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  1. #1

    Default Why are some marraige certs online?

    Hi everyone,
    Still struggling with this absorbing hobby of family history!
    I have found 2 marriage certificates actually online without the need to order them via GRO. How come some are available in some instances but otherwise, they need to be ordered and paid for?
    The details seem to match my investigations but it's confusing that some certs are just on screen without the need to buy them.
    I can give specific examples if needs be but this may be a generic answer.
    This family history bug is all-consuming, isn't it?
    TonyD

  2. #2
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
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    You may be looking at the Parish Register! i.e the original source of a marriage entry in a CoE church

  3. #3
    Wilkes_ml
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    marriages take place in churches, non-conformist chapels that are licenced to perform marriages and later also register offices. When the marriage takes place, the person performing the marriage fills in a marriage register, which the couple, and witnesses sign. These details are copied (usually transcribed) and these copies are sent to the local registrar, who then makes copies and sends them to the General Registrar Office. Old registers that are no longer in use are usually deposited in the County archives I believe, whilst current registers remain with the church.

    So, there are the originals and at least two sets of copies (churches also send copies to the Bishops & archdeacons resulting in bishop transcripts and Archdeacon transcripts, and sometime make additional copies). Unless a parish register (or BTs/ATs) has been scanned and put on line (as in London parish registers on Ancestry) of eg. Kent & Hertfordshire parish registers (on FMP) the person requiring a copy would have to order one either from the Local register office, or the general register office. Local register offices often don't have a combined searchable index for all churches and other places of marriage in their area, so it is often easier to apply directly to the GRO.

  4. #4
    jac65
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    Hi

    Just one clarification of Wilkes_ml reply, the Local Register Office marriage register is an original register in that, like the parish Register, it has the original signitures.

    Andy

  5. #5
    Wilkes_ml
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    Quote Originally Posted by jac65 View Post
    Hi

    Just one clarification of Wilkes_ml reply, the Local Register Office marriage register is an original register in that, like the parish Register, it has the original signitures.

    Andy
    Yes, the register office marriage register does have original signatures if the marriage took place at the register office (like mine did) but I think any church copies that go to the Local register office do not.

    I'm not sure when register offices started performing marriages, but probably early 20th century.

  6. #6
    Reputation beyond repute
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    The procedure is that at the time of the marriage, the vicar completes duplicate entries in two identical registers. One of those register books remains with the church (and in most cases eventually ends up in the County Records Office). The other, when filled, is sent to the Superintendent Registrar for that district. The couple sign (or make their mark) themselves in those registers. This does not mean that you necessarily get a copy of an original signature if you order a certificate from a local register office.

    From 1837 the alternative (in England) to a Church of England marriage ceremony was marriage in a register office or in a registered church of another denomination. Different procedures applied. Until 1898 a registrar needed to be present at a non-conformist or RC wedding and the churches did not keep their own official marriage register.

  7. #7
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony D View Post
    Hi everyone,
    Still struggling with this absorbing hobby of family history!
    I have found 2 marriage certificates actually online without the need to order them via GRO. How come some are available in some instances but otherwise, they need to be ordered and paid for?
    The details seem to match my investigations but it's confusing that some certs are just on screen without the need to buy them.
    I can give specific examples if needs be but this may be a generic answer.
    This family history bug is all-consuming, isn't it?
    TonyD
    Marriages in church are registered in a parish register. Parish registers are open to inspection by the public. If the current incumbent allows them to be digitised they can be placed online.

    Civil Marriages for instance those that take place in a registry office are the property of the Registrar General. The claim is once these registers have left the local registrar's control the are no longer open to public inspection and may only be accessed by purchase of a certified copy of an entry.

    There is at present a campaign to have Historic Registers (Birth, Marriage & Death registers over 100 years old) transferred to Record Offices thereby enabling them to be open to publuc access. https://anguline.co.uk/ohrn.html

    If you are in favour of this please sign the petition at
    https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/62779

    Cheers
    Guy
    Cheers
    Guy
    As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

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