tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post8343141641436796799..comments2024-03-26T11:22:41.940-07:00Comments on Genea-Musings: Follow-Up Friday - in which I Confess to Using Derivative SourcesRandy Seaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17477703429102065294noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-31505888476180718422012-01-21T07:49:59.858-08:002012-01-21T07:49:59.858-08:00Something that is even sillier about the situation...Something that is even sillier about the situation in England and Wales about the access to registers is the situation with marriage registers. <br /><br />What I said about the registers themselves not being open to public inspection is perfectly true about birth, death, civil partnership and adoption registers. The stillbirth registers are even more tightly controlled and there is not even an index published for them. However it is not true for certain copies if some marriage indexes.<br /><br />If a marriage takes place in a civil venue such as a register office or a hotel registered to perform marriages then the registers are not available for public inspection. If a marriage takes place in an ecclesiastical venue then very often the copy of the registers in the venue is available for public inspection. Furthermore for these sort of venues said registers are also often eventually deposited in local record offices. However the copies of the same registers sent to the local registrar and by them onto the GRO are not open for public inspection because according to the GRO it is "illegal". To see how many marriage registers are actually available for public inspection consider the recent collections of parish registers and non-conformist registers made available by Ancestry for the London area and for the counties of Dorset, Warwickshire (less Birmingham), West Yorkshire and the Liverpool area and then extrapolate that situation to the whole of England and Wales.<br /><br />Even if the register has not been deposited at the local record office and is still at the church in question, if that church is Anglican it can be inspected upon payment of a fee as determined by the General Synod in statute.<br /><br />It is a ludicrous situation to have all birth and death registers and a significant proportion of marriage registers locked away from public view with information in them only obtainable upon payment of a fee for a certificate. Very rarely is it necessary for genealogists to have certificates for their work, with the most common reason being work with things like tracking down relatives for probate cases or intestate estates. The Scottish situation is much preferable in this case where certificates can be obtained in much the same way as in England and Wales, but where images of the registers themselves are available after statutory periods there for privacy have expired. In the case of Scotland it is 100 years for births, 75 years for marriages and 50 years for deaths. The only problem with Scotland is that the index itself is not available for free and is instead locked behind a paywall at the Scotlandspeople website.<br /><br />The situation in certain US states is even more ludicrous with showboating legislators locking things away for spurious "privacy" reasons.David Newtonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-23919294926032201952012-01-20T16:27:28.391-08:002012-01-20T16:27:28.391-08:00Very true about the UK and the indexes there. They...Very true about the UK and the indexes there. They are actually an invaluable source of information. Obviously nothing beats a certificate of birth or marriage but it can help rule out many pretenders and confirm your choice.Richard Brashierhttp://www.familytreeservice.co.uknoreply@blogger.com