Family History Research- Births,
Deaths and Marriages
Most members
of the Society would have viewed the television series “Who do
you think you are”. From a family historian’s point of view
this program demonstrates a good approach to research; and
that is, research starts with the celebrity and proceeds back
in time. The other aspect that plays a significant part is the
obtaining of information relating to births, deaths and
marriages of the celebrity’s
ancestors.
This I emphasised in my general article on
research in last year’s Clach A' Choilich (click here
to view), and I will repeat one point I made as an
introduction to this article. I recommend you obtain
certificates or details of all births, deaths and marriages
for every direct ancestor as far back as
possible.
Civil Registration or vital
records
Today, most countries have a civil registration
process to record births, deaths
and marriages. Although many people continue to be baptised,
married and buried in accordance with their religion, civil
ceremonies have become popular. This means civil and church
events are separately recorded. Other recordings of births,
deaths and marriages can be found in bibles, newspapers,
probate records and other sources. Cemetery records can be a
source too.
So if you are just starting to research your
family history, first check to see what documents relating to
births, deaths and marriages are held within your family. You
might find that your parents have their birth and marriage
certificates and the family bible. And if you don’t have your
own birth certificate, apply for a full
extract.
Generally you can research back in time by
obtaining a birth certificate which should provide enough
information to obtain the marriage certificate of the parents,
and that certificate should reveal sufficient information to
obtain their birth certificates; and so on back to the start
of civil registration. Sometimes certificates may not have
sufficient information or the information is wrong. This is
where information on a death certificate may help; or from a
family bible.
There are other research techniques that can be used to
overcome a lack of information, such as the use of census
returns. Also there is the issue of adoption. These are
separate topics for the future, but if you want to learn more
now, obtain a good book on family history research (Book
List), or read about researching by visiting such
web sites as www.familysearch.org.
The way registration occurs can be different in
each country as can be the information content. For example,
there is one central process in New Zealand. In Australia,
United States and Canada each State, Province or Territory
maintains their own registration process, while in the United
Kingdom, England and Wales is one system, with Scotland and
Northern Ireland having separate systems. Also for most
countries registration is compulsory.
In relation to information content each
administration can be different, for example, each Australian
State and Territory operates their own system. Most
certificates in Australia contain a good deal of information,
except for South Australia where the details recorded are the
same as for England and Wales. In the United States, where it
is called vital records, States and Territories can have a
process for births and deaths, and a different process for
marriages. Again registration in Canada is called vital
records and there are online indexes.
In order to find a particular record, indexes
have been maintained by the civil authorities. In some
countries, including Scotland and England, these indexes have
been available to the public while in other countries the
indexes have only been made available during the past 30
years. The latest development is that indexes are becoming
available to search on the internet. Researchers should
appreciate the information content in these indexes can be different; for
example some give the date and others just the
year.
NSW On Line Death Index
For some countries, privacy concerns limit the
years the public can search the indexes. For example, in New
South Wales you cannot search the online indexes for a birth
after 1909, a death after 1979 and a marriage after 1959.
France
first introduced civil registration in 1790, England
introduced registration from 1 July 1837, Scotland from 1
January 1856, Australia various years from 1837, New Zealand
various years from 1848, Canada, South Africa and USA various
years in late 1800s and early 1900s.
What does this mean? It means that for each
country you are researching, you should be aware of the
history of their civil registration process and learn how to
search their indexes and apply for a certificate. Generally
you will now be able to find this information on the web site
of each registration authority. Use your search engine to find
each relevant web site.
As examples, let us have a look at the
information content of registrations in Scotland. When
introduced in 1855, much information was required to be
recorded. This caused many complaints and requirements were
reduced from 1st January 1856.
The following
entries relate to my Thom ancestors:
Birth extracted from the Registry of
Births for the Middle District of Old Monkland in the County
of Lanark:
No
24
Name & surname
Robert
Thom
Where
& when born
1860
December Twenty-eight 5ho. 30m. p.m., Thom’s Land,
Dundyvan Road.
Sex
Male
Name,
Surname, and Rank or Profession of
Father
Robert
Thom, Engine keeper
Name and Maiden Surname
of
Mother
Margaret
Thom m.s. Fleming
Date and Place of
Marriage
1857
February 6th, Baillieston, Old
Monkland
Signature and Qualification
of
Informant
Robert
Thom father present
Where
and when registered
1861
January 15th at Old Monkland
Signature
of Registrar
James
Burdon
Click here to see a photographs of some documents.
