Genealogy Chat

How reliable are certificates? I have a birth cert for thomas phillips mother ann no father. Thomas was bought up by his uncle? Henry, henry was down as father on thomas's wedding cert. Problem I have is I can find no more evidence of ann. I can find a henry phillips born abt 1815 in willenhall to a john and elizabeth, then either these two, or another john and elizabeth have a daughter ann in abt 1828, but thomas was born in 1843. Was ann his mothers real name?

Certificates are as reliable as the information the various parties chose to give to the Registrar (and the Registrar's ability to understand what (s)he was told - thinking of regional accents, or difficult script). Sometimes in was in someone's interest to be older or younger than their real age (avoid need for parental permission for marriage; not be to much older/younger than your marriage partner). Someone might acquire a hitherto unknown father in the interest of not appearing illegitimate. Someone's line of work might move upmarket in the interest of impressing the new in-laws. At death, it was a question of how much the informant knew - which might be very little, or coloured by any number of influences. Christine

many thanks for the reply