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Irish Genealogical Research | Dwight Radford

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Who Performed the Marriage for Your Ancestors?

1 Dec By

Often we neglect an important piece of information on a marriage record which can be utilized to further our research goals. This is the name of the person who married the couple. There are several reasons why this is important. I will offer a few examples.

J. P. Marriage: If a Justice of the Peace (J. P.) performed the marriage, then my assumption is they went down to the courthouse and the ceremony occurred in the J. P.’s Office. That means a church marriage probably did not occur. While this is not unusual in itself, it does raise some questions. Why would a Catholic couple be married by a J. P. if there was a resident priest? My first guess would be it was a mixed marriage, with one party being non-Catholic, and a church dispensation could not be obtained for whatever reason. Knowing one party was not Catholic is important. Another reason may be the couple was not religious or have a denomination they leaned toward. Again, that could be an important clue, steering your search away from church registers.

M. G. Marriage: When a Minister of the Gospel (M. G.) marries a couple; that in itself has to be taken with some care. What is an M. G. anyway? Don’t assume the clerk did not classify a Catholic priest as an M. G. Depending on the civil clerk, an M. G. may be the same as a P. P. (Parish Priest). The name of the M. G. is important.

Identifying a Church: If you don’t know what church your ancestors attended, then you can learn this by researching the M. G.. This can be accomplished through directories, published histories, or through an Internet search. This applies equally for both Catholics and Protestants. Once you know what congregation, parish or denomination, the M. G. served; then you can proceed to search the correct church registers.

Although the name of the person performing the marriage may seem unimportant, if you do not know the name of a congregation or even denomination, this is the best way to identify that.

If you would like professional help with your family history call us at: 385-214-0925.

 

 

 

 

British Columbia Death Registrations (1872-1986)

22 Sep By Leave a Comment

A valuable collection for researching Irish immigrants is the “British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986.” This collection, on FamilySearch, begins in 1872 when registration began. All you have to do is put in the word “Ireland” for the birth place, and leave the name blank, to get an idea as to how many Irish were in the province.

Information on the Death Form

The death forms vary in information provided. Much depends on the time period, and what was required for a particular death. They were submitted by district registrars, and then registered by the registrar or director of Vital Statistics. The death records can include a supporting “Medical Certificate of Death,” which concerns physician or coroner information. However, this medical information was not regularly included until 1896, and not for every death until 1912. Concerning a still birth, be aware, these may have been registered as a birth a death or both.

Typically, a certificate may include all or part of the following information

  • Name, age and gender
  • Date and place of death
  • Date and place of birth
  • Cause of death
  • Marital status
  • Parent’s names
  • Name of spouse
  • Name of physician
  • Registration district name or number
  • Date and number of registration
  • Religious affiliation

How Complete are the Records?

As with civil registration anywhere, the early years can prove frustrating for the family historian. The death registers are no different in British Columbia. You often will not find a registered death because people lived great distances from the registry offices and had very little if any communication with cities and towns.

The FamilySearch Database

When using the FamilySearch database, remember there are some interesting ways to manipulate the data. You always have to be aware of spelling variations, so test several spellings such as Byrne, Bierne, Burns and then put an “O” in front. This will help you not miss anything. Another strategy would be to use the “Parent” search or the “Spouse” search. This allows you to sometimes find missing people or entries which have been incorrectly indexed.

This is an excellent database from which you can browse the 1,113,866 images or utilize the index to the 898,889 indexed records (as of 9 May 2014).

If you would like professional help with your Canadian ancestry, call us at: 385-214-0925.

Female Surnames in the Records

8 Apr By Leave a Comment

One of my favorite Irish research quirks concerns when a woman’s maiden name isused in the records, and when her married name is used. In historic Ireland, two systems were in place. The first was the English civil government system. Under this system, women were listed by married names, in tax, land and in probates. The second system was Roman Catholic. In this record keeping, women were supposed to be listed under their maiden names. Technically you should see the mother and any female godparents under their maiden names.

However, the way the church and state were supposed to keep the records, and the way the people on the ground actually kept them can be two different things. Roman Catholic records can be the toughest to sort through.

If you see Patrick Byrne and Mary Byrne as godparents at a baptism, then do not assume they are husband and wife. They might be, but they may also be siblings, cousins or Mary’s maiden name may actually be Byrne. If you see “Patrick and Mary Byrne” as godparents, it’s more complicated. Don’t just assume they were husband and wife. The priest may have been showing Mary’s maiden name was Byrne. To address this, I will look for a Patrick Byrne and Mary having children christened in the parish, and see if her maiden name was Byrne.

These are just suggestions. You may have to develop your own research strategy. That’s a very important part of research.

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