Genealogy Chat

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DEATH CERT What is on the death cert depends upon the memory and knowledge of the informant. Quite easy to give a wrong name in error - or the informant may have misunderstood the registrar's questions and thought maiden name was required. My uncle gave wrong birthyear for my grandfather's death cert. And just to show how things get recorded when my mother registered her mother's death, she was asked about her father's occupation. Well, my grandfather did lots of things to earn a living, including chauffeuring, shoe repairs, agricultural labouring etc. The registrar asked my mum if he'd had any formal training and mum said he'd originally been apprenticed to a blacksmith. The registrar said 'that sounds interesting' and promptly wrote blacksmith on the cert. But he lived until 1972 and hadn't worked as a blacksmith since leaving the army in 1922. Never assume because its on a cert its the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

MARRIAGE CERT People often embroidered the truth a bit to make out they were from a slightly higher social class. My gt uncle said his father was a provisions merchant when he was a milk carrier. Several ag lab fathers become farmers or market gardeners on certs. I have several women who invented new names on their marriage certs too. My husband's gt grandmother, registered as Rose turned into Rosella for her wedding. Plain old Annie became Elizabeth Anne. nell

for those who don't yet know of this, here's a brilliant website which states what should be on a cert and what it means. Doesn't answer all questions you may have, but is a very useful resource: http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

A cousin got married. Said his father was dead. He wasn't. RIta

My GGGrandmother is recorded as Ann Maria Hann on her marriage certificate. Her correct name was Maria Hand. I assume that she was illiterate and did not realize the error at the time. Derek

My Grandmother Ethel became Ethelina for her wedding day. The Groom, whose name was Herbert, became Seymour, for reasons best known to himself. Addresses at the time of marriage can also be misleading. I have one groom who gives his address as next door to the bride's family. I know for a fact that he really lived some 40 miles away, at the home of his parents. My 2 x GGF was registered at death by the owner of a lodging house. He states that my 2 x GGF was a 'locomotive driver'. My 2 x GGF never drove a train in his life, nor even worked for the railways, but this myth has continued down the family recollections to the present day. A birth certificate states firmly that X is the son of Y and Z. The baptismal register states that he is the illegitimate son of Y's sister. OC

I have quite a collection of certificates with misleading information. My parents marriage cert. shows my paternal grandfather with the same 3 names as Dad..... He was really just Henry. Grandfather's surname on his own marriage cert.has been wrongly split into 2 parts so GRO indexed him under the 2nd part and his father is named with just that part of the surname. A distant uncle obviously decided that Daniel was not sufficient when he married for a 3rd time and he became Daniel Granville and he took 10 years off his age for good measure. His death certificate is therefore wrong too as his latest wife didn't know any better. A birth certificate bought to confirm a relative's maiden name of Brockhurst, shows her to have been GREEN. .... still no idea why as the child's brother shows their mother to have been Brockhurst..... no death or remarriage in between. ...... and then there was Great uncle Evan, who spent the first 12 years of his life as a 'girl' until his parents made a declaration before the Registrar and his birth certificate was amended. Gwyn

My great-granny in Australia put down on her marriage certificate to her second husband that her deceased father was a minister. If it'd been true, he'd have been spinnng like a top in his grave, because she'd had 6 illegitimate children and was marrying bigamously, but he was actually a foundry worker.

And when her daughter got married, she put on the certificate that her father was a deceased ship's captain. Her father was alive and kicking, and as far as I know, the only ship he ever set foot on was the one that took him to Australia - he was a butcher.

Flipping heck and I though it was just my rellies who embelished the truth a little lol. My Nanna was a nightmare to find she said on all her certs (except for her death cert) that she was Ethel Frances Mabel and she put a year on her age. Her real name was Frances Mabel. She also fibbed about her addy lol. My great grandad James knocked a couple of years of his age and his wife my great Nanna added a few to her own. (he was really 45 yrs and she was 19 yrs) Other rellies said they were Brtitish Subjects on a census (nightmare or wot!!!!!!) when in fact they were all born in this country why they did this god only knows lol. On mums side my great grandads name was Alonzo Walter he later swapped to Walter Alonzo then eventually dropped the Alonzo altogether (why I aint gotta clue cus I much prefer Alonzo myself loL) Also dont ya think its so weird that names have followed through generations (also initilas like AW) even tho ya didnt know the names before ya started doing the family tree, its so spookie. Luv Angie xxx

hi all i have a problem at the moment. i couldnt find my grt grt grt grandmother Martha Harrison's birth so i got her brother John H Harrison's birth cert to get the fathers name as he was deceased when Martha married. Their mother on all the census' was called Isabella Harrison widowed on every census going back to 1851. And I cant find her on 1841 because its a needle in a haystack without the husbands name. So I received the birth cert of John H and the mothers name is Sarah Harrison nee Pilling father Hugh Harrison........now i am totally confused is she the same person or what?.... so now i have to order martha's marriage cert, yet another £7 and waiting time to find out Sylvia:-(

Though you might like to hear this little fib on my mum's birth certificate. Father was written as mother's husband as you would expect EXCEPT it turns out that he had been in Africia for the previous 11 months!! World's longest pregnancy or explaination to why mum was adopted!!! Thankfully mum had an idea that was going to be the explaination! Lynda