General Chat

For the last few months on and off, I have been doing bits and bats of my family tree. Just for a look ( with a great help off people on here) I have had a nose at mine and my in laws family in the 1939 register. So that is 4 families, I know for a fact that some of the information for 2 of the families is incorrect. Now either this is because of misunderstanding whilst the information was being recorded or the person providing the information chose to give it.

So it makes you think about the information we receive on certs , census and so on, I have at least 2 certs where I know the information is incorrect, 1 is the groom is lying about his age but 4 months later it becomes apparent why he did. Then the actual name of the brides father she is married twice and has 2 different fathers !!! :-0

Let me tell you a story - a true one too.

When my young sister was born in the early 60s, mum instructed dad to cycle (no car at the time) the 15 miles to the local town to register the new born's name.

Flushed with excitement, he entered the office in town & said he wish to declare his latest arrival.

"No problem" said the attendant as he prepared to take a note of the relevant bits & pieces.

"And what name is your new daughter to have?"

Embarrassed silence followed for a few moments & dad declared he couldn't remember what had been decided.

In the absence of telephone communication, he had to cycle back home to reacquaint himself with the agreed name. Not too sure of the actual words used by mum - not to be heard in the presence of young children, I suspect.

Thankfully, all was eventually finalised to everyone's satisfaction.

Mind you, whenever my younger sister caused me any aggravation as she grew up, I always retorted by enquiring - "Remind me - what's your name?" :-D

Yes, I've found that some of the birthdates have been incorrect on the 1939 Register; usually it's the year although I have also found the day and/or month have been incorrect :-0

I too have had a person who was married twice with different father's but that has been because they were either illegitimate or their biological father died or disappeared when they were very young and they used the first name of their stepfather on one of the Registers :-0

well yes ,and some of it was face saving too as they didnt want other folks to know their personal business

i have the 1930,s marriage cert of a niece of my grandmother .her mum was grans sister and the child was illegitimate. She put her grandfathers name as her father and deceased (he was!) so she didnt have to get parental consent to marry .

plus certs too are only as the informant thinks they know

the same grandmother, .who was an Emma Ann ,married twice and her husband reg the births of the two eldest children .He put mums name as Annie cos that was what he called her .

even recently i put my husbands place of birth incorrectly . I was rung out of the blue by the coroners office for his details so they could reg his death .
I knew they lived in woolwich and thought he was born there , Nope he was born in the local main hospital at Greenwich.

Now my family lived in the greenwich reg district and I was born in a mother and babies home in woolwich !!.Quite legitimately I might add !! It was a renowned maternity hospital and folks just wanted the special care they gave to pregnant mums and the babies

so sometimes its just folks are asked and they arent quite sure but have to give an answer


:-D :-D

I've found quite a bit of 'factual manoeuvring' and 'innocent' errors too :-D

Like you, Madge, I have marriage certs with the age not quite right.
In the 1939 register, my Southampton Gran - surname 'Shearing', is mistranscribed as 'Skearing' - an easy mistake.

However, on the same register, I found my Cornish Gran on a prison register.
Yes, she was an inmate - but had given 4 different surnames on entry! :-S

Looking at the newspaper report of the crime that led to her incarceration, she's tried under one name - Mrs B A 'N', and the end of the report says her real name is B A 'J' (she wasn't a 'Mrs').
Her crime? She 'represented herself as an authorized collector of the Distressed Areas Relief Society', and collected money from the town's 'worthies', which went into her pocket!

I her defence, she was a lovely lady. At the time, she was unmarried with 2 children.
When she turned 60 and got her pension, she toured the country collecting for Kidney Charities.
This money didn't end up in her pocket - she actually won an award for the most money collected - and donated! :-D :-D

Thank you for your reply's.

Londonbelle I looked for a second marriage no, I even considered that after her 1st marriage she gave her father's name as William ( deceased) and maybe someone had told her no his name was Daniel also (deceased).


Shirley When registering my own Mother's death with my sisters only last year, I was not at my best that day. When asked of my Mum's place of birth my sister said Eccles as that is where she grew up and lived till she married, I suddenly remembered my mum was also born in a Mother and Baby home also very legitimately because she was my Nan's 10th child and she was nearing 40 and they thought she would get some rest, this was before the NHS. I piped up no she was born in Flixton, then came the question where was the birth registered luckily I could confirm it was Barton upon Irwell. When asked how many certs we would need my sister asked if wanted one also for my family tree I just shock my head and I could not even bare to read it and never have.

