In our class about the Marriage Index for New South Wales Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, I solved a little problem of the place and date for the marriage for my Great-Uncle, Henry William Bell, by finding an article about this marriage in a newspaper.
Should I leave further research and be content with these two references for this marriage? Remember newspapers may not be correct for an event either.
I need more references to enter onto my datasheet of the marriage event for this individual.
In this case, I decided to seek a more solid reference for information by using a transcription agent for the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages for New South Wales. If you consult the web page for this office you will see there are three such licensed agents.
- Marilyn Rowan
Phone: 61(2) 4658 1206
Email: marilynr@nswtranscriptions.com.au or visit nswtranscriptions.com.au - Joy Murrin
Phone: 61(2) 9585 1187
Email: joy@joymurrin.com.au or visit joymurrin.com.au - Laurie Turtle
Phone: 61(2) 4573 1559
Email: lturtle@iprimus.com.au or visit home.iprimus.com.au/lturtle
I have used each of these agents from time to time and have been happy with all of their services. I used a transcription agent because a transcription is about half the cost of obtaining a certified copy of this certificate from the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Office. All family historians know just how quickly these costs can add up when you are seeking documentation of your family tree.
This transcription is not a certified copy and cannot be used in any legal transactions. This is stated in the transcribed document supplied by the agent.
The transcription agent actually looks at the official copy of the marriage certificate held by the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages and carefully extracts all the information into a transcription form. Although there is a possibility of errors in transcribing I have found none to date.
We family historians can be a generous lot when it comes to sharing information and we might be tempted to photocopy or scan one of these transcriptions and share it with family and friends.
Legally we should not do this. That document is copyright to the agent who produced it. You actually purchased the information on this transcription not the copying rights of the document.
When I want to share this information I transcribe the information onto my own marriage transcription form clearly giving full credit for where I got the information and adding any notes I wish to add. Here are my sharing documents for this marriage.
A pdf download of this marriage transcription document can be found on this website under the Resources and Examples Tab.
My transcription copy of the marriage report in the newspaper.
A pdf download of this marriage newspaper report transcription document can be found on this website under the Resources and Examples Tab.
By doing my copying in this format there is no confusion about the source of the information and when I obtained it.
Over time when collecting information it becomes difficult to remember who gave you the actual information and when. If you get into good habits early on in your research you have fewer problems on this front.
Nola Mackey - Family History 