parents names on marriage cert....true or false??.....

[elmca]

hi, this is my first posting! hope it's in the right place!
I have a little puzzle (or two but first things first).....my great-grandmother's marriage cert stated names of parents, however I have found no trace of these people anywhere......a few years ago I queried this through the records office and they told me that according to great-grannies death cert her parents were named as 2 completely different people and I have been able to trace these people and I am assuming they really were her parents (ties in). But what I need to know is......was it normal to make up names of parents?? Did they not need parents to attend a marriage or have some proof of parentage/age etc?? I know great-grannies parents were Irish catholics and she married a protestant, maybe that caused a rift?? hope someone can shed some light Thanks!! elmca

[Ina]

Hi Elmca,

Welcome to talkingscot. You will find us to be a friendly bunch of people.

I’m not sure if you need proof of your parents when you marry. I have the birth certificate for the daughter of my gg grandmother where it actually states on the birth certificate that the husband is not the father (sworn to by the mother). My gg grandparents had been separated for four years when this birth occurred. This girl used my gg grandfather’s name on both her marriage and death certificate. I’m sure if she had her birth record she knew that this was not her name.

Ina

[FionaZ]

Hi Elmca,
Welcome to Talkingscot.
My great grandfather Andrew Frame named his parents as William Frame and Janet Hamilton on his marriage certificate when his parents were in fact Daniel Frame and Jane Hamilton. Jane died when he was four years old but he appears on the 1861, and 1871 living with his father Daniel (who never remarried) and siblings, and on the 1881 and 1891 living next door to his father and brother's family! I have not yet worked out why he was confused!!
regards,
Fiona

[DavidWW]

Two points here.

Firstly, who was the informant on the death register entry involved?, as the accuracy of the information is entirely due to their degree of knowledge of the deceased. It's far from uncommon for there to be major errors in relation to the names of the parents of the deceased.

Secondly, it needs to be appreciated that, up until the late 1930s, the process most often involved a minister who filled in a marriage "Schedule". This schedule was then taken along by someone to the registrar's office where the registrar transcribed the info from the schedule into the statutory marriage register, thus opening up another possibility for the introduction of error........... I'm sure that most transcriptions were correct, but ...............

David

[ninatoo]

And yes, some do lie as well, like my elusive Jane Cotterill, m.s. McLaughlin or Inglis who is mentioned here and there on these boards. When she married she gave her maiden name as McLaughlin, father Michael, mother Jane Queen...I can't find them, or her. She was born around 1845. Her marriage and death certificates state the same parents, but I suspect the details of the death registration may have been taken from the marriage certificate by the son who was informant on the death.

Then I recently was provided with another record, where Jane's parents are called Thomas Inglis and Jane McLaughlin. This was a application for education at the poorhouse made by her husband John Cotterill. So I suppose he or she verbally gave the scribe those names. On this record I also discovered she was Roman Catholic, married to a Protestant, and yes, I would say that it was not well accepted in 1870, as it certainly still wasn't when my parents married in the 1960's.

On all birth registrations of her children she calls herself Inglis. McLaughlin is never referred to again.

I have made up many little scenarios in my head for this mysterious woman, but all for fun. I don't think I will ever really find out what happened unless I can find her birth registration, which is a mite difficult when I don't know her parents!!!

[elmca]

Hi guys, thanks for all the interest in my query! Well I am satisfied that false information was given at the time of marriage for whatever reason! My g.granny was not a stupid lady so it must have been done on purpose or else the registrar was totally deaf. I was just worried I had been perhaps following the wrong family tree here but I think the names on the death cert are the correct ones - maybe she forgave her parents in the end (me also making up scenarios in my head!) the women in my family do tend to like to have their own way or no way so perhaps it's all in the genes.......hee hee

[Jack]

Hi Elmca,

Have you found your G-GM on any of the censuses from 1841-1901? with her parents?
Do you know of any siblings, and what their MCs or DCs said for parents?

Jack

[DavidWW]

Hi guys, thanks for all the interest in my query! Well I am satisfied that false information was given at the time of marriage for whatever reason! My g.granny was not a stupid lady so it must have been done on purpose or else the registrar was totally deaf. I was just worried I had been perhaps following the wrong family tree here but I think the names on the death cert are the correct ones - maybe she forgave her parents in the end (me also making up scenarios in my head!) the women in my family do tend to like to have their own way or no way so perhaps it's all in the genes.......hee hee

I'm not making my point

For the era concerned, there are three possibilities here.

Firstly, wrong information was given by accident or deliberately to the minister conducting the marriage.

Secondly, the minister, not the registrar, had bad hearing and entered wrong information on the marriage schedule.

Thirdly, the registrar wrongly transcribed the information from the schedule to the marriage register (unless of course it was a "sheriff's warrant" marriage in which the couple did attend the registrar's office).
Most often it was someone other than the husband or wife who took the schedule along to the registrar's office.

David

[elmca]

hi Jack
yes I found her on various census returns and although the names varied (in this case Helen/Nellie/etc) it seems to be her alright. The names on the marriage cert are most likely fictional as there is no trace of these people at all. It has been a learning curve though and I have found various long lost ancestors through not completely relying on given information such as age/precise name (parents!) etc. and it is also worth considering a completely different town or county when searching as I have often found ancestors living somewhere I would never have thought of! Bye for now

[elmca]

text
David - yes I understand - sorry, the way I wrote my reply obviously didn't make that clear, thanks very much. elmca