Genealogy Chat

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Having searched at the FRC I have a marriage and a birth (both on the same line) that I cannot find in the indexes. I am sure that there are many people (probably all of us) who have had this problem and wondered what tips/helpful advice people could give which I and others may not have tried yet. For the birth I have tried reversing the names and also looking under 'male' but still not found him. For those who have managed to knock down their brickwalls re:missing entries, maybe they could just add how they managed to eventually 'find' their missing ancestor. Thanks for any ideas suggested, Louise

Hi Louise, If it is a birth and the preceding marriage of the parents, is it possible there was a deviation of the name? Sometimes if this happens, the variants are not always on the same page of the index - e.g. Cockerell. Sometimes it was Cockerall or Cockerill, but also Cockrale/Cockrall etc. My only other thought is that thechild was registered under a different surname - previous marriage and remarriage of the mother? Jay

Put the details up Lou.

Hi Lou This is by no means a comprehensive list, but these are a few of the reasons why births and marriages may not be immediately apparent: Cannot find a birth? Registration is a quarter later than expected Age is wrong on subsequent documents Person is subsequently known by a second or third forename You are searching under a shortened name: Harry, Polly, Bill, Bert, Meggie, Jack etc You are searching under a nickname: Queenie and Cissie may be names in their own right, but may have no relation whatsoever to the names they were born with Surname is mistranscribed (as happens on Ancestry) Surname is misspelt (surname spellings are usually fixed by about 1870, but this isn't a hard and fast rule) Child was illegitimate and registration is under mother's surname The family had an alias (usually due to an illegitimacy which may have been several generations ago) and use both surnames interchangeably) Mother was previously married and birth index gives a previous, rather than a maiden name. Prior to 1875, birth was not registered. Cannot find a marriage? Look up to twenty years before the birth of the first known child (although it is very unusual, girls could be married at 12 with parental consent) Look up to the date of death of first spouse Servants may marry in London (or wherever they happen to be working) then settle down somewhere else. Bride may be a widow, even in her twenties.

Hi Louisiana It's possible that the husband was born well before the actual marriage.of his parents,which means that he may well have been named after his mother's maiden name at birth,then when he marries the certificate shows his father's real name which he is then known as from the marriage date. For example the mother's name is Smith,,so he was named as a Smith at birth. his mother then marries a Mr Brown. The son(Smith)grows up and gets married under the name of Smith instead of using the name of Brown as his surname. The father's name on the certificate is 'Brown' and after the marriage they use that surname and not Smith. Regards,Michael

There are a vast amount of missing entries and errors in the GRO indexes AND CERTIFICATES. A good explaination here http://www.lfhhs.org.uk/help/factsh/lbmd.htm Read and weep. Bob

Have only just had a chance to come back online. Many thanks to all for their suggestions/knowledge. They are a great help in giving me ideas to work on. The biggest problem for the birth is the only census I am 100% sure I have found him on is the 1901. On the 1891 I think I have found him and the place of birth either says St. Marylebon or St. Marylebow. On the 1901 it says St. Mary's Axe (according to Ancestry and from what I can make of the image I tend to agree). Cannot find him on earlier censuses. This makes the job even more difficult plus he uses John William Wheeler for one of his children's births and John Edward for another. He is later known (on both marriage certificates of children) by John William Wheeler BUT on HIS marriage certificate he is John Edward Wheeler. I was wondering whether he might have actually just been born John Wheeler and the other names were given at baptism or just not registered at the birth. I have a few possibilities for John Wheeler but other than that just a John Edwin born in Shoreditch (not really the right district). One other question - I think I read on these boards or somewhere else that if an entry was missing from the GRO indexes that it may be possible to find them on the indexes held by the local registry office. Does anyone know if this could be right? Enough rambling, many thanks for the suggestions. Thanks, Louise

Hi Lou I am tracing my my mother in-laws family and hit a hurdle with her father-then her brother said the entry on the register was wrong.In 1910 her father Cecil joseph Browne was registered Cecil Joseph Broome because the registrar got it wrong due to the accent!!!

Louisiana I have so far found six events in local Ros that never reached the GRO. All mine were in Lancashire, though. Olde Crone