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Why the name change?

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Donna17

Donna17 Report 27 May 2011 11:10

I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in Finding Ancestors - I haven't actually 'lost' anyone but I do have a bit of a mystery.

Previously I had help finding my grandmother/great grandmother (http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/ancestors/bryant/thread/1265101). It turned out that the surname on my grandmother's marriage certificate (and the name of her father), Bryant, was not the name she was born with, Hennessey.

Somehow between the 1881 census and the 1891 census, the family have changed their name from Hennessey to Bryant and I have no idea why they would do that?
By 1891 Bridget Bryant is a widow living with her children in West Ham. I think when her husband died (which I think was in 1883) he still had the surname Hennessey, but I can't find her remarrying after that, and even then, why change all the children's names? And then there is the name of my grandmother’s (dead) father on her marriage certificate - also changed to Bryant.

Any ideas please? :)

Researching:
Rowland, Hone, in Stratford (West Ham) and Essex

GlitterBaby

GlitterBaby Report 27 May 2011 11:23

Do you have any proof that James and Bridget actually married?

Researching:
PLEASE DO NOT: send me information concerning your thread on the board as it should be posted on your request where all members can see it. PLEASE DO NOT: ask me for help with lookups as they should be placed on the boards to get the best possible result. PLEASE DO NOT: open your tree just because I have posted information on your thread as I will not be related. THANK YOU. Researching Carter, Cass and Walker in England. Researching Caven, McKill, Sutherland and Will in Scotland.

GlitterBaby

GlitterBaby Report 27 May 2011 11:30

1891 have you ruled out this one. I know it says single but perhaps the couple never married

Name: James Henessey
Age: 50
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1841
Relation: Lodger
Gender: Male
Where born: Stratford, Essex, England

Civil parish: West Ham
Ecclesiastical parish: All Saints
Town: West Ham
County/Island: Essex
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View image

Registration district: West Ham
Sub-registration district: West Ham
ED, institution, or vessel: 59
Neighbors: View others on page
Piece: 1330
Folio: 68
Page Number: 3
Household Members: Name Age
Mary Henessey 84
James Henessey 50

Researching:
PLEASE DO NOT: send me information concerning your thread on the board as it should be posted on your request where all members can see it. PLEASE DO NOT: ask me for help with lookups as they should be placed on the boards to get the best possible result. PLEASE DO NOT: open your tree just because I have posted information on your thread as I will not be related. THANK YOU. Researching Carter, Cass and Walker in England. Researching Caven, McKill, Sutherland and Will in Scotland.

Donna17

Donna17 Report 27 May 2011 11:43

I have a marriage between a James Hennessey and a Bridget Connor in Alverstoke Hampshire in 1872, and their daughter Ellen was born in Alverstoke around 1871.

Even if they were never married, it still wouldn't explain why my grandmother's father appears on her marriage certificate as James Bryant. all the children's births are registered in the name Hennessey.

Researching:
Rowland, Hone, in Stratford (West Ham) and Essex