Genealogy Chat

Kathleen,

I have considered it & in fact not totally discounted the idea yet (as they are not my direct ancestors I haven't ordered birth certs yet) but I can't find a relevant death under either name.

Hayley

Have you ordered one or both birth certificates?

Jill

Hayley,

Have you thought that the parents might have had twins, but one died and another daughter born 2 years later was called after the twin that died?

Kath. x

Thanks everyone who replied. It will remain a mystery I guess.

Possibly one of those weird things you may never find an answer to. I have a family who I can follow through all the relevant census' & they have consistently represented their 2 daughters as being 2 years apart in age. However, when I looked for their births the only matching ones I can find would suggest they were in fact twins. I can actually understand people misrepresnting ages either by accident or on purpose, but it's beyond me how any parent could forget they'd had twins! Not even sure if the girls themselves knew the truth.

It's curious that there would be sisters Emily and Amelia because I've seen the name used interchangably. Actually if you type in Amelia on my BVRI discs it brings up all of the Emilys as well.

They are both on the 1851 census onward. I lose Amelia after she married but can follow Emily right up to 1911. All the other children are registered, including an older brother. If it's a mistake it's consistent in the censuses. Unless there were mistakes on the birth index. And it seems odd that this should be a direct reverse.
I wonder if the age would be different on a marriage certificate? And perhaps the change was made on the elder girl's baptismal certificate so they just stuck with it?

If you are looking at the bmd records, don't forget that many of those early births were never registered,so there may not be a certificate.Have you found her baptism in the parish records?
have you found the family on the 1851 census?

Linda

Advice & opinion only, please, about this. My gr gr grandmother is recorded on the censuses that identify her as that (1891/1901/1911, as Emily [Stephens], born abt 1844 in Marylebone, Middlesex. Her marriage to Ebenezer Stephens was easy to find, and she was Emily Yorke. I found her parents & family and one of her siblings was Amelia born abt 1847. HOWEVER ... The only Emily York (no e) born in Middlesex around that time was born in 1847. Conversely, the only Amelia Yorke was born in 1844. From knowledge of behaviours is it likely that the family just swapped their names? The names/birth dates are consisent through every census in which they can be found. Seems very odd!
Any idea please? NO research thanks as I've done a great deal over the past 6 months on this.
Hopefully
Heather