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Certificates & transcribing

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Dianne

Dianne Report 10 Sep 2007 08:38

Maybe his real name was Samuel but he just liked to be called James.

I am thinking of a family member of mine. My Auntie's husbands official name is Frederick. All his own family know him as Fred, but all our side know him as Rick. He would be Frederick on all official paperwork though.

Another family member is Matthias, but is generally known as Ti.

I think you need to find a wedding for the mother to find out which was his official name, or a birth certificate for one of the children.

Hope this helps.

Dianne xx

Judith

Judith Report 10 Sep 2007 08:11

Who was the informant, and were the deaths all reported at the same time? - if not a close relative the error might have been theirs. If not then I would imagine that a registrar might well write up the register from notes made when the events were reported to him, or from a form they filled in rather than filling it in on the spot and he may well have misread the name. Misreading James as Samuel and vice versa is an error I've come across (and made myself) before.

Philippa

Philippa Report 9 Sep 2007 23:57

He was James from all I have found on censuses. I think that transcribing may be the problem as 'S' & 'J' can look very similar in hand writing of time and also easy in other ways to miss-read, but I don't know anything about the process between registration and the record I accessed.
Your suggestion re birth certs is a possibility & maybe the way to go. Thanks, Pip

KathleenBell

KathleenBell Report 9 Sep 2007 23:30

Could he have been James Samuel or Samuel James? It seems strange that all three would be wrong.

Have you got birth certificates for the children who died?

Kath. x

Philippa

Philippa Report 9 Sep 2007 23:25

I recently sent for 3 death certificates. They were for 3 ancestors (all living under the same roof) whose deaths were registered on the same page. They died in 1866.
My reason for this was to confirm suspicions that cause of death was cholera. I was right on this but what totally threw me was that all the death certs gave the name 'Samuel' as either husband or father of all.
The husband/father I believe, is James, not Samuel. (This tallies with all research to date).
Could this be contributed to a fault in transcribing?
Pip