Genealogy Chat

They are the same as available on Ancestry. The Ancestry records are scanned copies of the big ledgers held at FRC Shirley

Hi Can someone tell me how you set about searching for a marriage at the Family Record Centre in Myddleton Street? I would want to look between the years 1912-1930 and I reckon the marriage would have taken place somewhere in the North London area. Are these records available on line? I haven't had any luck finding my Gt Grandfather's 2nd marriage on Ancestry BMD and someone suggested I might have more luck at the Family Record Centre. Many thanks Lyndsey

Thanks Shirley I guess that if I couldn't find it on Ancestry BMD then I won't find it at the Records Centre either! I'm usually very careful with my BMD searches and if it was there I'm sure I would have found it. I'm beginning to doubt that they were married after all, maybe they just lived as man and wife! Cheers Lyndsey

have you found any birth certs for children Mind you they often reg children as if they were married. I know my step grandad reg two children as if they were married but they didnt marry till 3 years after the 2nd child. in Oct 1914. I suspect cos he went in the army and needed to send her home his Army allotment pay Shirley

Hi Lyndsey, I am looking for a marriage as well and I am now having the same doubts as you Margaret

Hi Shirley Thanks for the suggestion, sorry for the delay in my reply. Unfortunately, I have no idea if there were children from this marriage/union. If there was a marriage then the lady in question would have been his 2nd wife. Rumour had it that after my Gt. Grandmother died in 1912 he left the family home with 'another woman'. He was 43 at the time. After that his life is a mystery, Nan and her siblings never saw him again. I eventually found his death by the slow process of elimination and a painstaking trawl of the BMD records. It was only when I got a copy of his death certificate that I discovered that he may have remarried - the informant being 'Mrs Freeman, widow of deseased'! However, I have now found out where he is buried and am hoping that there may be some cemetery records which might throw some light on his missing years. Lyndsey

Hi Lyndsey As you say they may have never married. She may have called herself Mrs Freeman and described her self as his widow but never married . It was always then about saving face & not letting others know your business. Shirley

That's right Shirley, especially if you had something to hide! I don't have a clue as to why she only described herself as Mrs Freeman - and didn't give her christian name on the death certificate. I'd never come across that before. I think Nan once said that this woman her father ran off with was a female cousin I thought initially that perhaps in those days it might have been illegal for cousins to have a 'relationship' and that was why she had kept her first name concealed. I've since been told it wasn't illegal so there would have been no need for any unnecessary secrecy. Lyndsey