I have a large collection of certifiates that have been collected over the years. These come from a variety of sources:-

1 Purchesed as a means of resolving an issue.

2 Copies received from others from their research and for these I am always grateful.

3 Many Record Offices are now putting their holdings online including the images of their baptism, burial and marriage registers

4 Many copies of marriage certificates from church records have been received from the Guild of One-Name Studies as part of their Marriage Challange program

Care needs to be taken though: Some births especially in the early years of civil registration were not registered. Not everyone was honest on certificates, this maybe because they truly did not know the correct birth name or age when registering a death. Ages on marriage certificates are notoriously incorrect for many reasons and the use of "full age" or "over 21" could hide a multitude of reasons and stop the need of parents permission. Occupations were often inflated on birth and marriage certificates, for example an "Ag lab" could become a farmer.

  • GRO Birth-Certificates Birth certificates confirm the parentage and will usually list the fathers occupation. They will also provide the mothers maiden name and any other surnames she may have had. These are usually shown as formerly xxxx and late yyyy. Normally the informant will be the mother or father but very occationally you may find grandparents or others.
  • GRO Marriage Certificates Marriage certificates provide evidence of both fathers and their occupations. Address and occupation of bride and groom. Sometimes their ages appear although this may be described as "full age" or "over 21", Witnesses names may also help in identifying relationships. It is interesting to reflect on the evidence of whether they were married after banns, licence or certificate, this may well give rise to further ideas.
  • GRO Death Certificates Death certificates provide the age of the deceased. Sometimes if a woman the certificate will state whether she was the wife or widow of xxx.. The name and address of the person informing the authorities may be a relation and could be helpful. If the death was followed by a postmortem or coroners hearing this will also be recorded as will the cause of death.

  • Marriage Certificates 1754-1837

    On this page are the details of those people that I have copies of the marriage certificates for covering the period 1754-1837. 1754 saw the introduction of the Hardwick Marriage Act as was in force until the start of Civil Registration in 1837. Whilst no individual certificates were issued the copies have been taken from the actual parish records. The amount of information on a certificate does vary but you will not find the details of the father of either party.