In order to grow your family tree you will obviously need to trace marriages.

The best way of researching marriages since 1837 is through locating the certificates. Since that date every marriage has been registered by the Registrar General. A copy is kept at the local office and another one held centrally.

Nowadays, by far the easiest way of locating a certificate is via the internet on the FreeBMD website. Beware though, coverage is not yet one hundred percent complete, but full details are given on the website http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/
Once you have located a possible marriage you can apply for the certificate on-line via the link: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

A marriage certificate is a goldmine for genealogists. It gives the name of bride and groom; the date and place of marriage; the groom's occupation along with the names of both fathers and their occupations. It also gives the parties' ages, but, if over 21, the age is usually given as 'full'. Up to the age of 20 the parties are described as 'minors'. Sometimes (but not always) it will indicate if one of the parties' fathers has died with the word 'deceased' under the name. If the father's name is different to the bride or groom, it could indicate illegitimacy or remarriage, or in more recent times that the father was a foster/adoptive parent.

On many early certifcates the parties to the marriage would either sign or, if illiterate, write an X (their 'mark.') However, the certificates rarely contain original signatures - these being on the civil/church registers themselves.

When searching for a marriage do not think that the marriage would take place at least nine months before the first-born - in the mid 19th century around one third of all brides were pregnant when they got married.

A useful site to learn about the whereabouts and use of birth/marriage/death certificates is: http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/indexbd.htm This site aims to help people tracing their family history by explaining the usage of the different entries on certificates. The entries on the certificate and their interpretation has changed over the years and the site gives some useful information on the registration practices in force at the time.

Searching for missing marriages can sometimes more easily be done from nineteenth century records when you can cross reference your data with the census records - another great source of information - more of which in a later blog.

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