Genealogy Chat

Hi there, I am very new to this game and have found some of my long gone family but keep coming to an end. I have now found my great grandmother and want to get her marriage lines so that I can find out who she married (only know her married surname, not her husbands christian name). Please can someone give me some guidance. I perhaps can us this info to solve other problems I am having. Many thanks in advance

To order certs I use the General Register Office (GRO). You can order on line. It will cost £7 per cert. There are some sites out there that will charge you much much more so avoid those like the plague.

You will need the Volume and Page nos for the cert ref. Also the registration district, year and quarter.

FreeBMD should be able to give you all those details. Always check the actual image as mistakes do happen. Then, it should be fairly straightforward.

Make sure you have your proof on each generation as you work backwards - it is so easy to go wrong ...

Jill

On FreeBMD - if you find the marriage on there - click on the blue number on the right of the listings. That brings up the other people marrying in that place in that quarter so you should be able to spot your chap's full name there.

Jill

You will get the information from a birth cert. of one of her children.

I'm assuming we're talking abt England / Wales here.
You may know that you can buy BMD certs thru the GRO and thru the local RO that covers the place where the event was originally registered. The local ROs keep their registers in a difft fashion from the GRO, and so their local indices are difft. Some of the local indices are online - see:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/index.php?form_action=local

So say I know Robert Taylor marr Elizabeth - I click on the page # of my FreeBMD hit and see:

Marriages Sep 1837 (>99%)
BLACKBURN Jane Preston 21 291
CAUNCE Elizabeth Preston 21 291
COOKSON James Preston 21 291
HARRISON Charles Preston 21 291
HODGKINSON Ann Preston 21 291
PARKINSON Elizabeth Preston 21 291
TANNY John Preston 21 291
TAYLOR Robert Preston 21 291

So I'm still in doubt - which Eliz did he wed?


http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/
In this case, the local index's ref is to an entry #, not a page #, and the site automatically looks up who else has the same ref, and we get:

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1837
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
TAYLOR Robert CAUNCE Elizabeth Preston, St John Preston 229/1/49
TAYLOR Robert PORTER Elizabeth Preston, St John Preston 229/1/49
[In this case, there's two names recorded, both with the same entry #, since Thos wed the widow Caunce, and her MS was Porter.
Note that here the info does not overlap completely: the local RO only gives the year, not the quarter]

This RO also lists the mum's "maiden" surname, so this is probably their kid:

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1838
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
TAYLOR Henry Broughton Preston CAUNCE BRO/1/16


Here's another local example:

Marriages Jun 1869 (>99%)
BROWN Henry S. Shields 10a 777
Hepple Mary South Shields 10a 777
Messenger Isaac Elverton S. Shields 10a 777
Robson Mary S Shields 10a 777


http://www.southtyneside.info/communitysupport/register/search/default.aspx
+ Isaac E MESSENGER
+ Spouse: Mary ROBSON
+ Register: C G3
+ Entry: 124
+ Date: 06/04/1869

Now each church has its own register (except non-conformist and RCs pre 1898, which got recorded in the registrar's own register]
S. Tyneside give a key, mapping the register to the church (this was done automatically for Preston above):
http://www.southtyneside.info/communitysupport/register/genealogy/marriage_index.asp
Church of England Computer Reference
Holy Trinity C G

[Again, each index contribute something - the GRO index gives his mid-name]

Wow, so much info. I have ordered two marriage lines thro' GRO (they cost me 7 quid each) one for my Great Grandmother (her second marriage I hope) and one for her daughter (my grandmother) so I can find our my grandfathers partents and where he was born. He was supposed to be the youngest of 13 and the only boy. You would think it would not be hard to find him eh.. Anyway I am going to have a go at all these other sites people are recommending to me, only trouble is I am not getting much sleep, once you start looking you can't stop. Thank you all for your help.

Marriage certificates will give the the father's names (if known) of the two parties, but not their mother's names nor will it tell you where any of the parties was born.

As PigletsPal says, you should really go for a birth certificate first - this gives both parents full names, including mothers maiden surname. Armed with that information you have a better chance of finding the correct marriage certificate.

Thank you InspectorGreenPen I need to learn so much more. By the way you don't happen to be my FD do you, he writes in green pen lol