Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy (13 page)

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Signature of registrar:
The name and signature of the registrar.

Birth certificates

Bill Oddie's story was one of the most poignant told on
Who Do You Think You Are?
as he wished to investigate the background to his mother's ill health and rumours that he had a sister. The story of his missing sister was quickly established by tracking down his parents' marriage certificate of 1938, establishing Bill's mother's maiden name (Clegg) and looking in the national GRO indexes for the birth of any children with the surname Oddie, mother's maiden name Clegg, in the Rochdale area, where the family lived at the time
.

A fairly quick search revealed that a Margaret J. Oddie, mother's maiden name Clegg, was born in the March quarter of 1940. On ordering the certificate (above, left), her parents were listed as Harry Oddie and Lilian Oddie, née Clegg – the same as Bill's. This therefore was his missing sister, and a further search of the death indexes showed that she had died as an infant the same quarter, explaining why Bill never knew about her existence
.

A marriage certificate is the official record of when and where a marriage took place, in addition to the record that would have been compiled in the relevant religious institution (a parish register, for example; these have been kept since the sixteenth century, and continue to be compiled today – see
Chapter 7
for more details). They are a particularly rich source for the genealogical researcher as they give lots of clues for various ancestors. As mentioned above, from 1837 onwards, marriages of individuals of the Church of England, along with Jews and Quakers (where buildings were licensed to hold marriages), were recorded by the priest or responsible clerk and sent to the General Registrar's Office in London. For other non-conformists, the local registrar recorded the marriage. This requirement was relaxed in 1898 and an ‘authorized person' from other religious denominations could also record this information and send it forward to the appropriate bodies.

It is important to remember the age of consent before conducting a marriage search. In 1929 it was raised to 16 years for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Prior to this it had been 14 for boys and 12 for girls. In the Republic of Ireland the age of consent was only raised to 16 in 1975, having been kept at the ages of 14 for boys and 12 for girls until then. It's worth bearing these ages in mind when searching for
marriage certificates, making sure you search back far enough. The age of consent, however, differs from the legal age at which people could marry without parental consent, and in England and Wales this was 21 until 1969, after which it was reduced to 18 – though in Scotland it is as low as 16.

The GRO indexes include an entry for both the bride and the groom. If you know the names of both parties who were married it is advisable to search for the least common surname. The registers are arranged annually and then on a quarterly basis. They are then indexed alphabetically by the surname and then forename of the bride and groom. From the March quarter of 1912 the surname of the spouse is also given. Lastly there will be a numerical reference for the marriage.

The actual certificate will provide the following information:

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Above the columns there will be a section stating exactly where the marriage took place (which church or other place) and in which parish and county. This is very useful as it can indicate whether your ancestors were non-conformists or not.

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When married:
The exact date the marriage took place.

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Name and surname:
The full names of both parties getting married.

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Age:
The given age of the bride and groom; it is important to note that these may not be entirely accurate. It was not uncommon for people to state that they were simply of a ‘full' age or even a ‘minor' age. Prior to 1969, full age would be someone aged over 21 years and a minor anyone younger than 21. Thus it could be problematic working out the exact ages when trying to find the birth records of these people. Also, it was not uncommon for people to lie about their age, depending on the circumstance. People under 21 may claim to be several years older to avoid the need for parental consent. Alternatively, older women marrying men significantly younger than them may give a younger age to minimize any potential scandal.

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Condition:
This column states whether the marrying party was a bachelor, spinster or widow/widower. You may be surprised to find out that your relatively young ancestor was already widowed and marrying for a second time. However, mortality rates would have been significantly higher in the early period of civil registration and sometimes people lost their spouses quite soon after marriage, particularly in childbirth. Remarriage was therefore a viable practice, especially with young widowed men with small children who needed a maternal figure to look after them.

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Rank or profession:
The occupation of the two parties is stated here. In the same way as with the occupation section in birth certificates, be aware of exaggerations and, depending on the given occupation, whether you will be able to locate their employment records. Female occupations were not regularly detailed until the twentieth century.

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Residence at the time of the marriage:
The address of the bride and groom at the time of their wedding; the usual custom was to be married in the parish of the bride and sometimes the groom would have a temporary address in that same parish, as he would have had to have been living in the parish for a month to be married there.

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Father's name and surname:
A vital clue for the genealogical researcher, helping one get one generation further back at the same time, although the mother's name would not be given. If the father was deceased it would often (but not always) be recorded as ‘deceased' in brackets after the father's name.

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Rank or profession of father:
The occupation of the father of both bride and groom is provided. Again, be aware of the same inaccuracies in the given occupations.

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The type of marriage:
Whether the marriage was performed by a marriage licence or banns, announced in the parish church for the three weeks preceding the wedding.

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Name and signature of two witnesses:
At least two people are required to witness the marriage. These would often, but not always, be family members of the bride and groom.

Marriage certificates

To trace Bill Oddie's family further back in time, it was necessary to verify the personal details of each generation and order the necessary certificates. This meant starting at the beginning by obtaining the marriage certificate (left) of his parents, Harry Oddie and Lilian Clegg, in 1938. The GRO indexes were examined, and an entry quickly found in the December quarter. The certificate was ordered, and contained the following information
.

