham Register Office.

From this we get the father's details again and are able to search for the births of Joseph and Elizabeth..

Free BMD is a good first source for the index reference of where to find your births, deaths and marriages but it is NOT complete yet and it almost certainly has mistakes in it too. The best thing to do if you cannot find someone is to go to the complete micro- fiche index held in main libraries and archive repositories.

It is time consuming to search the fiche but sometimes it will be the only way and years ago WAS the only way.

Census information from 1841 to 1911 will corroborate and check your research for you. Don't forget that these are free to access via

Ancestry up to the 1901 census if you use your local library's online account.

Again bear in mind that the Ancestry indexes are sometimes lacking and there will be people who seem to be missing.

The brave and patient amongst you could always go back to searching fiche copies of censuses. Birmingham Central Library has them from 1841 to 1901.

If you have a question, * write to Chris Sutton, c/o Features Desk, Birmingham Mail, Floor 6, Fort Dunlop, Fort Parkway, Birmingham B24 9FF or email him at [e-mail]