Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know how to find out the missing person from a marriage index, when 2 brides and only 1 groom is listed?

I am trying to find a marriage for Alice Dutton c1866 ditton, and think I have found one in 1887, however, one groom is missing and she doesn't appear to have married the other one. Alice Dutton 1887 Oct-Nov-Dec Prescot Lancashire View Record Sarah Jane Niland 1887 Oct-Nov-Dec Prescot Lancashire View Record John Price 1887 Oct-Nov-Dec Prescot Lancashire I had a look on the 1891 census, for an Alice of the right age and did find one, named Briggs, listed as daughter in law, but no husband. In 1901, she is listed as Head but still married and no husband. But when I checked the marriage images for the name Briggs, there wasn't a matching one. Any ideas?

Lynn, did you look on the partial records? Sometimes they have a missing one.

hi Elizabeth, I looked on the complete images on Ancestry for that qtr. They are type written and so it could have been missed off. Lynn

Did you see the one in Chorlton Lancashire? Q1 1887 Alice Dutton and Thomas Seal

I hadn't seen that one, but I would really expect it to be in the Prescot district, as was the case with her sisters. Thanks Lynn

Hi Lynn. I find there are two variables when a name is missing - transcriber can't decipher the district or can't decipher the reference. The route below may be a bit tedious but I have sometimes found success with the following on FreeBMD - Don't enter any names Enter the same Qtr and year for both fields THEN Enter the Reference numbers only and 'find' (will show up all entries with that reference - even if the district is different) OR Highlight the district and 'find' You will end up with a large list but you can check down the page numbers for any that have ?_ [ ] etc. Pick out any potential names, hop over to Ancestry BMD and check the image there. Checking on Ancestry is a lot easier than waiting for the images to download in FreeBMD. You can then check the following census and see if you can find them together. Margaret

Thanks Margaret, I will give that a go. Lynn

Or you could try the Local RO sites (see www.ukbmd.org.uk) and find: Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1887 Surname Forename(s) _Surname Forename(s) _Church / Register Office _Registers At _Reference DUTTON Alice _SWIFT James _Prescot Register Office or Registrar Attended _Prescot _R/45/1 Christine

Thank you very much Christine. Iwll have to remember that one. Lynn

Bingo, I've found them in 1891. Thanks again Christine Lynn

Not all the Local ROs have sites - and not all are helpful - but many are very helpful. I think one of Glen-i-t-k's threads has info about which Local ROs are helpful - certainly someone set one up. Christine

Thanks Christine. Yes I think Glen does have a thread about RO's, I'll have to look it up. Lynn