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<\/p>\nWhile today the bodies responsible for the legal registration of marriage are the civil registry offices, in the past this function was entrusted to the Church and clergy. Along with the birth and death registers, books with records of marriage registration were kept.<\/p>\n
In the Ukrainian lands within the Austrian Empire from the end of the 18th century, and later in Poland during the interwar period, these books were kept mainly in Latin, less often in Ukrainian or Polish. In the Ukrainian lands within the Russian Empire, records were kept in Russian. Writing in foreign languages, especially Latin, makes it difficult to read these records.<\/p>\n
What information can birth records with information about marriages provide?<\/p>\n
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A typical mid-19th century wedding record from the lands of Galicia<\/em><\/p>\n The key entry is information about the groom and bride (sponsus, sponsa). In addition to the names and surnames of the bride and groom, their parents and the settlements where the newlyweds came from, their occupations were also mentioned. If the bride and groom were minors, then the marriage record could also include the parents' permission to marry their minor children.<\/p>\n The priest recorded the date of the marriage and indicated the house numbers where the bride and groom lived. The religious affiliation and age of the newlyweds were noted. Another entry was information about the previous marital status - the priest recorded whether it was the first marriage, whether the person was a widow or a widower. Remarriages in the 19th or early 20th century were not something extraordinary, but they were mainly based on different motives than today. Given the low level of medicine at that time, taking into account the general standard of living, hyenas - life expectancy was lower than today. Men and women often died at a young age. In such a case, the widow or widower quickly found another partner - because one person could not cope with the household, home and children.<\/p>\n The marriage record included information about the witnesses \u2013 their first and last names and their occupations. This information helps to establish friendly, kinship or family contacts between members of the village community.<\/p>\n As in other birth records, you are unlikely to find information about a person's nationality here.<\/p>\n The metrics from the territories of sub-Russian Ukraine were somewhat different. They are less informative than the Austrian metrics. They did not indicate the house number where the groom's or bride's family lived, nor did they record the mother's maiden name. However, due to their Russian transcription, such documents are easier to read for the general public. As befits such documents, the metrics included the names and patronymics of the bride and groom, their surnames, and religion. It also indicated whether it was the first, second, or third marriage for one of them. It is also worth paying attention to the column with witnesses - often as many as four people were indicated - two from the groom's side and two from the bride's side, so it is also possible to find information about your relatives there.<\/p>\n A typical wedding record from the territories of Russian-occupied Ukraine<\/em><\/p>\n Regarding the metrics of the 18th century. there is also a certain peculiarity compared to records of this type from the later 19th century. Older metrics were documented in Church Slavonic cursive and for an unprepared researcher they are quite difficult to read. At that time, metrics were not yet kept in tabular form, often the age of the bride and groom was not indicated there and even information about the parents may be missing, but nevertheless they are of invaluable importance for studying genealogy. It is interesting that until the 1780s this form of keeping metrics with records of marriages was also characteristic of Western Ukrainian lands. The metrics of Greek Catholic churches of that time differ little from those that were then kept in the Hetmanate.<\/p>\n Marriage registers are an excellent historical source for studying demographic issues, the study of lineage and genealogy<\/a>. In combination with birth and death records, they provide the most accurate information when reconstructing a family tree.<\/p>\n Read also:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rodovody.com.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/mariage_rus.webp\")
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