Читать книгу Collins Tracing Your Scottish Family History - Ryan Tubridy, Anthony Adolph - Страница 53

Until 1929 (when the minimum age was raised to 16), boys could marry at 14 and girls at 12 provided they had parental consent. Marriages of such young people were rare, but they really did happen. Many marriage searches fail simply because people don’t search back far enough. If your female ancestor was born in 1850, then she could have married as early as 1862.

The old indexes showed males and females separately, though this is irrelevant when using the computerized indexes. The indexes show:

 name of person marrying.

 from 1929, the index reference to one party states the surname of the spouse too. In addition, between 1855 and 1863, brides are indexed under both their maiden name and their new married one.

 registration district and reference number, that can be used for cross-referencing pre-1929.

The marriage records always show:

 names of bride and groom.

 occupations of both parties.

 whether single, widow(er)ed or divorced.

 ages of both parties. If there was a large age gap between the two parties, it was not unknown for one or both to lessen the difference by lying.

 names and sometimes addresses of witnesses.

A certificate, issued in 1970, for the 1935 marriage of Frederick Crowley and Lillian Watt (courtesy of Mrs Moira Crowley).

 names of parents of both parties, including maiden name of mothers. If a parent had died, the word ‘deceased’ will usually be added. Married mothers are shown with both married and maiden names (‘M.S.’ means ‘maiden surname’). If the person marrying was illegitimate, they might just state their mother’s name, but many concealed the fact by making up a father’s name and claiming that their mother was married to him.

 name and denomination of the minister. If the marriage had been performed irregularly, but then registered with a sheriff, then details of the sheriff’s warrant will be given here.

 in 1855 alone, the records also identified whether either party had been married before and, if so, how many children had been produced, and of these how many were still alive. Also, the date and place of birth of the bride and groom were given, and whether these births had been registered. These details were abandoned in 1856, but the birthplace of each party was restored in 1972.