Closed - HALS - Allen Marriage Index - How reliable?

[davidrigg3]

Hi there,

Is there a general concensus of opinion on the completeness of the Allen Index of Herts marriages and therefore the completeness of the HALS database?

I understand that IGI submitted entries should always be taken with a pinch of salt, however, out of 7 possible marriages on IGI I have found 5 of them in the HALS database but not the other 2. Should I take that as an indication that the IGI entries are less likely to be correct OR could there be ommissions in the HALS index??

Regards B

[PaulineJ]

http://www.hertsdirect.org/libsleisure/heritage1/HALS/indexes/indexes/marriages/

http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/bmd/marriages.htm
The HALS web site has an online name index which includes the Allen index of marriages recorded in Hertfordshire Parish Registers between 1538-1837 plus additional entries from the Bishops Transcripts (useful if the registers for a particular parish no longer exist) plus information from some other sources. If a marriage is not recorded in this index it is almost certain that either did not take place in Hertfordshire or formal records for it do not survive although there may be clues in  wills and other documents..

Care to give the specific example of the two on the IGI yet not on HALS?

Pauline

[davidrigg3]

Sure,

02 Nov 1714 Jonathan Smith & Grace Kitchiner @ Letchworth, Herts - which now I look at it again is an extracted record.

06 Jun 1677 Thomas Smith & Margaret Pryer - in my notes I have recorded Flamstead but can't now find that mentioned on IGI so this one may be a red herring, Sorry. (And yes I did see the one for the following day Thomas and Margaret Peacess). I'm still fairly inexperienced at all this so maybe its there or maybe I just assumed.

Modified: Just found another submitted entry stating Flamstead for the second marriage.

[davidrigg3]

Curiously I have also just found the marriage for Jonathan & Grace on FreeReg so can't understand why it's not on HALS??

[RichardK]

The HALS index is pretty good, but when I was transcribing the Norton marriages for FreeREG I found at least two marriages that weren't on the HALS index.
Richard.

[davidrigg3]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for that, perhaps I'm not going bonkers after all!

Do you know if there is a procedure for getting omissions rectified, I've had a look on the website but can't find anything.

Regards B

[RichardK]

Don't know, I haven't looked into that.  Unfortunately I didn't keep a note of which marriages it was that were missing from the Allen index.
R

[davidrigg3]

I clicked on the feedback link for one of the pages and sent a message that way. Later on I got an email asking me to provide details of the possibly missing marriage (to the address below), and then another today to say the register had been checked, the marriage found and that they will be updating the index soon.

hals.enquiries@hertscc.gov.uk