Australian Church Registers

[JandL]

How would I go about find a Church Register for a couple married in Merrigal (near Coonamble NSW Australia) in 1878? The NSW marriage regn transcription says place of marriage "At Merrigal near Warren" religion: "The rites of Cof E". I do not know if there was actually an Anglican Church in Merrigal back then, certainly not now. Would appreciate advice.

[warncoort]

https://anglicansonline.org/australia/index.html
$22 fee gets a full copy or transcription of the church record,all you need.

[spison]

If you are near either Sydney or Canberra you could look at the registers yourself. Canberra has the SAG reels in the NLA and Sydney has them in the Mitchell Library. Because it occurred near Warren and Coonamble however it may be that it is in one of the Hunter Valley registers - possibly Murrurundi. I have seen records from Wee Waa on this reel as the ministers wandered onto the Liverpool Plains (and further) from here but possibly not this late.

Who was the officiating minister and what was the exact date? Does the registration have the notation " Birth/age/parent details were obtained from Church Register No. XXX" or if you don't have a transcription was the registration filled in in two different hands - it will also have this notation? If this is the case don't bother seeking out the register as it wasn't recorded at the time even though it was the law!

Unfortunately there are no further clues about which register it is in (or whether the actual register has actually survived). You might need to google which churches actually existed at this time. I'd guess that Coonamble would have been earlier than Warren but I don't know. You could contact Tamworth Anglican archives and see if they could help with narrowing down the actual register. They'd probably need to know the minister.

Jane

[lawsue]

Hi JandL,
I believe that Coonamble and surrounds are in the Diocese of Bathurst, but whether that includes Warren, not sure. I am sure Merrigal is situated between the two.

Sue

[Waitabit]

Is it possible that the marriage was conducted at the home of the Bride or similar, still with full rights observed. Visiting clergy perhaps.

[JandL]

Thank you all. I bought the transcription, because I understood an agent would record notes not necessarily shown on a normal bdm certificate. I specificially wanted the date of the marriage checked, because children of the marriage were born from about 1868. The trans says Robert Hunt (by x mark) labourer, of Merrigal, bachelor - bride Jane Irvine, spinster, of Merrigal, married 21/7/1878 at Merrigal near Warren, The rites of the Cof E. witness: Robert Datten & Edward Hughes, minister Henry Martin. All the other usual fields had "no entry". However agent suggested missing fields can sometimes be found in original Church register. I wrote & asked how I would do that, but no answer. I suspect Jane came to Aust aged 6 with parents John (a policeman) & Mary from Scotland aboard Exodus. Robert Hunt is my mystery. I bought daughter, Ada Clara Margaret Hunt's transcript dated 28/3/1884. It lists the marriage as 17/9/1868 and says Robert was 38 born Brisbane Waters (Jane 34 from Aberdeen) & 5 other children alive and 1 dead. If 38, Robert was born in 1846. But the BDM index says Robert died in Coonamble district in 1814 and instead of parents names it lists "aged 80". So I presume his parent's names unknown - and aged 80 means he was born 1834. So too many errors to come to a realistic conclusion. I am mid north coast NSW. Perhaps, as suggested I should write to Tamworth diocese. Thank you.

[lawsue]

Definitely marriage registration Dubbo 2931/1878. First child Annie born 1868 again registered at Dubbo. If he was 80 in 1914 then he was born in 1830 and 38 when Annie came along in 1868. Sorry. It's a bit confusing. Hope you can work it out.
Sue

[lawsue]

Maybe you should just get his birth certificate, cause I really mucked that one up.

[lawsue]

Me again. Just found Robert Hunt 1914 marker at Gulargambone Cemetery

[spison]

I bought the transcription, because I understood an agent would record notes not necessarily shown on a normal bdm certificate. ... minister Henry Martin. All the other usual fields had "no entry". However agent suggested missing fields can sometimes be found in original Church register. Robert Hunt is my mystery. I bought daughter, Ada Clara Margaret Hunt's transcript dated 28/3/1884. It lists the marriage as 17/9/1868 and says Robert was 38 born Brisbane Waters (Jane 34 from Aberdeen) & 5 other children alive and 1 dead. If 38, Robert was born in 1846. But the BDM index says Robert died in Coonamble district in 1814 and instead of parents names it lists "aged 80". So I presume his parent's names unknown - and aged 80 means he was born 1834. So too many errors to come to a realistic conclusion. I am mid north coast NSW. Perhaps, as suggested I should write to Tamworth diocese.

So there is still hope! Forget Tamworth! Lawsue was right! It's almost certainly the Bathurst Diocese!

According to Trove the Rev. Henry Martin took up his position in Molong (near Orange) from Bathurst in July 1877. (Maitland Mercury 10 July 1877) So whatever church register the marriage is in they may be able to tell you in Bathurst. (I haven't checked whether Bathurst has a C of E archives.) The NLA shows that there is a copy of the St Barnabas Anglican register from Bathurst but only from 1876 which won't help if the marriage did occur in 1868. Molong's Church of England was St John's but I couldn't find any reference to this church in the NLA Catalogue. That doesn't mean that it isn't there hidden on some other reel.

The SAG reels are chaotic. To find what's in them you need the small book and then the large book to narrow down whether a record is there. It's not the transcriber's fault if the registers haven't been updated as the information originally was collected by the churches and not recorded all those years ago. I have used the SAG reels and finding the correct reel can take longer than finding the record in the actual film! You might be better waiting until you can go to Sydney for a holiday and actually go to the SAG which is in 2/379 Kent Street, Sydney. You will need to pay for the day (which once was $20) but they will help you search and find things in the reels (or the correct reel). I don't know how much it would cost for someone to actually search and find the correct reel - if the register still exists! Because you can't specify where it might be it will take time. (Just because the registration hasn't been updated means nothing. In the last month I have located Church records from incomplete registrations. I had five to find. I found three and two of those showed ages and parents!)

It may be that Ada's parents lied on her birth because they didn't want to admit that the other children were illegitimate. It wouldn't be the first time.

Good luck

Jane