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Inside This Issue: - Irish Ancestral Research - Getting Over The Brick Wall Searching Occupational Sources Connected To Your Ancestors Eccentric Ireland - Co. Meath Unde...Marriage and Death Certificates
The cynic and the poet will attach some significance to the fact that marriage and death are grouped together here. Their significance for the genealogist, however, is far more obvious. To...Genealogists Prayer
Genealogist’s Prayer Lord, help me dig into the past, And sift the sands of time, That I might find the roots that made This family tree of mine. Lord, help me trac...News: Marriage and Death Certificates
The cynic and the poet will attach some significance to the fact that marriage and death are grouped together here. Their significance for the genealogist, however, is far more obvious. Together they usually mark the beginning of a period of stability in an ancestor’s life, the beginning and the end of the period in which the next generation was born. Together with birth certificates, discussed in the previous issue, marriage and death certificates support the whole structure of your family tree.
Full civil or state registration of all births, marriages and deaths began in Ireland on 1 January 1864. (Non-Catholic marriages had been registered since 1845.) This meant that from then all parents were required to inform the authorities of the birth of a child. Responsibility for registering a marriage rested with the officiating clergyman while deaths could be done by anyone but was usually done by a relative or a doctor.
The existing poor law structure was used to carry out registration. In 1864 Ireland was already divided into 163 areas, known as poor law unions. Each was responsible for providing a workhouse for its poor, a place where they went when they could not support themselves. Within these unions, which were large areas, there were smaller divisions, known as Dispensary Districts, each of which had a medical officer responsible for caring for the poor. Most unions contained six or seven of these districts. When civil registration was introduced in 1864, recording births, marriages and deaths within each of these districts became the responsibility of a registrar. In fact, in many cases this new registrar was the medical officer.
All certificates state the county, Registration District and the Superintendent Registrar’s District.
In addition to these registrars, the government appointed a superintendent registrar for each poor law union, with responsibility for overseeing the registration of births, marriages and deaths within that union. There was also a Registrar General, based in Dublin, with overall responsibility for registration throughout the country.
The information was sent up the chain of authority to Dublin, where it was recorded. The General Register Office was also responsible for creating an index to the records for the whole country. The original records were then returned to the Superintendent Registrars, where they remain to this day.
When a marriage is registered the registrar issues a marriage certificate. It contains a host of invaluable information.
WHAT THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE TELLS US
Marriage records give more information than other civil registration documents and are in fact the most useful of the three. As the certificate had to be completed within three days of the ceremony, the date recorded is generally correct.
The most important information about the couple contained in the marriage certificate is:
Their names
Ages
Status – spinster, widow, bachelor, widower
Occupation
Residence at time of marriage
Names and occupations of their fathers
The church
Name of the officiating minister
Names of the witnesses.
A Note of Caution
This all seems very straightforward. Unfortunately, the information recorded on the certificate is, like that on other civil registration documents, only as reliable as the informant.
Not every clergyman registered every marriage. Though fewer marriages than births went unregistered many genealogists feel that as many as ten per cent of marriages may have gone unregistered.
In many cases the exact age of the couple is not recorded. Instead you will often see ‘full age’ that is, 21 or over, or ‘minor’ that is less than 21. The significance of this is that those of full age were free to marry without parental consent. Consequently, where parental consent was not forthcoming, a person who was under full age might give a false age.
Sometimes people lied about their age for other reasons. It was generally assumed that a man would be older than his wife. In order to spare the bride’s embarrassment in situations where this was not the case, the couple might be flexible with the truth, adding a few years to his age or trimming a few from hers.
It is also important to appreciate that many people did not know their exact age. For most of the 19th and early 20th century people attached little significance to their precise date of birth. Before compulsory education, state pensions and the welfare state, when the celebration of birthdays was largely confined to the wealthy, it was of little significance.
The husband’s occupation was recorded though until comparatively recently this was seldom done for the bride.
Sometimes, where the father of one of the couple was deceased, this is recorded, however, this is not always the case.
The residences of the both husband and wife at the time of the wedding were recorded and, from 1957, their intended place of residence after marriage, if within Eire.
Signatures of the witnesses can be interesting. Usually, witnesses were close relatives of the couple, often brothers or sisters.
WHAT THE DEATH CERTIFICATE TELLS US
The most important information about the deceased on the death certificate is:
Date and place of death
Full name
Age
Gender
Status – spinster, widow, bachelor, widower
Occupation
Cause of death
It is usually stated if the informant is a child of the deceased but otherwise the relationship is usually not mentioned
A Word of Caution
Many of the considerations that apply to birth and marriage certificates also apply to death certificates. Their accuracy depends on the reliability of the informant.
