Genealogy Chat

Any NSW BMD experts around?

I’ve found two cases where the same birth or marriage has been registered more than once under different names. In one case, a marriage was registered under the bride’s current surname (surname of her late husband) and her maiden name. In another case, the birth of an illegitimate child was registered under the mother’s current surname (her husband’s surname), her lover’s surname (presumably the child’s father) and her maiden name. In both cases, all the entries have the same registration number. Was this normal practice, and if not, why would it have been done? And which name would the child with three surnames have used?

I'm not really a NSW expert, but it is probably just duplicate index entries, the same as we have in England and Wales; basically, if there is more than one surname involved, they put index entries in for each surname so that it is possible to find the entry using any of the surnames. As for which surname the child would use, it would be up to his or her parents, and then up to the child him / herself when he / she was old enough to decide! Kate.

I don't know about NSW but in the UK (Eng Wales) your first scenario happens: March quarter 1912 to September quarter 1962 -- if female was previously married, index shows maiden name and married name and your second scenario would partially happen, if the lover attended the registration. The only bit you wouldn't get is a record under the maiden surname of the mum. Are you sure you are not talking about the INDEX entries (as I am in the above examples)?......Sometimes there will be several index entries which all lead to the same certificate. Merry

Yes, sorry, these are index entries I'm talking about - I've been searching the NSW BMD index. I seem to have come across a major skeleton in the family closet - great-grandma had 4 children by her husband, and another 5 with no father listed. She then married the man who I think is probably the father of the illegitimate 5, but years later, and while her first husband was still alive, although there's no sign of a divorce. One of the children ended up in a children's home, and the other 4 vanished, so I'm assuming they were adopted and had their names changed. What puzzled me is that there's no father listed for the children (the father's name is left blank), yet at least one of them was listed 3 times in the index, with its surname given as her maiden name, her husband's surname, and the putative father's surname.

Mary, Give me names and dates, etc and I'll see what I can do. Email me if you prefer. I'm going away for a week from Wednesday morning, Aus time. That's nine hours ahead of London. Happy to do it before then.

Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for your kind offer. I'll send you the details in a PM - I don't think any of the people involved can still be alive, but their descendants may not know the whole story.