Marriage Certificate 1
We must look at the details of the marriage certificate for Nicholas Clemens and Bridget Davis as it illustrates the wealth of information that we can gain from a certificate.
The process of obtaining a certificate or document is easy.  The Digger software will print an application form with the relevant details automatically inserted on the form, especially the names of the parties, the event and the registration number of the event.  The user fills out the remainder of the form and posts it to the Registry along with the payment or a credit card number.  The certified copy of the certificate or document is returned in due course.  Most likely it will be an A3 photocopy in landscape format.  The example below has been scanned and re-formatted to portrait so that it will fit within the screen page.  Unfortunately, photocopies are often not very clear but we hope that sufficient detail has been retained for our purpose.
The marriage certificate, illustrated below,  provides many important details for a family tree:

 

Nicholas

Bridget
When Married: July 27 1867 July 27 1867
Where Married: Morses Creek Morses Creek
Name and Surname of Parties: Nicholas Clemens Bridget Davis
Condition of the Parties: Bachelor Spinster
Birthplace: Cornwall Limerick
Rank or Profession: Miner Servant
Age: 34 19
Residence Present: Harrietville Harrietville
Residence Usual: Harrietville Harrietville
Parent's Names (Mother's Maiden Name): James Clemens
Grace Row		 John Davis
Johanna Hogan
Father's Rank or Profession: Miner Farmer
Other facts: Married by Ralph Brown a Wesleyan Minister;  Fred Clarke was Bridget's guardian; married by License according to the Rites of the Wesleyan Church; the witnesses were: Johnson Stephens and John Stephens (notice his mark X).
Fig 3.10  Marriage Certificate for Nicholas Clemens and Bridget Davis
As you can see, a marriage certificate offers a lot more information than the results from a CD index .  For example we gain valuable information about the birthplace and the parents of both parties. Both pieces of information enable a family tree to start growing back a generation.  The appropriate index for the birthplace can be researched once the place and the parent name is known.  The age of both parties provides clues to the date of their birth in respective places; valuable data when searching indexes for these places.  Now let's look at the information that we can obtain from a birth registration.   [ Click here to continue ].
 
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