Original marriage record in Maulden Bedfordshire 1856

[avm228]

The image attached to the Chesher family tree on Ancestry is an image of the relevant parish register, not of a certificate.

I thought at this date the marriage register entry was the the same as the marriage certificate ? If not, what are the differences ?

All being well the information should be the same (unless errors have crept in the transmission of the info from the parish into the civil registration system, or from the local register office to the GRO, or - as sometimes happens - in the writing up of a certificate by the local office or the GRO).

Exceptions can occur - as recently on another thread where annotations to the original parish register contained a useful narrative about the later amendment of the names in a marriage entry, whereas the GRO certificate showed only the names without the narrative.

Even where the information is identical the image will almost invariably be different, as the parish register will contain the original handwriting and signatures, whereas most certificates (certainly at GRO level) are created by transcription and therefore show only the transcriber’s handwriting.  It can often therefore be useful to see the original parish entry for sight of a party’s signature to compare with other documents, if there is doubt about whether they are the “right” Joe Bloggs or whatever.

[haliared]

Oh dear, it seems I have caused so much consternation with a simple request.

Annette - I am aware there is only one David Odell in that timeframe, but it was Ann's signature and not David's I wanted to see in this instance so will not actually help me but it was worth a try.

If it is actually a register copy that I had wanted, because of copyright I am not sure if I can copy to my computer images from Ancestry trees and that is why if there were original records online I would happily transfer it to my tree, I don't want to do anything wrong and I don't know the rules on this, they seem to vary from website to website and country to country.

avm228 - you are correct, original registers can contain so much more and in one instance when I found the original register it showed that my relative had signed with a E at the end of his name, which was not on the name on the official certificate I had purchased previously and I was able to find him from that. The registrar had entered his version of the name and not the way of the name my relative went by.
Also another time by comparing a signature of a witness to a marriage, I was able to identify a sister who I couldn't trace as she had married abroad previously, then remarried again! Once I had the first married name I could track her.

John - thanks for the location of the tree. Yes that's what I have found, so many trees have differing versions of even uncommon names that you cannot trust them.

[avm228]

I’ve pointed you to the tree with the actual parish register image attached (containing all relevant signatures) so if inspecting signatures is the motivation I am not sure why you say it “won’t help you but it was worth a try”.

Copyright is an entirely separate issue of course.

[haliared]

Ok thank you, I haven't had a chance to look yet but a previous post had said Ann just left her mark.

[avm228]

Ok thank you, I haven't had a chance to look yet but a previous post had said Ann just left her mark.

Apologies for having misunderstood you - yes, as you’ll see it does indeed show that she made her mark, so the writing of her name on the signature line is that of the clergyman.