Genealogy Chat

Would value anyones opinion on the following as its beginning to do my head in !lol I managed to track down my gg grandads marriage cert patrick john rooney , who was born in 1869 and married in 1900. The witness on the certificate was john Patrick rooney , I thought yippee it must be his brother ! , I checked the census for 1901 and there was only one john patrick rooney in the same district as my gg grandfather ,but 19 years older .. I managed to order his wedding cert also , hoping 1. fathers name would be the same , and 2. Patrick john my gg grandfather would be a witness at the wedding ! . turns out the fathers name is different and my ggg was not a witness, Would like you to let me know what you all think…. In % ‘s how likely do you think it is that this witness at my gg granddads wedding with such a simlar name living in the same area is a relative…and who do you think he may be ?

Sean Could be a cousin. Did your ggrandfather have any brothers who may have had children. Sometimes it was very common for several members of the same family (brothers, cousins, children etc) to have the same name. It was a kind of tradition Ali

If he's 19 years older couldn't it be his father? Hmmm, no I suppose his name is already there anyway. Sorry - no help at all! Anne PS What about an Uncle? His dad's brother?

Have you looked for him on previous censuses, you may find him in a household with another name you recognise. Carole

At a wild guess, his uncle?

have checked census and found him living with other rooneys , but not ones i recognise , maybe they are relatives i didnt know about ?...they lived warrington , my g grandad lived salford, so not too far away...

99% chance that they are related if not directly then say 2nd cousins or even 3rd Familys from that time were a lot closer than they are now it was not unusual for several genarations to live (and meet) in the same area. I have several close family groups in my tree. untill the 1900 not one of them lived more than 2 miles from the rest.