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Every birth, marriage and death is recorded at a local Registry Office and a certificate is produced to confirm the details of each event, although the information on each type of certificate varies according to the country it was registered in. Each country has a centralized registration index arranged chronologically so you can research all of your ancestors from one place regardless of their geographic spread. It is essential to have evidence of at least each person’s birth and marriage on your tree. Even if you are starting with yourself, make sure you can locate your birth certificate and compare it with your parents’ marriage certificate to ensure all the names, occupations and dates match up.

This process should be repeated for every person on your tree. For example, if you have a birth certificate for Mary King, born in 1912 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, which told you that her father was Herbert King, a railway fireman, and her mother was called Thirza King, formerly Payling, then you would expect her parents’ marriage certificate to be dated prior to 1912 and contain similar details. This marriage certificate would then tell you Thirza’s father’s name and that of Herbert’s and their occupations, giving you new information to work with. You would also expect Mary King’s own marriage certificate to confirm her year of birth, father’s name and occupation.

Death certificates are of less genealogical use than birth and marriage certificates because they tend to only really give information about the deceased individual. That is not to say it isn’t worthwhile ordering death certificates. They can tell us the deceased person’s age, which enables you to establish when they were born if you have nothing else to work from. Death certificates can be more helpful for ancestors who died shortly after the introduction of civil registration, because it will be more difficult to find information about them from other records. Apart from details about the cause of death, notes given on death certificates can lead you to other sources by giving details about a coroner’s inquest that might have taken place. If you know when and where an ancestor died (which will be recorded on the certificate) it also makes the hunt for a will and burial record easier.

Look out for the names of witnesses and informants on civil registration certificates. These people are often close family members and if you know their names, even if you are not yet sure exactly how they are related, you may be able to identify your ancestors in other documents, such as household census returns.