Genealogy Chat

I was wondering if someone with more experience of family trees could give their opinion on the problem I am having with names of certificates.
My relative is William Hicks (1847). His birth certificate shows his parents to be Edward Hicks (1817) and Wilmot Haskin (1821), all born in Cornwall. However there is no recorded marriage between Edward Hicks and Wilmot Haskin on BMD records. The only marriage that could fit is one between Edmund Hicks and Wilmot Hoskin in 1846. All the census records and their grave stone shows the couple to be Edward and Wilmot. While I can accept that the names Hoskin or Haskin could have been wrongly entered I find it much more difficult to accept that the names Edward and Edmund could be confused. Do these sorts of error occur on marriage and birth certificates from the middle of the 19th century? I would be grateful for any informed comments.

All the time.

They are not necessarily errors, as such, rather a result of many people being unable to read or write, and the person taking the details down miss hearing what they were told.

Without commenting specifically on your particular case, the thing to do is to try and find as much corroborating evidence that you can. Look at the parish registers, at the census returns, check and cross check.

I have an Edmund who does occasionally show as an Edward ...

And a Josiah who shows as Joseph ...

It's possible that they were known to others (ie children) as Ed or Joe and if the children gave the info to the enumerator the enumerator might well "guess" the wrong name.

Also if giving information verbally you need to think about accents and such - for example, if you had a cold how would Edmund sound? It might sound a bit like Edward. Then add a possible illiteracy factor, or if he was literate, he might have been a bit nervous about pointing out that his name was slightly incorrectly recorded ...

I think with a wife's name of Wilmot Haskin/Hoskin the marriage you've found sounds a pretty good bet. How many other Wilmot Haskin/Hoskins have you found?

Jill

I have an Edwin that was often an Edward, as has been said already spelling was often a problem I even have a berth certificate for an Enery a son which was actualy Emely a daughter !!

If William was the eldest child i would imagine theres a very good chance the marriage you have found is the correct one, as a child born in the first year of marriage was very common, but you need to cross reference for all the reasons given by the others...


Nicky

Hi
I too have found errors. It took me ages to find my GGGgrenafather because on the wedding cert of his daughter, the names/ occupations of teh fathers of bride and groom were transposed. I was looking for somone who was dead and who had had a different occupation.

Another tip- dont forgot that re-marriage was commonplaceso I have wasted much time looking for births of spouses who ha previously been married and hence born with a different name.
good luck

I agree with all the others. Edmund and Edward are frequently interchanged

So the couple get married in their parish church, and sign (or at least make their mark on) the register. The vicar then makes a copy of that entry, and sends it to the superintendent registrar at Launceston, where another copy is made and sent to the GRO in London (now in Southport), where an index is made, and the names copied again into the index. FreeBMD come along, and copy the index, and then Ancestry take a copy of FreeBMD's transcriptions.

There's an awful lot of copying going on. We can check the accuracy of the transcription of the GRO index, since both FreeBMD and Ancestry give a link to an image of the GRO index. But the GRO index is still a copy of a copy of a copy.

I also agree that the names Edward and Edmund were often interchanged in the 1800's. I've seen lots of families on different census years where an Edward has become an Edmund and yet it is obviously the same person.

Kath. x

Hi to all of you have replied.
Thanks so much for your help. As a scientist I expect precise answers to questions – I am now having to realise that genealogy is not an exact science! However I also realise that the chances of a Mr E Hicks being married to Miss Wilmot H_skin in Cornwall around 1845 on two occasions is near zero. All the hours of searching BMD and Parish records produced no other result. I really do appreciate your assistance and can now complete that aspect of my tree.
Kind regards,
David

David,

I think the evidence suggests that you have located the right marriage.
On the assumption that the place of birth shown in the various census are consistent (I only checked 1851 and 1861)

Edward HICKS is recorded as born Week St Mary
Wilmot HICKS is from North Petherwin.

The marriages for North Petherwin have been transcribed and are available via the Cornwall OPC website.

The transcript shows:
Parish or Registration District:: North Petherwin
Date: 29-Sep 1846

GROOM: Edmund HICKS
Groom's age: full age
Groom's condition: bachelor
Groom's rank/profession: Labourer
Groom's residence: Clubworthy
Father: Richard
Father's rank/profession: Labourer

BRIDE: Wilmot HOSKIN
Bride's age: full age
Bride's condition:spinster
Bride's rank/profession:
Bride's residence: Trosswell
Father: John
Father's rank/profession: Labourer

Banns(B) or Licence(L): Banns
Groom Signed(S) or Marked(M): M
Bride Signed(S) or Marked(M): M

Helpfully, the baptisms for Week St Mary are also available online via the OPC website.

Parish: Week St. Mary
Date: 19-Nov 1815

Name: Edward HICKS
Sex: m
Father: Richard
Mother: Mary
Residence: Week St Mary
Father's rank/profession: laborer

So, Right place, right name, right age and right father. Good enough for me (also a scientist!)

I too think this might be caused by a misreading of handwriting.
Edmund and Edward could easily be mixed.

Another one we've come across is David for Daniel....

Gwyn

For 4 years I chased the name Hazel for my 2 x great grandmothers family, then a kind person at Essex Records informed me the name was Layzell.
The registrar had heard her wrong when she registered my great grandad's birth in 1846.
Happens today= my passport has Gardner on front and Gardiner inside.

I've had three Edmund/ Edwin/ Edwards who used all three names at different times.