Marriage at the Methodist Church, William Street, Rochdale

Groom: Harry Oddie, 28, bachelor; occupation municipal clerk; address 17 Russell Street, Rochdale; father Wilkinson Oddie (deceased), loom overlooker

Bride: Lilian Clegg, 24, spinster; occupation shop assistant, general store: address 82 Grove Street, Rochdale; father Joseph Peter Clegg (deceased), engineer

Witnesses: Edgar Oddie, Marion Oddie

With this information other searches could be started. Harry and Lilian's ages at marriage meant that their birth certificates were relatively easy to locate – Harry was born in 1910 and Lilian in 1914 – whilst searches could be started for their fathers' death certificates as well, prior to 1938
.

These certificates record the time and cause of death. They are perhaps less obviously useful for people trying to take generations further back, but can give a useful picture of the social standing and life conditions of your ancestor (usually indicated by cause of death).

The recording and indexing of death certificates is done in the same way as births, with a record being kept locally by the superintendent registrar and one nationally at the GRO. A death would be recorded locally where it occurred, rather than on the actual residence of the deceased. Again, the GRO indexes are organized annually and then subdivided into quarters. Within these quarters the individuals are listed strictly alphabetically, surname first and then forename. From the March quarter of 1866 to the March quarter of 1969 an age of death for the deceased also appears. Hence there is no need to order the actual certificate if you only require this information (and if you are sure this is the correct ancestor, as with common names you may only be able to verify if it is the right person by obtaining the actual certificate). From June 1969 an age at death was replaced by the date of birth of the individual. As with birth and marriage certificates, the indexes were organized annually from 1984, and not further subdivided on a quarterly basis.

The actual certificate will give the following information:

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The exact registration district where the death was recorded.

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When and where died:
The exact location of where the death occurred, which may not be where the deceased lived as he or she may have been visiting family or died in hospital.

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Name and surname:
The full name of the deceased.

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Sex:
Whether the deceased was male or female.

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Age:
The age of the deceased; this is perhaps the most useful piece of information for those wishing to take their family tree further back in generations. Once you have an age it is possible to start searching for the individual's birth certificate and parentage. Bear in mind, however, that this information would not always be accurate as no proof of age was required. Not everyone remembered their age with absolute certainty, especially those born prior to civil registration or in the early part of the nineteenth century.

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Occupation:
A good genealogical clue in helping trace appropriate employment records if relevant. Women who were married or widowed would usually have the name and maybe occupation of their husband provided, which can be useful.

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Cause of death:
The more modern records of death may give quite specialized medical terms that may need to be researched. The early certificates could be somewhat vaguer in the medical terms used. The cause and age of death are good indicators of the living conditions of the deceased, with poorer people generally having shorter life spans then the wealthier classes. Additionally, a sudden death or accident would often require a coroner's inquest before the death certificate could be issued, and the date of the inquest should be stated on the certificate. These inquests may well have been reported in local newspapers and it is worth pursuing this line of enquiry. You may also be able to find the actual coroner's report in your local record office. However, they are subject to data protection for 75 years and not every report would have survived, as there is no legal requirement to retain the information after 15 years have elapsed.

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Signature, description and residence of the informant:
This can also be a useful piece of genealogical information as sometimes it would be family members who would register the deaths. However, after 1874 the law changed and it was compulsory to have a doctor's certificate before a death certificate could be issued, and hence doctors would sometimes appear as the informants.

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When registered:
The date the death was registered, the legal requirement being five days after the death of the person. However, if a coroner was involved, there may well be a considerable delay in registration.

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Signature of registrar:
The signature of the local registrar.

Death certificates

Whilst pursuing Bill Oddie's family tree, his parents' marriage certificate revealed that both their fathers had died by the time the couple married in 1938. This information was used to search for the death certificate (below, left) of Wilkinson Oddie, Bill's grandfather. Starting with 1938, a search was made backwards in time, and an entry was found in 1927 for Wilkinson Oddie, aged 62, whose death was registered in the Oldham district. This important biographical information made it easy to look for his birth certificate, which was found in Rochdale in 1864. Given Bill's father Harry was born in 1910, Wilkinson would have been 46 at the time of his son's birth, which seemed quite old. Having found his birth and death certificate, a search was made for Wilkinson's marriage certificate prior to 1910, which was found registered in Rochdale in 1907, to Emily Hawksworth. On the certificate, Wilkinson's age was confirmed at 42 and his marital status was listed as widower. Clearly, further stories remained to be uncovered in Wilkinson's background …

As mentioned above, information has been recorded at a local and a national level so there are two sources you'll need to consider. The national indexes have been compiled and retained by the GRO, whilst there are also indexes to the certificates available locally. It is crucial to remember that the index entries in the local registers are not the same as the ones available at the GRO as each office would use their own indexing system.

The original certificates for each registration district are held at the superintendent registrar's office. Each major city would have one of these offices and there would be numerous superintendent offices per county. However, due to some boundary changes throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries some of these offices may have been abolished and their records transferred to another office nearby. Each local register office is likely to have indexed the information by local district, year and then alphabetically (probably by first letter of surname only and not in strict alphabetical order). Hence in order to begin searching you will need to know the superintendent district and then the sub-district. The advantage of searching in the local registers is that it will be a quicker search to conduct, especially if the name you are looking for is relatively common. However, if you are not certain where the registration occurred, it is advisable to turn to the national GRO indexes.