Thanks Judith, yes, that's a much better explanation.
I had pulled out my own NSW mc. and was trying to think of how to explain ....
Eric, I am not much good as a wordsmith ... I am far too long winded .... but re my NSW mc ... (C of E, several err many
decades ago, and still married to same person
) .... I am currently looking at the copy that the Rev hands to the bride. This copy includes the original signatures of the bride, the groom and our witnesses as well as the Rev's signature and very little else. That was one of several documents we signed that day. As I recall, we signed at least two church registers and one civil register and the certificate. I have photos of each set of signings...
Photographer was trigger happy that day
Now, as an aside, that actual certificate that I hold is no longer valid for IDENTIFICATION purposes. It is now called a "ceremonial certificate". It does NOT list the parental details, nor the ages of the bride or groom or even our respective statuses.
Further aside .... So
When acquiring an Australian passport, if one is married, and is using one's spousal surname (politically correct stuffs here) one must have the NSW BDM issued certified copy of the marriage.
And thus an additional aside
That certified copy is a TYPED UP document.... not quite the correct words .... it is a computer generated document, an does NOT include any signatures for comparsion. We got married after 1952 so NSW BDM will NOT ever release any document with our original signatures on it. NSW BDM records went EDP in early 1980s.
However, remember that like my own marriage, YOUR chap's was conducted by a minister of religion, so there is always the religious ceremony's record in the church/parish registers . These do exist (as far as I know, all denominations have their own Church Laws which forbid the deliberate destruction of these sacred registers). In my instance the parish registers do have our original signatures which of course match up with the ones on MY marriage cert.
Sorry for the side tracking, but hopefully it will give you reason to hunt up Rev Paton's registers.
These could be located at a number of places. The Presbyterian denominations joined up with the Methodists and others to become the Uniting Church. Some congregations remained outside of this unification.
Archivists involved in preserving Church records are usually dedicated volunteers. So you may need to be patient in waiting for replies, and you may need to offer to make a donation. Of course, please do provide them with a good clear copy of the marriage cert that you have, It may well be that if there is a number in the very first column that it is a significant number lining up with the local church register
Possible links:
Uniting Church Archives
http://nsw.uca.org.au/church/archives.htmPresbyterian Church Archives
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-NSW/2010-01/1264060133 St Stephens Presbyterian Church in Phillip St Sydney
http://www.sydneyorgan.com/StStephens.html Cheers, JM
