Cert for before 1837

[Mike_E]

Hi All,

Up to now, I've only ever orders certs from 1837 onwards, and only those I needed to prove my research correct.

How do I get copies for stuff before this point, in particular, I'd like to get a birth cert on copy of entry from 1827, and a marriage from 1816. I was pointed at the detail by Peter Euston (thanks again), can I get copies from the LDS? using their references? I know I could visit Hull and do it this way, but it's a long way to go.

Rgds
Mike

[Pam Downes]

Hi Mike,
Prior to the start of civil registration on July 1st 1837, birth and death certificates did not exist. Marriage certificates did, much with much less detail than after that date.
Where you have to look to find info about ancestors prior to July 1837 is in church registers. Here you will find baptism and burial records, not births and deaths, plus marriages. The baptism entry may have a birth date alongside it, and it may also tell you that the mother is Jane late Smith - i.e. she was Jane Smith before she married. Consider such info a bonus, because it doesn't happen with every entry.
If you have a local LDS FHC and they have films of the parishes then for a small fee you can order in the films and take copies of the entries. See
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp
to access the LDS library catalogue.
Alternatively, if you know the precise date of an event the local Record Office may well be able to send you photocopies of the entries for a couple of quid. If it's a very small country parish with only a few events a year, perhaps just knowing the year would be sufficient, but the RO will tell you what their precise policy is.
Remember that not everyone was baptised a few days or weeks after they were born - I've got one baptised a few weeks before he was married! Also you can hit a major stumbling block if the family were non-conformistsbecause those records are not so easily available as CoE PRs.
Pam

[Mike_E]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I have an LDS research place a few miles away from me the the Forest of Dean. Justed checked their opening hours and should be able to speak to them monday to find what is available from them.

Just to make life extra difficult, my ancesters have names like Cornwall, and Galloway, so when you search for these you get 100's of hits on places first..Oh well, think I'll change my name to "London Apprentice" a rather unusual name I came across recently in Cornwall, which might mess up a researcher in years to come if they don't have my files.

Thanks
Mike

[Guy Etchells]

Hi Mike,
Prior to the start of civil registration on July 1st 1837, birth and death certificates did not exist.


Oh yes they did. ;)
It is one of the widespread myths in family history that birth certificates started with the 1837 civil registration. In fact birth certificates had been around for many years prior to that and indeed were required for entry into the navy as an officer.
I have on my desk in front of me a birth certificate from South Mims, Middlesex dated 12 April 1818 for the Birth of John Taplin born 9 July 1809

It should also be noted that birth & death dates were a legal requirement for parish registers from 1644. Unfortunately many clergy ignored that requirement, which was repeated in 1653, 1694, 1695, 1696, 1783 and 1812.

Having said that such certificates are hard to come by though not always impossible.
Cheers
Guy

[MarkJ]

London Apprentice unusual? Nah! Its between St Austell and Mevagissey. There are much, much stranger names in Cornwall ;)
You could be Skinners Bottom for instance!

On a more serious note, it really is hard to seperate the places from the surnames. Try Cornwall +surname and other sorts of combinations like that. You still get lots of place hits, but it will narrow it down a little. Google has an advanced search facility which you can use to narrow things down - add things/remove things from the searches.
My surname is Jose (which is Cornish, not Spanish) - so searching for that I get tons of San Jose, USA hits - but I can filter those with Jose -San. The Spanish/Mexican hits are a lot more awkward to filter.

Mark

[Pam Downes]

Oh yes they did. ;)
It is one of the widespread myths in family history that birth certificates started with the 1837 civil registration. In fact birth certificates had been around for many years prior to that and indeed were required for entry into the navy as an officer.
GuyThank you for that correction, Guy.
Presumably though the ones still in existence are mostly in family hands, and not lodged somewhere such as the TNA, along with a person's naval records (for example).
Pam