Family Historian User Group

Now here's the thing, the marriage of my 2x Great Grandfather & Great Grandmother, Joseph Allen & Sarah Hunt took place in Alfreton, Derbyshire on the 24th September 1837 (the 3rd Qtr). Alfreton was a sub-district of Belper until 1968. FreeBMD has the event taking place in the District of Belper, whereas Family Search describes the Event Place as Alfreton. It's an old argument I know, but how should this be entered in Family Historian.

Both, in and of themselves are correct, and I would like to record them both. I feel sure that it is possible in FH, but I have forgotten how. Can someone enlighten me?

Regards,

Alan

District of Belper was the district where the event was registered.

Alfreton was a sub-district within the District of Belper, and also a parish. If you have details of the marriage, I'd record Alfreton as the Place for the event and add a note that the marriage was registered in Belper.

I wouldn't record a separate Marriage event (Place: Alfreton) and a Registration event (Place: Belper) because (for marriages only) the registration and the event took place at the same time (the registration was either done by a registrar in attendance at the marriage, or by the parish incumbent). For births and deaths the event and the registration of the event were always separate.

It is something of a personal choice, but the key point is to be consistent for all facts.

Typically for all BMD events post 1837 in UK you may first find the GRO Index that only gives the Registration District, so that is all you can record as the Place.

When you obtain the Certificate it gives more details, and the Place can be updated with where the event actually took place.

The full details of both where the event happened and where it was registered are recorded in the Source Citation transcript Text From Source along with the Media image. So both are documented, whichever one you put in the event Place field.

BTW: As I discovered recently, although England & Wales Marriages are registered coincident with the ceremony, in Scotland they are registered separately, just like Births & Deaths.

tatewise wrote: Typically for all BMD events post 1837 in UK you may first find the GRO Index

Mike, FYI that's another point where Scotland is different. Statutory registration of BMDs didn't start in Scotland until 1855.

AlanFlint wrote:... Alfreton was a sub-district of Belper until 1968. FreeBMD has the event taking place in the District of Belper, whereas Family Search describes the Event Place as Alfreton. ...

The only thing that I'd add to what comes above is that the place should never be recorded as Belper, because it took place in the Registration District of Belper, not in the town of Belper. I assume, by the way, that you or FS have seen the full certificate and that this clearly states Alfreton.

Once you realise that the Registration District of Belper includes the town of Alfreton, then it may become a bit easier to get your head round.

As a similar thing, the marriage took place on 24 September 1837, and it would surely be folly to record it as taking place in Q3 1837? So in the same way that you go for the most accurate date, so you surely ought to go for the most accurate place.

As is suggested above, if you leave the GRO index entry in as a source, then a note somewhere explaining the "difference" between (the Registration District of) Belper, and (the town of) Alfreton, would make sense.

To try and get round similar issues, if I have an event so far known only through the GRO index, I will always record it as being in the "Reg. District of XXX" to act as a reminder that it might not be in the town / village of XXX at all.

For a BMD event I record the place as XXXX "Registration District", ..... I believe the advice is to have the Registration District in quotes so it gets ignored by mapping software. Example below. If I have more detail about the place that takes priority, the BMD place then becomes a secondary citation. I would concur with the advice above to be consistent with what ever suits you.

A word of advice about Registration districts and counties, some Registration Districts cross county boundarys so these can be misleading. A very helpful web site detailing Registration Disricts is https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/index.html.

Dear Helen, Mike, Lorna, Adrian & David,

Many, many thanks for your invaluable advice. I am sure that I will still make mistakes, but your collective wisdom has made it much, much, clearer as to what I need to do.

Your own examples and suggestions have been immensely useful, and the thing that I need to remember, which I must keep telling myself, is to be consistent with the method of recording sources that I adopt!!

Again, thank you for your help, much appreciated!

Until the next time ......

Alan