Genealogy Chat

Hi i have a problem,on a census i have a daughter with a different surname than the mother and father,but on the wedding cert the mother is a spinster.--not a widower-- so did they divorce or never married???any thoughts john

as far as i understand a spinster is a woman that has not married just for the record, spinster, definition is 1, A woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying. 2, A single woman. 3, A person whose occupation is spinning Roy

So Miss Brown (spinster) married Mr Green (bachelor??) but on the census they have a dau, Miss Black. Is that what you mean? How does the marriage date compare with the age of the dau? Merry

spinster means unmarried (never married) but people told porkies

I got a certificate back today and a woman, who had a partner that people thought was her husband but it wasn't, then married some years after he died. On the marriage certificate, the woman is shown as a spinster rather than a widow (as she was not actually married to her partner). Only thing is she used her late partner's surname and so the registrar put her father down as having the same surname as her, but we know this is wrong as she was using her late partner's name not her birth name! Is the daughter not the birth child of the father? Was she given her birth father's name but raised by the birth mother's family?

the daughter was about 7 when her mum married a different dad but was a divorse actaly written on a marrage cert or just spinster??

John If she told the truth, (divorced) then it would say 'previous marriage dissolved' not Spinster. But lots of people didnt tell the Registrar the whole truth...or indeed their intended groom. Olde Crone

and of course, divorce was a real rarity up untl very recent times.Only for the very very rich general