Genealogy Chat

Child F was born in 1935 and his birth certificate shows both his parents as informants.( 2 different surnames) His brother J was born in 1938. Father as before. Mother is obviously the same woman but is shown with a different again surname, but formerly( her maiden name) Informants are both parents , .. of the same address. 1940 Marriage cert. awaited for the childrens' probable parents... names are correct for father and for mother (on 1938 birth cert.) The mother was French. Would she have married a different man between the births of her 2 sons with another man or Did she just change her name.? I have looked for a marriage between the dates...and up to just before the 1940 marriage....nothing found. I looked on the Commonwealth War Graves site incase Mr B had died leaving her free to marry the boys' father...Nothing conclusive found to match a name to her. I also searched the war memorial site for the town where the family lived. Mr B is not mentioned. Thoughts anyone? Gwyn

I am trying to help someone else with their family history . Could you help shed some light on what was going on here please.?.....details below

Just a theory . she was married all along but when she registered first child she pretended she wasnt and gave her maiden name. When they registered the second child they still couldnt marry because she was still married but they were more honest second time around .Or they gave the game away to the registrar and he insisted the birth be registered correctly Shirley

Thank you Shirley... I hadn't thought of that scenario. I will look for a possible marriage. Would it have been less frowned upon for an 'unmarried' person to have a child than for a married woman to have another man's child, I wonder. Hopefully the marriage cert of 1940 will show if she was a divorcee or a widow....if she told the truth. Gwyn

Gwyneth I don't think there would have been much to choose between in the disapproval stakes in the 1930s and 40s - unmarried mother/mother married to someone else would be equally frowned upon!!! My daughter has been married (and divorced) twice. She has told her current boyfriend that she has been divorced - but not twice!!! As she said, she doesnt know if this relationship is going to be a serious one, so no point in telling him yet. May have been the same thing with your lady - she passed herself off as single, not knowing that the relationship would be a serious one, and then told him later. Always best to tell the truth from the outset, as I said to my daughter! (Erm....this is me, who lied about my age to my husband and had to carry the lie on for 15 years!!!) OC

Lol , OC... Well if he never guessed, why confuse him later Thank you for your thoughts. I'm off to trawl for an as-yet unfound older sister. ie. she was known but we can't find her birth registration. I wonder which of the 3 surnames their mother used for her? Gwyn

Gwyneth, There is another possibility that occurs in my family: the mother's parents married after she was born and so she was confused as to what was her actual maiden name and used her parents' names indiscriminately. It probably depended upon what question the registrar asked her i.e. what was your father's name? or what was your maiden name? Peter

Thank you Peter..... yet another interesting possibility. Gwyn