Genealogy Chat

Spoke to a lovely lady at Devizes/Marlborough records office who went and looked THERE AND THEN, WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE! She was able to confirm that Jemima and Kezia were indeed twins (Jemima the older by 10 mins)-mystery solved, although still no reason other than human error for her not being on GRO......nice to know it wasn't my research at fault !!

Thanks everyone,
Petrina



Original message:
Hi all,
Do you think I am missing a twin birth?

I have my great grandmothers birth cert:

"Kezia Gough",father Henry Gough,mother Mary Jane Gough, formerly Hillman,living in Marlborough

born 20th Oct 1874 "8h 10m a.m." (Now I have read threads that say time doesn't always equal twins...but....)

1881 census gives 2 six-year olds at home KEZIA and JEMIMA
1891 16 yr old Kezia working away from home
16 yr old "JANE" living at home
1894 marriage of "JEMIMA JANE" Gough to Joseph Packer
1903 Joseph Packer pops up as witness to Kezia's marriage (Kezia and Jemima living near each other in London 1901)

So why can't I find a birth for Jemima, Jemima Jane, or plain Jane Gough to fit with her age on censuses?
I've looked all through 1873,1874,1875 in case they were just near in age, not twins.Nothing!
If twins, shouldn't they be next to each other on the regisiter anyway?? I've even looked all through the "G"'s in case it was handwritten later- there's a lot of those in that register!

Henry had 3 wives and at least a dozen kids,(so far!) and everything and everyone has been registered properly, always spelled "Gough" not Goff etc, tho' I've checked that too! So, where is Jemima??

By the way, my daughter looked up 'Kezia' as a name and the site said " one of the 3 daughters of Job, so popularly used in cases of multiple births, with JEMIMA and Keren"!!!!!!!!!! How frustrating!

Any ideas?
Petrina