Help searching Boyd's Marriage Index (once logged in)
| Search by |
Records can be searched by surname and forename of bride
and groom, year of the marriage allegation, index county, parish,
and marriage county.
When searching on bride AND groom it does not matter in which order you enter the names into First surname/forename and Second surname/forename boxes, ie. whether you put the bride's name before the groom's or vice versa.
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| Forename abbreviations |
Common forenames are often abbreviated. However abbreviations used are not always consistent, eg. Elizabeth may be abbreviated ELZ or ELIZ or spelled out in full.
Click here for forename abbreviations
The forename entered always has an * wildcard added automatically (representing zero or more characters), to ensure that you find entries with second forenames or initials. In most cases minimise the number of letters entered to find abbreviated names.
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| Surname groups |
In the original printed indexes some records
have more than one name entered in the surname field.
eg. 1795; ACRED, ACRIT, ACRID, ACREED; JN; KATH; ABELL; DENBY
This may be because the name could have been spelt in different ways, or
because the parish records had unclear spelling. Where there was an ambiguity
in the spelling Boyd recorded all variants. These variants have been put into Surname
groups.
In the example above ACRED, ACRIT, ACRID and ACREED make up one
Surname group.
Searching on any of the surnames will find this record.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell which name from the group was the
original name.
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| Surname spelling conventions |
Boyd used a few surname spelling conventions, though not consistently
particularly for records after 1800. Variations in surnames spellings should be
looked at in detail. Conventions include:
-
Initial letters: To find surnames with the initial letters in
the left column below, try searching on surnames beginning with the
corresponding letter in the right column:
| Looking for
|
Search for names starting |
| GH |
G |
| GN |
N |
| KA* |
CA |
| KL |
CL |
| KN* |
N |
| KO |
CO |
| KR |
CR |
| KU |
CU |
| LL |
L |
| PH* |
F |
| SC* |
SK |
| TH* (H silent) |
T |
| WH* |
W |
| WR*
|
R
|
| * Spellings are generally 'normal' for records
after 1800. |
|
|
-
silent final e is ignored: There are some anomalies,
eg AIRE, but generally, if a surname exists with a variant which has an e
on the end (such as COOKE), try dropping the e (enter COOK), eg. enter
CLARK instead of CLARKE and GREEN instead of GREENE etc.
-
double letters as single: eg WILSON will appear but not
WILLSON. This may be confusing, since BENNETT and KELLETT do appear. Try the
alternatives, if you don't find a spelling where there is a double consonant,
try using a single.
-
x sometimes replaces cks: eg. HIX not HICKS,
COXON not COCKSON. But BRACKS, BROCKSHAW, BRUCKS, JACKSLEY, JACKSON, STOCKS are
all present. Try both alternatives if you don't find the person you were
looking for.
-
ch sometimes replaces tch: eg HUCHINSON for
HUTCHINSON, but BUTCHER, CATCHER appear. If you don't find a surname containing
tch, try dropping the t.
-
i and y: Where a name containing i has
a variant with y, eg. Bird and Byrd, y is used at the end of
the name and i in the middle: eg GILES not GYLES, SMITH not SMYTH.
-
last syllable: Names of more than one syllable are treated
with some freedom:
-
an, en, in, on, un
-
ar, er, or
-
field, field, feld
-
bourn, born, burn
-
wood, wode, ward
-
bridge, brig
-
ey, ye, y, ie
-
el, al, ell, all, ale, le
-
ford, forth
-
son, sonn, sone, sonne, etc
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| Alias names & Multiple surnames |
Some records contain alias surnames or forenames. Any of the
variants can be searched on. The contents of the original record will be
displayed in the Miscellaneous field on the results page.
The alias name is indicated by either ALS, OR or by parentheses.
eg. The following record could be found under SHELDRAKE or ROWELL.
If the search had been on SHELDRAKE the groom's surname would be shown
as SHELDRAKE rather than ROWELL. The Miscellaneous field
at the end shows he was known as both surnames.
1821; MEULEN; SUS VANDER; ROWELL; WM; MILTON;
CAMBRIDGESHIRE; SUS VANDER & WM SHELDRAKE
ALS ROWELL
In the record below, the bride's forename would be found under ELZ and FRANCES.
If you had searched on ELZ the forename would be shown as ELZ rather
than FRANCES. If you did not enter a forename you would get two
records, but the Miscellaneous field shows that they are the same
event.
1722; HARLOCK; FRANCES; GOODJOHN; JN; CAMBRIDGE ST
CLEMENT;
CAMBRIDGESHIRE; ELZ ALS FRANCES &
JN GOODJOHN
|
| 'Out of County' records |
The index volumes are divided mainly by county and contain records of marriages which took place within that county. They also include some 'Out of County' records, marriages which took place in other counties but where bride and/or groom came from the Index county.
Searching a county, eg. Cambridgeshire, will find records referring to Cambridgeshire parishes, and also some referring to parishes in other counties, often Middlesex and London.
eg. When searching Cambridgeshire, the following record might be displayed:
1711; RIGHT; ELZ; ABELL; WM;
LONDON, ST BENET PAUL'S WHARF; MIDDLESEX
In this case, one or both parties came from Cambridgeshire.
Note there may be just one or two Out of County records for a parish.
|
| Searching by Parish |
Where a location has more than one parish, eg Cambridge, you can select a specific parish (eg CAMBRIDGE - HOLY TRINITY), or the place (CAMBRIDGE - ALL) which will search all parishes within that place.
You may find entries for the same marriage in different parishes. These records are created from marriage licences in which an alternative church for the ceremony was named.
For help locating parishes try searching
GENUKI's parish database which locates churches and registration
districts with details of founding and closing dates.
It may also be useful to find the 'contiguous' parishes (those parishes whose
borders touch) if a record cannot be located in the expected parish.
For Norfolk see
Norfolk Family History Society - Contiguous Parishes pages.
For Cambridgeshire see
Cambridgeshire Family History Society - Contiguous Parishes pages.
|
| Parish Registers and Bishops' Transcripts |
While most records have been captured from the
Parish Registers, many have been captured from Bishops' Transcripts
(BTs), and both sources have been used for some.
You may find two records for (apparently) the same event, one
from the Parish Register and one from the BT. In theory a BT should
contain a copy of what appears in the register, however, there are
often variations in spellings, names, and dates and either source
may contain additional information. Where names in the two records
differ this may mean either:
- The names in the two sources are not
quite identical. This could be due to a mistake having been made in
the BT, a mistake in the register having been corrected in the BT,
or that the person making the BT entry had difficulty reading the
register entry.
- The names in the two sources were
the same but the discrepancy is within the Boyd's Index. This could
be because of an error in one or other of the Boyd's entries, an
error in capturing the Boyd's entry, or that the person(s)
creating the Boyd's entry read the original handwriting
differently in the two source documents.
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| @ character in some records |
Many original Boyds Marriage Index Yorkshire records were very difficult to read. Where an original entry was not clear the - @ - character has been added next to data which is a best guess. Nearly all the other records were much easier to read so the @ character does not appear in most records.
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| NameX |
NameX is a proprietary name-matching tool which allows you to find family records for names which have common variations in spelling or which may have been spelled incorrectly on some records.
Click here for more help.
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