ESSEX-UK-L Archives

From: "JFHH" <>
Subject: Re: [Ess] REGISTER ENTRIES & CERTIFICATES [wasRe:BirthBaptismMarriage William Hyde KNAPP]
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:08:27 +0100
References: <20080823191515.22168@web1.nyc1.bluetie.com><9EEB79A3EBAF4F4982E1FAA44E8AC2DD@446uj><33A530C9DE0D4732AC22622979E855DC@youra97ec67e86><001d01c905ab$97653a70$0401010a@nz>

Hello Francis,
----- Original Message ----- From: "Francis Payne" <>
> Very interesting post, John. Do you know which offices do the same as GRO,
> so you do get to see the actual signatures ?
> > Francis> Auckland, NZ
Sadly, not, tho' other listers might: but I thinkl it is very few.
Of course, if it is a church wedding and the registers have been microfilmed by the LDS or by the
local records/archives officve [if the church registers have been transferred there], the print form
the miocroform *will" be a facsimile of the actual entry, with signatures.
Regards
John

>
>>
>> Just a reminder that all General Register Office certificates,whether
>> handwritten, typewritten or
>> incorporating a facsimile of the entry in the quarterly return are
>> certified copies of the certified
>> copy which is the quarterly return.
>> If they are the facsimile type, the historic looking handwriting is that
>> of the Registrar or church
>> cleric or clerk who made the quarterly copies to send to the Registrar
>> General at the end of the
>> quarter in which the event took place..
>> The only exceptions are sometimes found in a GRO marriage certificates,
>> where the clergyman, at the
>> time of the wedding, got the couple and the witnesses [contrary to the
>> official Advice to Clergy] to
>> sign the quarterly copies as well as the register entries.
>>
>> Certificates from a local Register Office (and from churches) , on the
>> other hand, are certified
>> copies of the actual entries in the register, which means that if the
>> office is one of the very few
>> that issue certificates by a similar facsimile process to the GRO, then
>> one *does* see the actual
>> signatures on the actual register entry.
>> Just as mistakes can be made in producing a transcription type certificate
>> from a local Register
>> Office, so did mistakes occasionally occur in producing the quarterly
>> copies sent to the G.R.O.,
>> and in producing the GRO Indexes.
>>
>> Which is why genealogists and family historians were keen that any new
>> index produced by the GRO
>> should be made from the original register entries held locally, and not
>> the quarterly copies held by
>> the GRO.
>> The plea was not heard, and the current digitization process, which has
>> now ground to a halt, was of
>> the GRO returns.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> John Henley
>> researching (and not finding much time for - but always very glad to hear
>> of any)
>> HENLEY, PARKER, RAPER, [London/Middlesex]
>> DURDEN, PRENTICE [Essex/London/ Woolwich] ,
>> SECKER, [Suffolk, London/Middlesex]
>> ROLFE, (O)RAFFERTY, EVANS, PARSONS, SYMONDS [ Berks/Hants/Wilts]
>> HILL [IN Staffs/Cambs/Berks]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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• Re: [Ess] REGISTER ENTRIES & CERTIFICATES [wasRe:BirthBaptismMarriage William Hyde KNAPP] by "JFHH" <>