Help needed re Marriage Registration

[LadyEloise]

Please help.
I am looking up a Charles F Duft who was married in 1873 between October and December
On Ancestry all it gives me is his name and Vol 8 d page 820 on the English and Wales Civil Registration - marriages registered.
Is it possible to access Volume 8d page 820 ?
It would be great to see who he is marrying etc.
I am new to searching and am floundering.
Thank you.

[SabrinaThwaite]

The GRO page from FreeBMD shows Charles Frederick W Duft married in Q4 1873 in Salford but doesn’t give the spouse name.

You can use FreeBMD to search for all the names that married in a particular quarter in a registration district and then check against names listed on censuses.

On the 1881 census CWF Duft’s wife’s name is Eva Elizabeth - there was an Eva Elizabeth Brooke that marries in Salford in Q4 1873 that that would be a good lead to follow.

[LadyEloise]

Thank you.
That is very helpful @SabrinaThwaite.
Why is it that you can see some marriage certificates, no problem, on Ancestry, but others you can't.
Charles Duft is interesting as he is a naturalised British citizen but originally came from Hanover.
I'd love to know his backstory.

[SabrinaThwaite]

I don’t know if all parish records have been digitised yet?

[LadyEloise]

If it is Civil registration does that mean they didn't get married in a church ?

[SabrinaThwaite]

Not necessarily. The Clandestine Marriage Act 1753 meant that marriages had to take place in a church or chapel (before this date the records are quite haphazard) but in 1836 the Marriage Act allowed marriages in registry offices and Catholic or non-conformist churches as well.

From mid 1837 all births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales had to be formally registered and the records were collated by the GRO.

[autumnboys]

You can order the certificate from the GRO with those details. I’ve been looking at family history recently and ordered quite a few certificates that way. Don’t order them through Ancestry, they charge a premium for doing it.

[LadyEloise]

Thank you

[coldgraybrix]

All marriages are registered at the General Register Office, whether they took place in a church, or anywhere else. You need to send away for the marriage certificate - not only will that tell who he married and where, but their addresses, their fathers' names and occupations, the names of witnesses, and other details too. All that information will be useful as you continue your research.

[LadyEloise]

Thank you

[Saker]

I would second looking at the censuses. You should be able to find out quite a lot of information from those as to where he lived, his family etc. It's good practice to order the marriage certificate but can get pricey so sometimes I try to find out as much as I can from other sources first.

[ivykaty44]

Why is it that you can see some marriage certificates, no problem, on Ancestry, but others you can't.

The general register office started recording births, marriages and deaths in 1837 and this would be the start of marriages in a register office along with churches. This is government records.

So if you got married in a church then the vicar every quarter gave the other certificates to the local register office and they kept a copy and sent on another copy to the general register office that was, at the time in London at Somerset house (now in Southport)

The Mormons came to UK during the 1930s and 50s and they photographed all the parish records they could, some vicars were obliging and others weren't. They did this for their own religious reasons. They then set up family search online and have many records transcribed to search. The films they made have been used by ancestry and uploaded digital and thus only some marriages are available online and others aren't. Some archives have done deals with ancestry so may have also let the company use their films of marriages from parish registers.

So this is why the records on ancestry are not complete and some baptism and marriages will be on their site and others are missing

When you look at the records with just the names of the bride and groom - this is the General Register Office Index - so you can order the copy certificate from the GRO 0300 123 1837 is their telephone number to order and pay - you pay for the admin cost of searching the millions of certificates and making a copy.

[SirVixofVixHall]

www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BMD%2FM%2F1873%2F4%2FAZ%2F000093%2F157
Here you are OP. Findmypast is better for marriages than ancestry.

[MollyButton]

Which is better out of FMP and Ancestry depends on where in the country. You can't see any marriage certificates on either, what you can see sometimes are the entries in the Parish Register, or the Bishops copy of the Register (each year the Bishop gets a copy of all the registered entries in his diocese). Occasionally there are Catholic registers or non- conformist too.
The information may be similar between the marriage certificate and the parish register but they are not the same thing.

[ivykaty44]

You can't see any marriage certificates on either, what you can see sometimes are the entries in the Parish Register,

After 1837 the marriages in the parish registers are marriage certificates

[FoolsAssassin]

On the 1881 census Sabrina has linked to there is a Mary Brookes in the house hold who is listed as an in-lawmand likely to be Eva Elizabeth Brooke’s Mother and backs up that he married Eva Elizabeth Brookes - Both were married in October .

[FoolsAssassin]

Also he is listed as second beneficiary in Mary Brooke’s will, the main beneficiary is Eva Elizabeth Duft.

[FoolsAssassin]

On the 1861 census Eva is with her parents and sibling .

[ivykaty44]

In - law could mean step child in a census during the 19c rather that how we think of an in- law today

[FoolsAssassin]

Census transcript says she is Mother in law to head of house ie. Charles Duft and she is 65 so looking likely think most likely to be Eva Elizabeth’s Mother in this case - tying in with the marriage record found for Eva Elizabeth Brooke in same place and quarter as Charles’s marriage plus the will beneficiaries points to this too.

I could be totally wrong though !

[LadyEloise]

Thank you