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I ordered the death certificate from GRO for my great great grandmother above, who died aged 34. (she was the wife of George Morris). The certificate returned to me was for an Elizabeth Morris aged 77, spinster for the first quarter 1847. I emailed explaining this was not the person I was looking for and mentioned that I had put in her actual age but the reply was that they do not check this and the certificate sent was what I had requested!


On FMP there is an entry for Elizabeth Morris for July/Aug/Sept Thrapstone but there seems to be some discrepancy in the two dates and one for the same name for the first quarter 1847. Both have the same Volume and Page numbers.


Can any one help please by looking at Ancestry or any other site to see what details might be shown for Elizabeth born c. 1811/12. Her maiden name was Rivett and she married George Morris Nov 1829 Little Harrowden, Northamptonshire.

Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

Reece

Is this the one you ordered?

Deaths Sep 1847 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morris Elizabeth Thrapstone 15 2[35]7

Looking at the original it's page 237.

This is the only death for Elizabeth Morris, Thrapstone 1846-1847 on FreeBMD.

Thank you Margee. Yes, that was the order but there are two with that same number, although I see that Free BMD has a slight change i.e. 2(35)7. Something odd about it? The certificate I received says Vol 15 Page 257.

I have a burial record from Northants Record Office showing the burial of Elizabeth Morris age 34 on 29 November, 1846 at Stanwick, Northampton but the death certificate for Sept 1847 seems a long time after this date. This seems very unusual, doesn't it?

Do you think that a phone call to the GRO explaining my problem might help?

Many thanks once again.

It might be worth phoning the Northants record office and ask them to check the burial record that you have, as there doesn't seem to be a death that matches up with the date of burial that you have.

Kath. x

Thanks very much Kath.

I have a scan of the relevant page plus some other brief records from the Record Office showing two more Elizabeth Morris burials at Stanwick, one age 42 for 2 Sep 1847 and one age 75 for Nov 1853 and I know who this last one is. I will try to find out who the 42 year old is as she would have been born c1805.

I will try phoning the GRO on Monday to seek some help with finding my ancestor's right certificate. I am curious to know the cause of her death.

Thank you for responding.

Reece

As I said earlier when you look at the original of that Thrapstone one the page number is 237. Whoever was transcribing it couldn't make out if it was 257 or 237 so they but both numbers in brackets but it is 237.

Reece,

I have family relatives.com that shows the actual entry in the GRO , and this is what I have observed.

Death..
Elizabeth Morris 1847 Northempton Vol 15 page 237 1st Qrt. ( probably Northampton )

Elizabeth Morris 1847 Thrapstone Vol 15 page 237 3rd Qrt.

All very clearly printed.....

Hope this helps !!

Marilyn...

Margee and Marilyn,

Thank you both very much for your kind responses - I feel more confident about telephoning the GRO now.

Reece

Reece

I think you may find that in the early days of registration (i.e. the first 10 years or so after 1837) that not all events were registered as people were not used to registration. Therefore you may not find a death certificate for "your" Elizabeth Morris.

Kath. x

Victor and Kath,

Very many thanks for both responses.

Yes, I have the scan from the Record Office, Northampton showing the burial date but there does not appear to be a corresponding death date at GRO.

As you say, Kath some just got missed off at that time.

Again, many thanks for your help.

Reece

Today I've spoken to a very helpful member of staff at the GRO Merseyside on my problem at finding Elizabeth Morris's correct death certificate.

He suggests that they do a 3 year search either side of the burial date without using the Vol and Page reference numbers. I agreed, as he said that if the search proves unsuccessful then I will get a refund. The process will take about three weeks in all.

I feel happier now about it even though I may not get the hoped for result. I will let you know either way.

Thank you to all for your interest and help.

Reece

Reply just received from the GRO on the above to say that they have searched from 1845 to 1847 inclusive for the death record of Elizabeth Morris but have not found it and have refunded my fee.

Does anyone have any further ideas for me to follow, please?

After her husband was transported for life to NSW she may lived with another man and possibly had two more children and I am wondering if she might have been buried as his wife, rather than of her first husband.

More searching!

With thanks to all who have helped.

Reece