Marriage extracted
from the Register of Marriages, for the Western District of
Old Monkland in the County of Lanark:
No
3
When, where and how
married
On
the Sixth of February 1857 at Baillieston, Marriage
(after Banns) was solemnized between us according to the
Forms of the Church of Scotland
Signature of Parties
Robert Thom, Margaret
Fleming
Age
22, 21
Residence
Dundyvan,
Bathgate
Rank
or Profession, and Condition
Engine keeper (Bachelor),
Domestic
Servant (Spinster)
Name,
Surname, and Rank or Profession of
Father
Robert Thom, Pithead Man (deceased)
Alexander
Fleming, Plow-man (deceased)
Name and Maiden Surname
of
Mother
Agnes Thom m.n. Whitelaw,
Janet
Fleming m.n. Martin
Officiating Minister
Hugh
Ramsay, Minister of Baillieston
Witnesses
John
Black, James
Fleming
Death extracted from the
Registry of Deaths, for Coatbridge in the County of
Lanark:
Name
Robert
Thom
When, where died
27
July 1897, No 10 Pit, Rosehall, Coatbridge
Age
62 Years
Occupation
Engine
keeper
Usual Residence
6, School
Street, Coatbridge
Cause
of death
Bronchitis, emphysema and
cardiosyncope.
Post
mortem performed by David Kirkhope M
D
Marriage
1st,
Margaret Fleming
2nd,
Catherine Devitt
Father
Robert Thom, pitheadman,
deceased
Mother
Agnes Leonard, previously Thom,
maiden
surname
Whitelaw,
deceased
Informant
W Thom, son, Penders Row,
Baillieston
Church
Records
Before civil registration only churches recorded
births/baptisms, deaths/burials and marriages, in their parish
registers. Researching these registers in any country can be a
difficult challenge as they are
separately maintained, even today, by each parish for each
religion. Much has been written about, establishing in which
town your ancestors lived, and where today you can find a
particular parish register.
Hence
much work has been done to find and separately record these
records so as to make it easier for researchers. Many UK
parish registers have been published in book form. A huge
project has been conducted by the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in copying on microfilms as many parish
registers as possible in many countries. To assist Church
members, and the general public, to access these films, the
Church has created the International Genealogical Index, and
you can access this index by going to their web site at www.familysearch.org.
Ministers were only required to record information
about the event and the person(s) involved. Therefore for a
baptism you may only find the place of baptism, the date of
the ceremony, the child’s name and the minister’s name. In
some registers you may find the parent’s names. Similar
details are recorded for a burial and marriage.
A Parish Register
This means it may be difficult or
impossible to establish who are your ancestors as even an
unusual surname can become common in a parish where your
ancestor originated. Again I recommend you find out how to
research parish records in the country of your
ancestors.
As an example, English church registers start in about
the mid 1500s while in Scotland around 1700. Here are some
parish register extracts relating to my Thom ancestors:
Baptism
Old
Parochial registers of Old Monkland - December 2nd 1803,
Robert son of Robert Thom, weaver, Eastern Langlone and Helen
Dalziel, baptised at Examine.
Marriage
Old parochial registers of Old Monkland - November 4th,
1832, Robert Thom and Agnes Whitlaw both in this
parish.
Burial
Old parochial registers of Bathgate - No 110, Alexander
Fleming, labourer, age 36, 9th November 1847,
endocarditis.
Church of Scotland parish registers have been lodged
with the General Register Office in Edinburgh, and these
records have been indexed. Researching Scottish registers are
much easier than English registers, as you can access these
indexes online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
Also, recently many Scottish Roman Catholic registers have
been indexed and included on this site. You can read
information about these records too.
Some administrations will issue details from church
registers as a certificate but others you will need to extract
the information yourself or engage a professional researcher
to carry out the work.
Finally I repeat that it is essential to read about how
these records are maintained in each country where your
research takes you.
Most members
of the Society would have viewed the television series “Who do
you think you are”. From a family historian’s point of view
this program demonstrates a good approach to research; and
that is, research starts with the celebrity and proceeds back
in time. The other aspect that plays a significant part is the
obtaining of information relating to births, deaths and
marriages of the celebrity’s
ancestors.
