Yes, there is a great deal of other information you can learn from the certificates! I recently obtained one for a great Aunt where there was barely anything correct on it. Fortunately, we had this family pretty well put together with Census records, IGI, OPR's etc. I really wanted the certificate because she was born in 1855 which was the year that Civil Registration began in Scotland and the certificates contain more information than other years. The date and place were correct but names were spelled incorrectly ages were not correct, it said there were 2 boys and three girls in the family- actually there were 3 boys and 2 girls, even the mothers name was spelled incorrectly. Yes, it is the right certificate, the most reasonable explanation that I can come up with is that this was a Gaelic speaking family and my ggrandfather may not have been able to read or write English [remember this is the first year of Civil Registration, the previous children would have been registered by the Parish Minister.] Alternatively, he may have had a "wee dram" too many on the way to the Registrars Office. This certificate is now my most treasured bit of information as I teach Genealogy and I use it as an example of needing to look at many Sources when putting your family tree together. Good Hunting. Mary Breer Vancouver Island, B.C.

I haven't kept the previous correspondence, so this email may be off the point, but a word of warning MAY be necessary. Certificates can indeed give useful extra information, but "certificates", properly so called, exist only for events in 1855 (the year when statutory registration was introduced in Scotland) and subsequently. (The year 1855 itself, as Mary says, was particularly good on detail.) Before 1855, all you will get is a copy of the relevant extract from the Old Parish Register and, for this period, you will often find out nothing more from the Register than the index entry has already told you. Martyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Breer" <mbreer@shaw.ca> To: <SCT-ARGYLL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 6:38 PM Subject: [ARGYLL] Re: Buying Certificates > Yes, there is a great deal of other information you can learn from the > certificates! <snip>