Author Topic: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?  (Read 1237 times)

Offline hsfam

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Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« on: Saturday 13 January 18 01:54 GMT (UK) »
Hi,

I'm sorry if someone has already answered this but I'm not hitting the right combo of search keywords to find any answers.

I have a number of marriage and birth entries in the Victoria BDM that are duplicates but with different Event Registration Numbers. I don't know which one to order.

I notice that one registration number is always a high number and the other is always a low number. Also, they only seem to happen in the early years of registration.

Does anyone know whether they represent different types of records - for e.g. parish baptism vs civil birth registration - and therefore have different levels/types of information? Or would both have the same information and it doesn't matter which I order? I hesitate to order both as it gets very expensive very quickly. (i.e. $25.10 for each image)

For eg:

Marriage: Timothy AHERN to Ellen MULCAHY in 1842. There are two entries:
 - Event Registration Number: 286
 - Event Registration Number: 35495

Birth: Ellen AHEARN in 1845 (Parents: Timothy AHEARN and Ellen MULCAHY)
 - Birth Registration Number: 38742
Birth: Ellen AHERN in 1845 (Parents: Timothy AHERN and Ellen MULCAHY)
 - Event Registration Number: 902
[Note the different surname spellings]

Marriage: Lawrance BOURKE and Hannah MULCAHY in 1845
 - Event Registration Number: 201
Marriage: Laurence BOURKE and Hannah MULCAHY in 1845
 - Event Registration Number: 39941
[Note different spelling of groom's first name]

TIA

Offline Dundee

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 13 January 18 03:01 GMT (UK) »
......they only seem to happen in the early years of registration.

They are church records, not civil registration which didn't commence in Victoria until mid 1853.

Debra  :)

Offline hsfam

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 13 January 18 03:49 GMT (UK) »

Thanks, Dundee. Do you know why there are two records?

Offline Dundee

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:01 GMT (UK) »
I don't know for certain but someone else might.  My guess is that one is the original and one a copy.  If they married outside Melbourne then the returns would have also been sent to St Francis.  If nobody else knows then you should give the registry a call as ideally you would want the original.

Debra  :)


Offline hsfam

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 13 January 18 11:40 GMT (UK) »

Thanks, Dundee. Will check with them.

Offline Maggsie

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 13 January 18 15:09 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
Marriage: Timothy AHERN to Ellen MULCAHY in 1842. There are two entries:
 - Event Registration Number: 286
 - Event Registration Number: 35495
286 is the same record as 35495 BUT the name is Timothy Aiern so use 35495.
that's the only difference.

for the births use.......
Mary 41795   (the other has spelling errors)
Ellen 38742 has Merri ck Victoria and Malcahy the other has Merri

the marriage for Hannah ....201 and 39941 are the same.

Maggsie

Offline Westward

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #6 on: Monday 15 January 18 00:37 GMT (UK) »
As church records, there may be little more information than is shown in the index. For the birth record - did the family have more children post Jun 1853? If so that civil certificate would give more value for money.

Also - Victoria did not separate from NSW until 1851. Those early records should be in the NSW bdm records and are available in many NSW libraries at no charge. Also available at most state libraries and probably some online sources (pay sites or perhaps familysearch? - I can't find any at the minute)

This is the marriage from the NSW registry
1663/1842 index/year

V18421663 92  This is the code used to find the record in the marriage register

AHERN TIMOTHY MULCAHY ELLEN  Names

LR   - NSW Church code for Melbourne, St Francis (VIC)

Some information about the records in NSW is given here
https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/births-deaths-and-marriages-registers-1787-1856


Offline Westward

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #7 on: Monday 15 January 18 01:39 GMT (UK) »
If you want to get a copy of any of the church records, the cheapest option would be a NSW transcript
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx#Hints

Check each of the transcription agents - some charge less for transcribing church records

Offline hsfam

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Re: Victoria BDM: Double birth/marriage registrations - which to order?
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 16 January 18 05:47 GMT (UK) »

Thank you Westward and Maggsie for the additional information - it was very interesting! I hadn't realised, Westward, that early Victorian records turn up on NSW BDM. Learn something new every day!

I wrote to Victoria BDM to find out how they would explain any differences between the two records. I used Timothy Ahern and Ellen Mulcahy's marriage records from 1842. This is their reply:

Quote
"Please note that in 1842 the colony of Victoria was not yet in existence and the area known as Melbourne and its surrounds was part of the Port Phillip District, a special district of the colony of New South Wales.

Record number 286 is part of a list that was provided from the relevant churches detailing marriages that occurred in the district, the record 35459 is a record of marriage from members of the Roman catholic faith, it has a few more details than the list entry but please note that even compared to marriages that would be registered in the decade following it still maintains limited information."

...So, it appears if I were to order from the Vic BDM, I would order the 35459 record. However, Westward's suggestion of ordering a NSW transcript sounds eminently more sensible.

Thank you, everyone, for your help!