Maggie your cornish Gran sounds a bit of a rum em :-D

Thought of another one.
My Southampton Gran's mum, Amelia (born in Suffolk) had 10 children, the first born in Southampton in 1902, so, obviously, you look for a marriage from 1895 to around 1910, to cover all possibilities. Nothing, either in Suffolk or Southampton.
In 1901, I find her in Bournemouth, and her future husband, Arthur, living down the road - perhaps they married there - no.
1911 census - there she is, wife of Mr P, with 4 children.

They actually married in 1922 - just before the birth of baby number 10 - but for 20 years she called herself Mrs P, and wasn't questioned!

It transpires, Arthur, born in London was already married. He'd left his wife in London and moved to Bournemouth. Divorce was expensive, so they waited until the first Mrs P died before marrying.
So why did Amelia move from the little village in Suffolk where the family had lived for generations and move to Bournemouth?
She had a baby out of wedlock - she actually went to Hull to have her.
Left baby Daisy with her parents and moved as far South as she could.
Unfortunately Daisy died aged 7.

So, it appears, Amelia and Arthur met in Bournemouth, and moved in together in Southampton, pretending they were married.

My Great Grandmother did the same , Married Husband no 1 1889 ( he was actually the boy next door) had her 1st son 2 yrs later then 3 daughters by 1901 she is living in Liverpool with husband no 2 with his child . another on the way and her 3 daughters, her eldest a son is living in Manchester correction school. I could not find Husband no 1 death or even the second marriage, by 1911 she has moved back to Manchester area ,totally different district from where she grew up and lived during her 1st marriage. By now she has a total of 10 children and lives in 3 rooms. Eldest daughter ( My Grandma) is in service also in the area. She is still married or should I say living with husband no 2. It was whilst I was looking for my Grandma's marriage that I actually found the legal marriage of my GGmother married in 1912 in totally different area of Manchester where she then lived this is when she legally married husband no 2 they both lie about their home address's all I suspect was conducted whilst the children were at school and in total secret. The witnesses to the marriage and the home address's for the bride and groom belong to the Brides Niece and nephew both now married and a month before husband no 1 had passed away. The reason for all the lies and secrecy was because divorce would not been an option even if they could afford it GGmother was a devout catholic , the bloody nerve of her. :-D

OH's step mother never knew when her exact birth date was.

She always celebrated on the day her mother told her but when she needed a passport in her 40s she found her father registered the date as 2 days later. When queried her parents both said they gave the correct date. As 9th in 10 children who would you believe.? She decided on her mother's date for her birthday but her father's for official docs to tie up with her birth cert. :-D

Morning Madge :-D

My mum was very proud to say she was born on a Sunday.
Me being a puzzle freak entertained myself with working out (the long way) who was born on which day. I discovered that my mums birthdate was on a Tuesday! :-0 She was not pleased and dismissed my work. I know not whether she was born on the 6th or the 8th.

I honestly don't think we can be 100% about our ancestors. It's fun and feeds my thirst for cryptic puzzles but I don't take it terribly seriously at a personal level.

Dermot.... :-D :-D :-D

Cornish Granny was lovely, Madge.
I didn't know she existed until I was 10 - then I was sent to stay with her for the summer holidays.
The house was amazing - no electricity upstairs, the doors (where they existed) were something like plyboard covered in layer upon layer of wallpaper - to give them 'strength'. There was a bath upstairs, but hot water had to be carried upstairs, oh, and there was also an outside loo
Also living with her were my aunt and 2 cousins (who I also never knew existed), and their vicious Jack Russell - gran had a soppy Old English Sheepdog..
The younger cousin was exactly a year younger than me.

Granny had a smallholding with 12 milking cows, about 12 breeding sows and chickens.
Every morning, before letting the pigs out, she'd tickle their tummies.
When one tried to crush me between the gate (that I was standing behind, to keep out of the sow and piglets way) and the fence, granny just called her, by name, and told her to 'behave' - and the sow moved off.
The cows were cute - except for Princess - who would bite if you got within mouth distance.
When gran caught me and my cousin smoking one of her Woodbines, she sat us each on a cow and made us smoke 5.
I was put on Princess. When I objected, I was told 'You are older than D, you should have known better'.
I didn't tell Gran it was D's idea, and that she found the cigarettes.

She was also a great mimic.
She would speak to people the same way they spoke to her, and I really had to stifle giggles when some toff tried to tell her, her cows were in her way, and granny copied her way of speech back at her, whilst subtly directing the cows to get even further 'in her way' :-D :-D :-D
Strangely, until I pointed it out, cousin D hadn't noticed how she mimicked!

