Genealogy Chat

I was careful only to refer to the Marriage registers as being a better source. Since the start of formal regirstration (1837) they MUST record the info which is needed for the certificate, so they have to be at least as good. Baptism records may or may not record a birth-date, just as burial records may or may not record a death-date or age. And in both those cases they may or may not record other family info. To be fair, the Baptism records would normally record the mother's name and the father's (if known) plus an occupation. and a general address (not always specific street/house). Marriage records pre-July 1837 may not have as much info as after that date. If you're lucky enough to have family who had BMD events in the Medway area of Kent, then you may be able to find images of the relevant parish registers online at http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/ , if you follow the link on the left to the Image Base. It can be a bit of a labyrinth, and the registers aren't indexed by name or transcribed... just labelled by Church, date and function as a set, and then just numbered (so make a note of which numbers you've looked at!). Not all have been 'captured' yet. It's just really exciting to find images of those original pages. Christine

hi all thankyou so much you have opened my eyes as to where to look, they got married in st chad shrew, there are so many john davies born there you wont believe, then again i think you will, i think i need the 1841 shrop to try and narrow down where he was born. thankyou all for the info. regards jackie.

Thank Nell Will take a look Elly

Elly Parish records aren't always full of info. Baptisms usually give child's name, date of baptism, father's name and mother's first name. Sometimes there is an occupation for father, or an address, but not always. Parish registers are in county records offices, usually on microfilm or microfiche. Some transcripts are available on www.familysearch.org (free) and others at a payable site, family history online. In any case, you need to check the original registers to confirm info is correct. As for info found on bmd civil registration certs (and what it might mean) this is a brilliant site: http://home.clara*net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm replace * with . nell

Christine How do you get copies of the pages, and what info would you get. Can you get parents/ocupations/address etc? Elly

With marriages, assuming you don't need the legal certification, the Church Registers (where appropriate) are a better source than a formal cert (which only replicates the Register info). You can get a photocopy of the page for a fraction of the cost of a certificate and it should show the bride's and groom's own signatures or 'Xs', rather than someone else's copy of them. Christine

If you know the date and church, you should be able to contact the record office and ask for a copy of the entry in the parish register. It probably won't give father's names, but it might have the parish the couple are from or witnesses' names.

Jacqueline The marriages (and baptisms etc) on family search are NOT the same as civil registration. Civil registration started 1st July 1837. Before that, marriages etc were recorded in parish registers, which is where the info on familysearch often comes from. Births are not normally recorded on familysearch, though baptisms are. Civil registration also allowed for register office marriages, but if the marriage took place after 1837 in a church/place of worship, you may find those details on familysearch as well as in the GRO indexes. nell

hi elly thankyou i'm still not very good at using this site but this is great thanks. regards jackie.

Jacqueline Goto IGI on the LDS website These are the batch numbers from hugh lewis: (Saint Chad) C015754 1813-1868 E015751 P015751 1616-1717 M015751 1616-1678 P015752 1701-1781 M015753 1828-1838 P015753 1781-1812 M015754 1813-1828 P015753 1781-1812 has several John Davies, if you search under the name Davies, and just the batch number you should find siblings with the same parents - of course you will then need to verify which belong to you. I couldn't find Sarah Holmes on the same batch, so possibly she wasn't from St Chad? Good Luck Elly

hi brian thanks its just my luck with this famly. regards jackie.

It was 1 July 1837. I was fortunate in that I had a marriage on 31 July 1837, so it got registered.

hi thanks racing girl, elli, i have a marriage on the family search john davies sarah holmes 25 may 1837 at st chad shrewsbury shrop, hoping to get cert for parents names looks like i'm out of luck. regards jackie.

Jacqueline, Free BMD starts Sept quarter 1837, so I guess it must be July/Aug/Sept, before your marriage What is it your trying to find ? Elly

From memory I think it was in the July timeframe that they started officially recording bmd's. Have a look at the freebmd webpage, they might tell you on there, or 1837online too. Brenda

hi i have a marriage 25th may 1837 had they started recording the birth/marriage/deaths then. regards jackie.