Genealogy Chat

I need to find my female ancestor's father's name and would like to know whether I will find this on her birth certificate (1880) - or will this detail only appear on her marriage certificate? Don't want to waste money on ordering both or either if parent/s details are not going to be on it. Help please! Lindsay

as far as i noo father is on both (providing mother and father are/were married). father only is on marriage cert whether he is dead or alive.

If she wasn't illegitimate, her father's name will be on her birth cert......... Mother's name will not be on marriage cert. I assume this is England/Wales???? Doesn't her father appear on 1881 census? Reg

The father's name will not be on the marriage cert if she was illegitimate.......... Reg

If you are only going to order one certificate, then go for the Marriage one. The fathers name will be on it. At a later date to double check, order the Birth cert, as obviously, this will also give you the mothers maiden name and will allow you to go back a bit further..............and you may well get an address as well.

If I had to choose, I would ALWAYS go for birth cert over marriage cert - a birth cert gives you two parents names, hopefully, and as it was nearer to the event, is slightly more likely to be true than a marriage cert! I have lost count of the number of MCs with made-up father's name. OC

I would say go for the birth certificate in preference to the marriage certificate, if you can only afford to get one. The father's name will always be on the birth certificate as long as the child was not illegitimate. Plus this certificate also tells you the mother's maiden name. On the other hand ................ you can not trust that the father's name on the marriage certificate is correct!! Many illegitimate children seem to have made up a father's name to put on the marriage certificate, and you then spend literally years trying to find that person!

Thanks all for your advice!