Genealogy Chat

Help - after spending all afternoon trawling thru records and spending countless units I've finally found a record that looks like it could be my grandparents marriage! I found a John Hunt married someone named Sparkes or Merritt (my fathers BC has his mothers maiden name as Merritt) in Birmingham in Q1 1943 - which ties in as my dad was born in 1949. BUT what does the two names mean? Kerry

Hi Kerry, Just a thought but could it be your grandmothers second marriage? Maybe Merrit, is her maiden name she married someone called Sparkes and was then maybe widowed and marries John Hurt., or maybe someone else can come up with another theory :o) Regards Sheila

Hi Kerry, I found the same thing with one of my rellies and I was told that it could be a second marriage with both maiden name and first marriage name showing. I have not had a chance to check it out yet though. Sue:-)

Thanx - it gets more and more intriguing!

I had this with one of my rellies. She divorced her first husband and reverted back to her maiden name. When she married again both her maiden name and the surname of her first husband were recorded in the indexes. Jill

Perhaps Hubby No1 lost his life in WW2.

Kerry, I have had this several times and in every case it has been a second marriage which has neen very helpful as I didn't know about it. The confusing thing is any births are registered in the mothers maiden name. Jean x.

Hi! I would be careful with the divorce theory as divorce was not an' in' thing to do in the 1800's.

As we're talking 1949 then the Ist husband could well have been killed in the war etc . My grandmother married in 1925 and again in 1937 as her 1st husband died of tb at 32, and she had a family to bring up, you needed a breadwinner! KIM

update - after a bit of digging on my behald by Chris is looks like Sparkes may have been her maiden name so I'm going to get a copy of my grandparents M certificate to see what that says. If she had a first husband I supposehe could have died in the war. Not sure about the divorce idea as she was quite a strict catholic but then I suppose people are always contradicting themselves.

Hi Kerry - Please keep me posted and don't forget where I am if you want any more help. Cheers Chris

I found this on 1837 with one of my rellies. It gave his spouse's surname as Muxlow or Humphreys. When the certificate arrived on the actual marriage cert it did say Muxlow or Humphreys. The fathers name was blank as well. As I found out more about her, she was illegitimate, her mothers maiden name was Muxlow, and her mother married a Humphreys after she was born. So she took the name on, even though strictly speaking I don't think anything official was ever done about it (I don't think he ever formerly adopted her). Hope this helps. Rachel

hi kerry i was not married when my son was born but was using his fathers name, so on my son's birth cert. under mothers name it has both names, r****y formley h*****d. hope this helps penny