Genealogy Chat

I'm struggling to find my grandmothers first wedding or a birth certificate for one of her children. Here's what I know. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Brogan and she was born in 1902. At some point she married a man called Neilson who I believe was Danish. By 1931 she was married to a man called Leadley. Somewhere (I guess) between 1920 and 1930 she married Neilson and had two children - Thomas, and Harold. THere is some suggestion from my family that there was a third child called Freddie but noone knows any further information! Despite searching 1837online between 1920 to 1930 I can find no trace of the wedding or of the birth of her son Thomas Neilson. Family rumour is that Grandma was a biggamist so my second questions is: if I find the wedding how do I track down information about divorces? All of these events will, I'm fairly certain, have taken place in Hull. Can anyone help please?

Had a browse on YorkshireBMD: http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk These don't look directly like yours, but may fit in later: Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1939 NEILSEN Joyce E WALKER George St John, Newington Hull HR/15/404 Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1940 NEILSEN Laurence H GOMERSAL Kathleen St Nicholas Hull HZ/4/281 Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1947 NEILSEN Ethel J READ Robert Hull Register Offices Hull HRO/49/64 Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1956 NEILSEN Arne V S PLUMB Edna M Hull Register Offices Hull HRO/90/166 Those are all the Nielsen marriages transcribed so far on that site between 1818-1868. HOWEVER! Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1921 BROGAN Elizabeth NIELSEN Axel Gs Hull Register Offices Hull HRO/71/166 You'll notice the I & E are transposed. Will play a bit more, now I've found something! best wishes Christine

When I put NIELSEN into the search, it came up with loads of marriages! - but no Elizabeth Nielsen. And there aren't any more Elizabeth Brogan marriages transcribed yet on the site. By the way - since the BBC prog has attracted so many applications to GRO, it might be quicker to get a cert from the Local RO instead. - That ref acts as a link to an applications form - same fees, service at least as quick as normal GRO service, in my experience. Christine

Thanks so much Dawn and Christine! You definitely get tunnel vision sometimes doing this stuff. My uncle's surname (Elizabeth's son) is definitely NEILSON, he was born in the March quarter of 1930. When I started looking for my grandmothers wedding I thought to myself 'do I wade through 10,000 Brogans or search for the less common name of Neilson'. I opted for searching on Neilson on 1837online but as a result I missed the wedding which as we now know was registered under 'Nielsen'. How can a name change so much in a single generation in relatively modern times?! I guess her older children may be registered under Nielsen. Oh well, I will chalk that up to experience (and some expensive time wasting on 1837online!) Thanks again - do either of you know where I can look for information on divorces to find out whether the bigamy rumour is true?!

Craig Try this for divorce info www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/divorce/ Lou

It may be that the certificate says Neilsen and the letters have been transposed at transcription. That is not an uncommon problem. Christine

Thanks everyone. For interest, my uncle (Neilson) has his brother's birth certificate which is NIELSEN! I've also found out that despite my uncle being called Neilson on his birth certficate, his father was called Leadley (my father's surname!) Just to make things interesting, my father, despite being called Leadley, isn't a Leadley. Think I'm going to have fun with this side of the tree, I think my gran enjoyed life! Thanks again.

Hi Craig, just to say that names can be misspelt even quite recently. My maternal family name is Wilcox - but was only spelt this way for the first time on my grandfather's birth certificate in 1907. Up until then, it was spelt WILLCOCKS!! I have now learnt from experience to try all possibilities! Mandy :)

you live and learn!