Discover your Welsh ancestor's marriage, or intention to marry, in the historic county of Carmarthenshire. These records may reveal when and where your relative got married, their previous marital status, and the names of the witnesses.
Discover your Welsh ancestor's marriage, or intention to marry, in the historic county of Carmarthenshire. These records may reveal when and where your relative got married, their previous marital status, and the names of the witnesses.
Banns
Transcript
Each record comprises a transcript and original image of the parish register. The amount of information listed varies, but the transcript usually contains a combination of the following information about your ancestor:
Groom’s first name
Groom’s last name
Bride’s first name
Bride’s last name
Banns year
Banns date
Parish
County
Groom’s parish
Bride’s parish
Marriage year
Marriage date
The images may contain additional information. Further details may include:
Groom’s marital status
Bride’s marital status
Groom’s address
Bride’s address
Dates of three banns
Officiating minister
Witnesses
Marriages
Transcript
Each record comprises a transcript of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:
First name(s)
Last name
Birth year
Spouse’s first name(s)
Spouse’s last name
Bride’s father’s first name(s)
Bride’s father’s last name
Groom’s father’s first name(s)
Groom’s father’s last name
Bride’s age
Groom’s age
Marriage year
Marriage date
Bride’s parish
Groom’s parish
Parish
County
Country
Image
Many of the records contain images. The image may contain further details, including:
Bride’s marital status
Groom’s marital status
Bride’s residence
Groom’s residence
Bride’s occupation
Groom’s occupation
Bride’s father’s occupation
Groom’s father’s occupation
Witness names
Officiating minister
Marriage by banns or licence
Note that an ‘X’ followed by the words ‘her mark’ or ‘his mark’ indicate that the person signing the register was unable to read or write.
Also note that some of the earlier images are in Latin.
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a Welsh unitary authority which has the same boundaries as the original administrative county of Carmarthenshire. It is no longer an administrative county – that was abolished in 1974 - but it is one of 13 historic counties. Even though Llanelli is by far the largest town in Carmarthenshire, its county town is Carmarthen, because of its central location.
Banns
An ancient legal tradition, banns are an announcement in church of a couple’s intention to marry. The reading of the banns provides an opportunity for anybody to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns must be read in the parish (or parishes) in which the couple lives and in the parish they will marry, on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding.
Marriage records
Marriage records are an essential part of researching your family history. There are records where the parents of the bride and groom are listed, and these are often the key to finding out the names of the generation before. Occasionally, ages of the couple may be listed as "full" or “of age” rather than as a figure. This was a customary way of noting that they were over the required age of 21. If the bride or groom was under the age of 21, “with consent of parents” is noted in the record.