The parish clerk often served as a witness to marriages ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 5:22 AM Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Fathers as witnesses to marriage > On a related note, some time ago when I was looking at microfilms of the > parish books for various Drinagh ancestors, I realized that certain names > appeared over and over again as witnesses. Was there a tradition of using > designated witnesses? Were these the local important men, whose presence > conferred > some status on the marriage? One clue may be that they often appeared on > behalf of persons who were not native to the townland (farm workers or > servants)--was this in lieu of unavailable parents or other relatives? > Any ideas? > > Sheila Connolly