Genealogy Chat

Several imes lately when looking for a marriage, I have found it in the grooms name, with no Maiden name for the bride.Other than splashing out on a certificate, is there any way to find out what the brides name is, if its not listed on the bmd? I know some later ones are, but my frustration levels have reached meltdown on this latest one.Any one got any help for me out there?

You need to look at the volume and page that the groom is on, and there are usually two men and two women. If you know the wife's first name it should be easy enough, otherwise you will have to try and find your man in the next census to tie it down. Or alternatively try and find the other man on the page on the next census and see which wife he is with. If the first names are the same then it's rather unlucky.

Hope that helps a bit,
Kate x

This happens quite frequently and more often than not the other name and or its GRO ref has been miss-transcribed. The other name is there somewhere, it is a matter of doing a bit of lateral thinking and detective work to find it. Transposition of reference numbers happens a lot, 3 for an 8, 5 for a 3 and so on and so forth. Check the possible alternatives and always view the image.

If you know the second persons name, or even just the christian name, having used PP's tip of searching the census, then search for it for the same quarter and district. Don't put the spouse name in as this will fail to return anything. Try wildcard searches. Look for a reference that is similar to the one you have found, or which has an _ in it because the transcriber couldn't make it out, again, view the image.

If you are able to post the details on here, then someone will, no doubt, be happy to give it a fresh pair of eyes.

If there is a name missing on the index, one way to narrow it down a bit is to look for everyone marrying in that quarter of that year in that registration district. You can usually pick it out from there.

If you're still having difficulty finding your lady put some details on here and we'll help.

Ozi

Have found a way to use freeBMD records to identify the the bride, unfortunately it is only useful for identifying people who where married between 1890 and 1911 and those who had children.
From mid 1911 the mothers maiden name was included on births so if you put the Grooms surname into the birth's search there is a good chance to find a birth that will show who the bride was. It was quite common for women to have children over 15 to20 year period.