In a message dated 7/1/05 7:29:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cuzmuz@cox.net writes: > I think I may have addressed my first email wrong. So I apologize in > advance if this is a repeat. > > 1. What information is on a 1858 marriage license issued in Groton for a > Pawcatuck church. I have the cert from the church with the witnesses listed. > Would the town license have more info i.e. birth place, parents etc? > > 2. I have a date of death for possible grandparents buried in St. Michael's > pawcatuck cemetery. What newspaper would I look to first for a possible obit? > > I have found, in Ma. that the towns and cities were required to record the vitals, the method of obtaining the info depended on whether it was a birth, death or marriage. Prior to 1844, in MA, the persons that performed marriages were required to submit a report to the Town Clerk yearly. (After 1844 the report was to be filed monthly.)The old "format" required the submitter to state "I married ... or... I united in matrimony;" and to sign the sheet. Several couples would be on the list. Each entry included his name, her name and often where each was from (if the were from outside the town the record was recording). Not mush else. In 1845 or so the register, the book, took on a new look. Columns and lines to be filled-up by the clerk meant a place to record each age, etc. Over the years the info recorded in a column changed. For example: there is a time when "Parents Name's" shared a column with "Spouse if applicable." They each get a column of their own at some point. By 1848 (1845?), to be sure they would receive the proper information, the Clerk required those that married people to fill out "certificates." If a priest in a Catholic Church did not "fill up" the cert. at the time of the marriage, he may have missed the opportunity to do so. His own Register of Matrimony, kept in Latin, did not require such detail. The priest that united them, the date, the names of each, and of the witness(es), was all he kept. I have found that the Worc. clerk was rather persistent, and the priests were reticent. After not forwarding any marriage info for more that 3 years, they send a long list. The list they sent in 1849 did not meet even the pre1844 requirements. The two lists that quickly followed were accepted (as was the first), despite the lack of detail. After this the situation seems to have improved. Omissions of entire marriages still occurred, but the ones they did turn in were pretty full. To address the question: Would the town license have more info i.e. birth place, parents etc? . Possibly, the cert. could have been sent along, all filled up. The Church record wasn't used to record such things, so the town may have more than the Matrimony Register. write a post when you find out. Good luck, John