IT'S A CERT!

by Gordon Johnson

If there's one bit of family history information that almost everyone has, it is birth, marriage & death certificates. Yet most people have little understanding of the meaning of the various pieces of information recorded there, particularly on older certificates. This article refers to Scottish registration only.

Whilst today's Scottish certificates, like my grandson's birth certificate three years ago in Aberdeen, are clear and informative, with neatly labeled boxes for every item, older certificates failed to be so helpful, using abbreviations and terms that can baffle the newcomer.

Looking through my large collection of certificates, for I have long been accepted as the custodian of the older documentation in our family, as elder son, I have noted a few which might help you understand your own certificates.

My wife's birth certificate gives her full name, then under "Where and when born", it gives the year, month, and day of month (she won't let me tell you these), followed by "Dunrowan, Falkirk". The section for details of the father and mother and date & place of marriage read: Thomas Martin Young, medical practitioner [=doctor] (Usual Residence 50 Grahams Road, Falkirk), Eleanor Gray Young, m.s. Robertson, 1933 November 1, Glasgow."

Now, that means that while she was actually born at Dunrowan, Falkirk, "Usual Residence" tells where the family home is, if different from the actual place of birth. Even if she had been born in the next door neighbour's house, for example (if labour pains started early), then the actual place of birth, the neighbour's house, would have to be listed, and the family home given as "Usual Residence". With hospital births, you'll find, for example,  place of birth as "Forresterhill Hospital, Aberdeen" and U.R.:"21 Queens Road, Boddam", or similar.

Going back to my wife's birth, the mother's name: "Eleanor Gray Young m.s. Roberton" means she is married to the father, and her m.s.(Maiden Surname) was Roberton. If the child's parents are not married, she would appear as: "Eleanor Gray Roberton". So now you know! You can check out granny's birth certificate and see if she was illegitimate!

Indeed, some of the early certificate entries included the word "Illegitimate" to make it obvious. Terrible for the poor child to have that emblazoned on their birth certificate!

The last part is when and where the parents were married. That will be missing if the parents were not married to each other. Now here's a funny thing. My eldest uncle's birth certificate gives his parents' marriage; and the birth date is only about six months after they were married, proof that these upstanding pillars of the community that one knew as a child, these stern patriarchs of the family, had been just as naughty as today's young people in jumping the gun!

Marriage certificates can be even more informative. I recently copied a couple of 1855 certificates - that year has more information than any other year, as it was the first year of the registration system in Scotland, and the Registrar-General wanted the system to be as complete as possible. Unfortunately, the demand for detail drove the  local registrars mad, and harried the relatives who had to dredge up all the information, so from 1856 the amount of information was drastically reduced. In 1861 the detail was increased, after recognising that certain data was helpful.

"Usual Residence" appears on these certificates, for each of the parties, but in this case it was because one of the parties to a marriage may have been living away from home at the time of the wedding (usually the man). So one column gives their address, and another their Usual Residence (family home). This was particularly common in wartime.

This helps with tracking families. One entry, for a marriage at Dumfries, March 26th 1855, says of the parties: John Elliot, of Spur Inn, Dumfries. Usual Residence: Hawick, tells you where he is from. (In 1855 you also had to say give the details of your birth registration, which meant going to look up the church registers, but many people's birth had not been registered in the church!)

Another marriage certificate at Dumfries in 1855 gave the woman's name as: Maryann Ormston, address:Dumfries, U.R.:Bolton Le Moors, England, Age 25, spinster. Born and registered 20th July 1830 at Bury.

Now that is one helpful certificate! You get not just her family home in England, but where her birth is registered elsewhere.

Curiously enough, she is marrying a man with the surname Riddick, and her mother's maiden name on the certificate is also Riddick, so I wouldn't be surprised to discover that they were cousins, and the families had moved apart through work. Remember, only in 1855 do you get this extra detail. In other years since, you will only get the man and woman's age and their parents names.

Death certificates are the most useful of the lot, in that they can take you much further back before 1855, as the church registers that you have to depend on are normally bereft of any information except the names of people and their occupations. Death certificates tell you where and when the person died, and a cause of death. That cause can be a pointer to local newspaper obituaries or stories, if the death was an accident or sudden. If the death was criminal, there may also be reports of a subsequent trial.

It gives you also the deceased's age and parents, and the informant. You are dependent for accurate information on the informant - the person who reported the death to the registrar, so look closely at that. If it is a close relative, most of the data will be accurate, but if a neighbour, grandson, or son-in- law, the details may be guesswork, and should be viewed with extreme caution.

Often wrong in death certificates is the deceased's age, in the times when no birth certificate was available for the old person. The age can be wrong by up to ten years! So have another look at the family certificates, and see what you find. I suggest you also check your own birth certificate, as you may get an unexpected surprise - you may not have been born where you lived as a child!