Why Is A Birth Certificate Useful For Someone Doing Family History?

When you are tracing your family tree, going back in time involves making direct links between an individual and his or her ancestry. Getting someone's birth certificate tells you the name of their father and the name of their mother ~ including the mother's maiden name.

This is useful because this information can then be used to search the marriage registration indexes to see if the marriage of the parents can be found. The marriage certificate will give the names of the fathers of the bride and groom, taking the family historian back another generation.

A birth certificate will also give the occupation of the child's father and this can be useful if the family that is being researched has a common name. Separating out the family of one John Smith or William Jones from another three in the same village is easier if you find your ancestor is the one who was the hairdresser!

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