Genealogy Chat

Can anyone tell me how I go about finding marriages that were in a registry office? Some of my family married in Gravesend, Kent but not sure how to find them. Is it free anywhere? Can you just view records at registry office & make notes or do you have to buy the records in each case?
Many Thanks
Jenny

If the marriages were between 1837 and the mid 1930's they should show up on Freebmd

www.freebmd.org.uk

Click on the search box on the left hand side of the page which will take you into births, marriages and deaths.

From 1916 and up to about 2005 you can find marriages easily transcribed on Ancestry plus they have records from 1837 - they do a 14 day free trial if you're interested.

If you want to post some details here I'm sure the marriages could be tracked down but I would hesitate to put details of anyone who might be living on here.

Registry Office marriages aren,t listed separately they are part of the GRO records and will have a GRO ref the same as Church marriages

Records for church marriages in the Gravesham area are on Cityark. I expect you knew that already, but if you didn't know it then it might be worth checking the churches local to where the couple lived before they married.

Jill

Thanks everyone for all your help. Ive tried looking at Medway City ark but not sure how to use it.
Jenny

Shirley - at the GRO registery marrs aren't listed seperately and will have a GRO ref just like any other marr.

However, at the local level, registery office marrs will appear in the registrar's register, whereas the marrs from St Wilfred's, say, will appear in the St Wilfred's register, etc. Before 1898, only C of E, quakers and jews were authorized to keep registers, so marrs at non-conformist and RC churches would need a registrar to attend to conduct the civil marr ceremony, and these would also appear in his own register. The local index will always indicate which register one can find the marr in, and often the registers code is readily identifiable. Sometimes some of the other churches are identifiable from their ref #, and othertimes they're quite cryptic. E.g.,

245/1/5 Ribchester, St Wilfred
PRESTON/1/16 Preston Register Office or Registrar Attended

STJ/1/129 Manchester, St. John
CATH/1/307 Manchester Collegiate Church (later Manchester Cathedral)
9/1/163 Manchester, St. Mary
512/1/2 Manchester, Great Synagogue
MCR_RM/1/14 Manchester Register Office or Registrar Attended

Jenny

Cityark is worth persevering with as it will save you lots of money on certs plus you get to see their actual signatures on marriage certs etc.

I know it's a bit clunky - but once you've mastered it you'll be well away so do please try again.

Always good to pick a family in the census - check the parish they are living in at the time and then look at the church records for that parish. That's what I do for mine. Quite often you strike lucky almost straight away.

It's a bit easier if you're looking at a village. I've rummaged through quite a lot of the Meopham records. It is so helpful.

Jill

DET - "To go back to the original question. Marriages made in a Reg office, will NOT be on C of E parish records as they were Civil Marriages."

That's true, but some marriages appearing in the registrar's register will relate to non-CofE marriages, and might also appear in non-CofE parish registers.

Medway City Ark is wonderful! I have found baptisms and marriages going back donkey's years!!


Isn't is only the C of E who have parish registers though - being the state church and all that? Other denominations may have church registers but they don't have parishes as such.

Thanks everyone for all your kind help.

At last ive managed to work out how to view Medway City Ark. What a goldmine!!!!

Thanks again

Jenny x

Cynthia - parishes aren't an exclusive C of E thing - to take just one example:
http://www.lancasterdiocese.org.uk/Parishes.asp
It's true that many churches call their parishes by other names, like Methodist congregations organized into circuits, etc. However, pretty much all old church registers are lumped under the term "Old Parish Registers".

True mgnv - I am obviously too parochially minded! lol