Genealogy Chat

Just curious, but one of my lot have turned up as 'Illiterate' when registering her daughter's birth. What are the chances of correct information being recorded by her own family in the 1850's? Am I going to be flogging a dead horse, so to speak? Pat

Where does it say this? I have plenty of relatives that have 'made their mark' instead of signing something, indicating that they couldn't read or write. At the end of the day the registrar or census enumerator would have completed any forms so assuming that they weren't illiterate (although I do wonder sometimes!), information should be correct. Sam x

Hi Sam, It does say on her daughter's bc that informant was her mother and was 'illiterate' - nice! The information on the bc is correct though. Just wondered how good her own family were at giving information when registering bmd etc. making my life a little more interesting (or difficult) Pat x

I have several certificates where the informant of a birth or death...... or bride in the case of a marriage certificate, only signed with an X. All the details are correct though. But it would certainly explain why some names are not spelt as they should be. The registrar would write it as how HE thought the correct spelling would be. I think it gives a glimps of what life was like a for some of our ancestors...some had an education where others didn't.

This is another reason why there are so many mis-spellings, wrong ages, etc, on the censuses ................. so many of our ancestors were illiterate in the sense that they couldn't read or write, and the census takers were often only slightly more literate! Yet, think about it .................. many of those illiterates ran their own farms, kept tallies, worked, ran quite complicated machinery (I wouldn't like to try to operate a loom in a cotton mill!!) ....... so they were actually quite or even very intelligent. They were illiterate 'cos there wasn't the schooling available, or they were unable to attend school for whatever reason. In no way does it mean that they wouldn't know when a child was born, nor how they wanted a name to be spelt ............. even if it is the 'wrong' spelling to our minds. It is when you have the census taker, the record keeper, the registrar, etc, interpreting the information that you can get the real problem!!

Are you absolutely postive it says illiterate, and not illegitimate? I have plenty of certs where they have made their mark - but have never seen 'illiterate' on a cert - what business was it of the Registrar to record THAT? OC

I spent three years looking for the wrong family, as the Registrar had registered my great grandfather's mother as Mary Hazel, and her name was Mary Layzell. A kind member of Essex FHS put me right, and it was plain sailing from then on.

I cant imagine why the Registrar would have written that on the cert - normally it just has an X where the mother would sign. I cant see why this would affect the truth of the information provided, not being able to write wouldnt mean you are incapacitated mentally. Sir Richard Branson is unable to write out even a cheque for himself but Im sure he could give you down to a millionth of a percentage the details of every company he owns.

I never knew that!! Of course, living in Canada, we don't often get such minutae! I bet he does know everything there is to know about his businesses! Do you know if a reason has ever been given for why he can't write?

I think Richard Branson is dyslexic. I'm sure he can sign his name, just not very good at expressing himself in writing. His brain obviously compensates for this in other areas!