Easier access to ancestors

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 5

Easier access to ancestors

Always wanted to know who your great-grandparents were, what type of jobs they had, and where they were married?

This will be possible in about six months time, but only if they were married in a ' Christchurch Baptist church. The National Council of Churches is recording all such marriages from 1870 to 1970 oh to a file for easy reference. "

People were interested in what their forebears did and this was why the reference file was being compiled, said the office - manager at the National Council of Churches. Mrs Mary Holmes.

The general secretary of the national council, the Rev. Angus MacLeod, "had made the original suggestion for the file. , r .

Now two Project Employment Programme workers are listing the names, occupations,, and addresses of all persons named in each entry m the -marriage registers. So far they;have been on the job for a month and it is estimated that it Mill take another, five months before the task is finished. At the moment they were working on registers only from Baptist churches, but other church registers riiight be done later, Mrs Holmes said.

Each register entry shows thenames and occupations of the bride and bridegroom, the names and occupations of

both sets of parents, and the names and addresses of the two witnesses at the marriage ceremony. The birth place of the bride and bridegroom is also given. Deciphering some of the writing was a problem but otherwise the work was progressing smoothly, . Mrs Holmes said.

In the early registers couples had to list profession or rank. Servants list .themselves as doing ‘'household duties’’ while other entries just say ‘'ladj'” or ‘‘gentleman.”

Mrs Holmes said that the completed files, which would be organised by the year and in alphabetical order, might go to the Baptist Church in Oxford Terrace. The Canterburv Museum was also in-

terested in the marriage registers. : Records of all marriages in New Zealand since 1854 ■were kept at the office of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages at Lower Hutt, said the .Christchurch registrar, Mr R. G. Appleford. No matter where a marriage took place a duplicate of the marriage certificate had to be sent to Lower Hutt, he said.

Anyone making inquiries at the Registrar-General’s office should try to find out, as near as possible, when the person was' married so that search fees would not be so expensive, Mr Appleford said.