Marriage certificates are among the best records when you’re searching for your family’s roots.

Among vital records (birth, marriage, and death certificates), marriage certificates often provide the most accurate information.

Birth information may be given when the happy parents are exhausted, elated, and eager to get back to their new baby.  They often decide that the certificate is “good enough” and don’t proofread it closely.

Death information is given when the family is distraught with grief.  As a result, it can be badly flawed.

By contrast, marriage certificates are often filed after the ceremony, by a priest or minister who has time to check the details, and a familiarity with the families.

The following information can be on marriage certificates:

• The bride’s name, and her parents’ names.
• The same information about the groom.
• Where the bride and groom were living, prior to the marriage.
• When and where the bride and groom were born.
• For a religious ceremony: The church where the couple were married, and the name of the officiating priest, minister or rabbi.  (The name of the church tells you where to look for the church’s own records about the bride, groom, and their families.)
• Witnesses (usually at least two) to the marriage.  They’re often friends or family members; this information can provide new family lines to research.  (Note: When asking to see marriage certificates, if you have a choice of “short form” or “long form,” ask for the longer form.  It’s more likely to list witnesses.)
• Information about prior marriages by the bride and/or groom.  (Those marriage certificates can give you additional insights and information.)

Additional information can appear on marriage certificates.  This is another reason to always ask for the “long form” if you aren’t able to see original marriage certificates (or photos/scans of them.)  It’s always a bonus for research.

When you’re looking for your Irish roots, it’s easy to skip marriage certificates.  Often, they simply verify information from birth and death certificates.

However, when a marriage certificate provides “family history gold” — such as an unknown sibling or cousin as a witness — they’re well worth the time it takes to find and study them.

Photo credit: Wedding rings photo by l4red0, Poland

Death certificates may seem morbid. However, they’re also one of the first records genealogists check.

Death certificates can tell you:

• The person’s full name, and where they lived when they died. (Death certificates sometimes show different addresses from what appears on census records.)
• Where the person died. (My maternal great-grandfather died at his sister-in-law’s home in another state.  I didn’t have her location before, so his death certificate opened an entirely different line of research.)
• The cause of death. Death certificates are especially useful if you’re tracking health issues in a family. They often tell you what killed the person, as well as any related health conditions.  Death certificates’ information can also add insights, if the death was occupation-specific.
• The person’s date and place of birth.  This can help you locate the birth certificate, and take you back another generation.
• The person’s parents’ names, and sometimes where they lived or were born.  This may be new information, or confirm your other research.
• The attending doctor. His office — or the office that inherited his records — and/or the hospital may provide more insights.
• Witnesses.  Sometimes, death certificates are signed by witnesses.  Sometimes, they’re discovered to be relatives, or another source of information.
• Burial and/or funeral home information.  These can lead to even more facts about the person, including funeral home records, cemetery archival papers, as well as the information on the person’s headstone.

In addition, death certificates can help you find newspaper obituaries and relevant church records about the person.

Every record and piece of paper can tell you a little bit more.

However…

Remember that death is often a terrible time for those who have to provide the death certificate information.  That can lead to errors as the distraught person’s memories may be incorrect, due to the level of grief.

In addition, trying to make the process easier, funeral homes often fill in death certificates with what they think is the correct information.  When my mom passed away in 2010, the funeral home provided us with a draft of the death record, and it contained several errors.

Except that I’m mindful of genealogical records, I might have decided the certificate was “good enough” and not bothered to insist on corrections.

So, never trust a single information source like death certificates.  However, you’ll always find useful data on any death certificate.

That data will lead you to other resources, and that’s the most important reason to start with death certificates.

For a list of important, basic certificates you’ll use, see my article, Beginners – Discover your Irish Roots.