View Full Version : Finding Those Elusive Marriage Records
katiepops
26-02-2006, 01:59 PM
During some very extensive investigation over the past few weeks looking for a particular marriage, I have discovered that it wasn't uncommon for unmarried ladies to change their names to that of the father of their children. So ... if you're looking for a marriage and can't find it, try searching for the male name marrying someone with the same surname ... that's how I found the one I was after!
Kate
:blink: so we'd say look for John Smith marrying 'mary smith' cos Mary Brown took John Smith's name when she had his child out of wedlock?
celfyddydau
26-02-2006, 04:13 PM
That sounds about right. I have heard of this happening but not found evidence of it in my lot.
Phoenix Tears
26-02-2006, 05:46 PM
I've had that happen in my tree, the next thing was though the poor woman was shipped out to Australia for "misdemeanours relating to the family"!
The poor woman! Could you imagine that happening now?:blink:
We have one in our family...15 years after Edith Henrietta PIPER had her daughter, Edith Amelia Drew PIPER, she marries as a widow E H DREW ...oh yes and on the census when her daughter is 10, she Edith Henrietta DREW (widow) and daughter is DREW. It was my cousin in the US suggested we look under PIPER for the birth, as there widow was often euphemism for unmarried mum.
Have not yet found a marriage for the mother to a Mr DREW, but will keep looking.....
Carole
26-02-2006, 10:45 PM
Hmmm, that is interesting. I have an Elizabeth who had two sons by the same father. She is a widow on both the 1891 and the 1901 census, so apparently the second son was conceived several years after the father died :blink:
If they just weren't married, but she called herself a widow, that could explain an awful lot.
You mean it wasn't an immaculate conception then:D:lol:
katiepops
27-02-2006, 12:45 AM
I have spent 20+ years searching for a particular marriage record way back in my family tree. I have known all along that the information I had about the date was wrong, but I couldn't find the right information. Funnily enough, I had actually come across the right record several times, but it didn't click until a chance remark from someone the other day.
Don't just assume that this will only apply to marriages that you're looking for in Victorian times either - don't forget that it's only in the last 30 or so years that living together and having children without being married hasn't been frowned upon by society.
It certainly doesn't make it any easier to trace your tree though!
Kate
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