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Marriage certificate V parish records

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BobClayton

BobClayton Report 9 Jan 2005 16:25

With church weddings two registers were signed, one at register offices. Every three months the vicar/local registrar copied these and sent them to the District Superintendent. It is these copies that were sent to GRO. When the church registers became full one was sent to the District Superintendent and the other kept by the church (usually then to CROs), so there should be two originals from churches (with signatures etc). The local registrar also sent his completed book to th DS when full. The GRO certs are thus transcriptions and this is where the errors arose. (until photocopying) Not all District Offices give out copies of the originals even though they hold them. So if you can view them at CRO that is your best bet. You will also find ones missing from GRO. Bob

Researching:
Clayton

Paula

Paula Report 9 Jan 2005 15:47

Good can save myself some cash then as i only live 10 minutes from the county records office Paula

Phoenix

Phoenix Report 9 Jan 2005 15:46

Where you can, it is better to look at parish records. You get to see the signatures (or marks) of both parties. You can scour the registers, not merely for the marriages of relations, but also for the occasions when they pop up as witnesses. There may be differences between the GRO copy and the marriage register. A gasman has proved to be a yeoman, a papermaker a ropemaker. These may be tiny differences, but have sent me down cul-de-sacs. B

Guinevere

Guinevere Report 9 Jan 2005 15:26

Hi, They are meant to be identical. The couple sign the one in the register and an exact copy is filled in for the ONS. Gwynne

Researching:
Lowestoft and North Suffolk, Monmouthshire, Breconshire, Somerset

Paula

Paula Report 9 Jan 2005 15:25

Is there any difference between marriage certificates obtained from the GRO and the info in the parish records. I've ordered one marriage certificate as i didn't know which church they got married in so it was easier to look up the names and find the reference but for others i've taken the info directly from parish records- will i be missing anything by doing this? Paula