Genealogy Chat

I have been searching for the marriage of my great great grandparents Thomas Harris and Maria Smith. I have their daughters birth cert(1872) so know that they are the exact names to search for the marriage. I've found the couple, classed as married, in the 1871, with a 2 year old son so decided to search a couple of years either side of the 1871 census. I have searched the complete birth records and can't find a Thomas Harris marrying a Maria Smith (Matching codes). However, I have found a matching code for a Thomas Harries and a Maria Harries (Harris could have been misheard for Harries) in the area where they probably would have lived and also the right sort of time. Would it be possible that Marias surname wouldn't have been recorded correctly (giving her married surname instead of her maiden name) or is it possible that 2 people with matching codes were not necessarily marrying each other and it could have been a brother and sister getting married (to different people of course) on the same day, hence the same codes? Am I making sense??? I would appreciate your comments.

If you order the marriage certificate, you can see if they signed their names, or just their mark, which will show if they were literate or not. Registrars just wrote what they heard. My grandfathers mothers death certificate gives her name as Joanna, and it is Annie on grandfathers birth certificate, so names did change along the line sometimes.

I agree- order the certificate. It probably is a mistake.

Kathryn, I assume you have searched the national index (at FRC or whatever). If all the details match exactlythey probably did marry (though the last [page] no is not unique to one marriage as there are several entries on a register page). It is perfectly possible for their to be mistakes. The local registrar had to copy the original register entry for their quarterly national return, then the national index had to be compiled from the copies so there are two opportunities for errors to beintrduced. If you send for the certificate, and the details you supply are not correct you will not be sent the cert and part of the fee will be refunded so it is probably worth it to give it a whirl. Pam

Thanks everybody for your comments. I think I'll phone the registrars office (as they are local) and ask them to only send the certificate if the names are Thomas Harris and Maria Smith. That way they'll reurn my cheque if it's not the right one. Voila...job done!! Why didn't I think of that earlier.

If you order from the actual register office for a fee of £7, they will refund the full amount if it is wrong.