Hello Vi and Kathleen, To answer the query re. the the names of witnesses recorded on Irish marriage certificates, I think it depended on the religious denomination: in marriages recorded in many Church of Ireland parishes, the same name is recorded as a witness for a number of years and in the case of Ardstraw parish church, Newtownstewart, it was the parish clerk, Samuel Bates. Upon his death in 1856 the role fell to his son George. Presbyterian marriages, generally, record the names of families and friends as witnesses; occasionally townland addresses are given. The same principle applied for marriages performed in a Registrar's Office.
Interestingly, registers record cancelled marriages - the clergyman or his clerk had prepared the register in advance, but for reasons unknown to us, the marriage did not proceed. Clear as mud. Hope this helps, Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Viola Wiggins <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, 10 April 2017 8:44:28 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [CoTyroneIreland] Witnesses to Marriages Kathleen It would depend on where the event took place. Civil registration of a marriage could have taken place at the Local Registrar's Office and the repeated names may have been people available in those Offices. If it was in the Church that the bride attended then the witnesses would be known to the couple. Weddings were not the elaborate affairs as of today and may only have had eight or nine people present as family and friends. In my parents case the witnesses were my mother's sister and the best man was of the same surname as my father, but supposedly unrelated. I now think they were 3rd cousins. The party returned to my maternal Grandparents home for the Wedding Breakfast. That was on 24th December 1926. Viola Sent from my iPad _______________________________________________ CoTyroneList mailing list [email protected] http://lists.cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/cotyronelist
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