OK here comes my dirty sheet! :-D :-D :-D

My Nan was very Victorian, and judgemental, and poured scorn on any celeb that had a child out of wedlock. When a well known celeb gave birth to an 8lb baby and declared it premature she kept on about it all afternoon.

So, when she died, my Mum was sorting out the effects. In amongst other papers was Nan's wedding lines. She was married two days before she gave birth.

I still cant get to the bottom of why they could not marry before. Both were single, and even though it was in the middle of WW1 he was not in the armed forces.

Still, when push comes to shove, it was their business. But I do have a chuckle about it.

My Mum was born on a Satruday, when I used to ask her things about me as a baby like my birth I was amazed how things changed I was always born on the day of week I asking the question, I was actually born on a Tuesday. Also the time of day changed. I know she was induced with me a month before her due date as I was big and breach, they managed to turn me as she was delivering, she confirmed this in her later years that I was born in the evening as and I quote " we was at all bloody day with you" near the end of her life she often didn't accept things as they were this was due to her illness she reversed in age, her grown up children became children again, she once asked who I was, I said I am Hayley your baby , she looked shocked and replied oh no love my Hayley my baby is a little girl she then described me in great detail or should I say toddler Hayley, this was an amazing experience as I sat by her bedside holding her hand she told me stories of her cheeky very entertaining child who was obviously her favorite. When she became a 5yr old girl it was also very obvious where or whom I got my cheeky naughtiness from !!!



I loved my Nan I used to love to stay with her, she had brill 1 liners.

Its always the way Motown Gal maybe your Gran did not really want to marry and felt annoyed it was expected of her but not the celeb got away from it. I was not married when any of my children was born but I still think I would like to see mine married before they have children not that I would be bothered if they were or not, what a bloody hypocrite I am.



Both lots of my Grandparents " had" to get married my Nan would openly tell she married June 1917 and gave birth in August 1917 , however it was I that discovered my Grandma was 5mth pregnant when she married and it do not go down well with my Aunt and Uncle.

I have several anomalies in the certificates in my possession some I was told about, others discovered upon starting my family history.

I grew up and married with an invented surname but fortunately I was told about it when I was a girl. It made it so much easier when anyone asked, "Are you related to ..so and so?" My quick reply was no, it's not my real name.

It never bothered me at all and still don't but Oh, the look of puzzlement on people's faces! :-D

If only they could have dug deeper years ago, they might have been surprised by what they found in their own histories.

Sad but true Madge, these people are all gone. They lived their lives as they wanted or had to. Maybe my Grand-dad was the unwilling one. I am sure the other grandparents cut it a bit fine too.

It just makes me laugh when I see WDYTYA and the celeb starts crying about the hardships, workhouse, etc. No amount of tears will bring these people back. What happened to them make us what we are today. My other Grand-dad died in the workhouse, as he was a Pauper. I regularly walk past what was the work-house, it is now all posh designer apartments. If those occupants only knew.

The same Emma Ann was a very autocratic lady. She dressed even in the 1950/60 like the old Queen Mary alway wore a hat and a tailored coat that ended just above the shin

She would pay a state visit every 4 years or so and we were told to say hello grandma and make ourselves scarce as children were to be seen and not heard was her doctrine
Any greeting got met with a reluctant grunt

My parents had 8 children , sadly the 1 st one died aged 3 months

Well the current state visit was due in 1949 and mum was pregnant with the youngest
, the next two down were gapped at 4 years intervals i.e. 1941 and 1945

So she swept in and looked at mum and said disdainfully "not another one "


Now doing the paternal side what did I find ?????

Yep she had 8
She was 5 months gone with the 1st when she married in 1902

She was widowed in 1911 and met the new "husband" and a little while after she had a son in 1912 and a daughter in 1914 and they only married after the daughter was born when he rejoined the army for ww1 . Presumably so he could sent her his money

I always say what a bee cheek she had .

Mum and dad had 8 kids and they were all born in wedlock so how dare she :-(

My paternal grandfather lied about his age on the marriage cert and added a few years. I'm sure it was because his wife was four years older than him and for him it was more acceptable that his wife should be younger than him, not older!! These things seemed to matter more years ago!

My mother had to get a copy of her birth cert when she claimed her pension and had a shock when she discovered she was a year younger than she thought she was, so had to wait another year!! It got her wondering whether she had gone to school a year earlier too......she said no wonder I found it hard at school!

I've never been too impressed when I read of people having got all the 'cert' evidence for their family tree. As has been said, it is only as good as the information given at the time. Both my mum's and dad's death certs have errors as they were registered by people who did not know all the details and made assumptions and guesses.