Genealogy Chat

Excuse me if this sounds a foolish question. When hunting relatives - many people ask e.g. 'Do you have the names of the (marriage) witnesses?' I don't really understand how knowing the names of the witnesses can advance the search. Can anyone enlighten me please? Thank you. TGx

hiya, sometimes when there are witness names on cert, it could be a family member that isnt known about, or another rellie, spouse/sibling etc.. it just helps to narrow things down abit, sometimes looking for them on a census can help track other missing family members. HTH Julie

They may be siblings/parents/other rellies of the bride and groom, so would be helpful in a census search. Jack

Because they were very often related to one or other of the couple,and would be of help in establishing whether those found in a census were the 'right' ones. There was a perfect example of that on this board earlier today. Reg

Current marriage certs are a true copy of the register entry, so if the witness signs for example FS, instead of Fred Smith, that is all that will be copied across, which is not so helpful. Jack

Thanks everyone. You made it sound so logical and clear! Regards TGx

My George Smith signed as a witness using a middle name, Pickford, which had not appeared on census or in father's name section of daughter's marriage cert. It enabled me to find HIS marriage, and then to track him down on censuses via his wife's relatively unusual christian name. Without that witness signature I'd still be lost as there seemed to be rather a lot of George Smiths LOL

For example: If the Christian name of a female witness matches with a sibling of the bride or groom but not the surname it may tell you: 1. She is married 2. She married before the date of that wedding 3. The surname of her husband

I found the 2 witnesses on the first marriage certificate that I ordered, were the bride's sisters. As they were in London at the time, but were born in Kent, it helped me track them down on later censues. Lynn

I ALWAYS cross reference for witnesses on a marriage certificate ever since getting one helped knock down a huge brick wall..... My great grandmother was a Mary Ann Walker born London (according to 1901 census - not very helpful). Her marriage certificate provided me with the name of her father as John Walker, deceased - which still left me stuck. It was only when I started looking into the witnesses on her marriage cert that I started to solve it. The two witnesses were Ellen Amelia Walker and Kate Rowe. Narrowing down Ellen AMelia possibilities in the earlier census proved easier than Mary Ann's and I eventually discovered the two sisters at home with the parents John and Kate Walker. More detective work proved witness Kate Rowe to be a remarried mother Kate Walker - had I not had the marriage certificate I could have wondered for years whatever happened to Kate Walker when hubby died. Zoe

A couple of my direct ancestors were married in 1823 quite a few miles away from either of their home villages. One of the witnesses was the bride's brother (according to home parish baptism registers). By the time the 1841 census was done the couple are living back in her home village, next door to the brother. The names are not that common and this gave me enough proof - barring extreme coincidences! Anne

Yes, witnesses can help make a hole in a brickwall! I had two seemingly unrelated families, both called Holden, with a number of maddening coincidences, but eventually I thought it was just that - coincidence. However, on getting the marriage cert for the 'coincidental' family, I shot bolt upright - the witness was a Clara Lees. I KNEW that name and a lot of scrabbling about later, I found a book which had been given to my Great Grandmother on her 21st birthday 'with the love of your friend, Clara Lees'. The signatures were the same and I now know that Clara Lees was known to both families, and therefore there is pretty certainly a connection between the two families....which I havent been able to prove yet! But at least I know its worth pursuing! OC

I 'lost' a couple in 1860 after their marriage in Scotland. I've searched in vain for several years until a couple of weeks ago, when a very sideways move led me to someone on GR who sent me a marriage cert, with my couple acting as witnesses to a marriage in Liverpool in 1876. This same contact sent me a death cert. too and the informant turned out to be my great grandmother which means I have narrowed down the date/place of death for her too (still can't find it though!). Cath.