Where to Find the Records - In the Republic
The headquarters for the General Register Office (GRO) is at Convent Road, Roscommon. www.groireland.ie. The indexes may be searched at the GRO public search room, in the Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1 in person. These indexes are large books containing the page, volume number and year of marriage, death or birth as first registered. This information is necessary to obtain a copy of that entry. The fee to obtain a copy of each entry is €4. These copies are not certificates. You can also search the indexes online at http://pilot.familysearch.org
The page numbers of most indexes of births, marriages and deaths (though not all) are on microfilm in The Dublin City Library Archive, 138-144 Pearse St, Dublin 2, www.dublinheritage.ie. You will still need to go to the GRO office in Lower Abbey Street to obtain a copy of an entry.
If you know the exact details of a marriage or death (the same applies for births), you may apply to any local Superintendent Registrar’s office to obtain a certificate. The fee at present is €10 plus €1 postage. A list of local offices for the republic of Ireland may be found on the GRO website www.groireland.ie
and are listed under Local Registration.
The local Superintendent Registrar’s office in Dublin is at Joyce House, 8-11 Lombard St, Dublin 2. An application form may also be downloaded from the GRO website and posted with the appropriate fee to the GRO office in Roscommon.
In Northern Ireland
All Northern Ireland records from 1922 onwards are with the General Register Office in Belfast, www.groni.gov.uk. The original centralised records up to 1922 remain in Dublin.
You must arrange a time to visit to search the index and you may then order the certificate by post, telephone or email. The Office has computerized indexes for the North from 1845 and copies of death records from 1864.
Unusual Cases
What about those cases that are slightly unusual? What about ancestors who were normally resident in Ireland but married or died outside the country? (Remember, we are not talking here about Irish people who emigrated. Emigrants registered with their adopted country. We are dealing here with people who normally lived in Ireland and were temporarily away from home.
The Registrar General in Dublin has a number of records relating to such people.
Prior to 1922 Irish people abroad wishing to register a marriage or death did so with the GRO in London. You may search these records at both www.1837online.com and the Family History Centre in London.
The Dublin GRO maintains the following records covering a range of other unusual cases:
A register of all Irish-born people who died at sea between I January 1864 and 31 December 1921, and thereafter of Irish-born people other than those born in the North;
Registers of deaths of Irish-born people certified by British Consuls abroad, between the above dates;
A register of the marriages celebrated in Dublin by Rev J.F.G. Schulze, Minister of the German Protestant Church, Poolbeg Street, Dublin, from 1806 to 1837;
Registers under the Births, Deaths and Marriages (Army) Act, 1879;
A register of certain births and deaths outside the state and a register of certain Lourdes marriages.
There is a also searchable index for deaths since 1864 and one of marriages since 1845.
GRONI holds the following additional records:
Deaths at sea of all those born in Northern Ireland who died after 1 January 1922;
Deaths and marriages of men serving in the army and their dependents registered on or after 1 January 1927 under the Births, Marriages and Deaths (Army) Act 1879;
Deaths of Northern Ireland people registered by British consuls abroad on or after 1 January 1922;
Marriages of Northern Ireland people registered by British consuls abroad on or after 1 January 1923;
Deaths and marriages of Northern Ireland people registered by the British High Commissioner in Commonwealth countries on or after 1 January 1950;
Copies of certificates, with translations, relating to the marriages of people from Northern Ireland in certain Commonwealth
countries, according to the laws of these countries, without the presence of a British consular official;
Deaths of Northern Ireland people who died on war service between 1939 and 1948.
Contact Information:-
The General Register Office (GRO), 3rd Floor, Block 7, Irish Life Ctr, Lower Abbey St, Dublin 1.
Tel:- +353 1 8718000.:www.groireland.ie
General Register Office - Northern Ireland (GRONI) Oxford House, 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4HL. Tel:-028 9025 2000 web.: www.groni.gov.uk
Details of all the LDS Family History Centres are available online at www.familysearch.org
General Register Office www.gro.gov.uk. For copies of certificates contact Certificate Services Section, PO Box 2, Southport PR8 2JD. Tel.: 0845 603 7788 email.: certificate.service@gro.gsi.gov.uk
For similar Articles to this one, subscribe to Irish Roots.
See Issue No 69 for article on Birth Certificate
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