Genealogy Forum UK

Grandad was born in 1872, Granny was born in 1880 and they were married in 1899. On the certificate Granny said she was 22 and Grandad said he was 24. Now I get out my calculator and 1872 away from 1899 is 27 and 1880 away from 1899 is 19.

Is it possible that they 'massaged' their ages on the marriage certificate rather than admit this 27 year old bloke was marrying a 19 year old young lady ? Your thoughts please !

P.S. could we have a smilie for 'a can of worms' ? ? ?

Cheers, Tony.

Yes, the chances are they fibbed.
I've come across loads of discrepancies in my own family research. Ages, father's names or lack of them.
The most intriguing the fact that my mum had a different surname to her own father.
The quest began in earnest then, as to why.
It had me stumped for over 5 years.
Until I discovered yet another surname. The original surname.

It did leave me wondering how lax the authorities were at the time. Perhaps surnames and personal info was not so vitally important then.
No one thesedays would be able, or indeed dream of, massaging the truth in case it questioned the validity of the marriage.

Thanks for that Morty. A folow on question if you don't mind. I know my Grannies name, her age when she died and where she died, yet 'Family Search' and 'Free B.M.D'. say there are no records. Any idea whet I'm doing wrong, or failing to do correctly?

Cheers, Tony.

You're probably doing nothing wrong.
I could be wrong, free BMD is a great, useful tool but I think their death coverage is only up to about the 1960's then tends to peter out a bit. Similar with Family Search , their records concentrate on parish entries (ie. pre- 1850)

Don't know if this is the correct way to do it here, me been a newbie, but if you would like me to have a look at the Death Registers on Ancestry I'm more than willing to take a peek.
You could send me a private PM with her name and any info you have.
I won't be offended if you think no ... and prefer to keep private stuff private.

In fact I'm not sure but non-paying members might be able to do searches on their site. It's only the certificate details and ordering of them that's dependent on membership. I think.

Help away Morty - that's what this forum is all about.

Maggie

Thanks Maggie.

Can I just say from my brief time here so far, and the friendly helpful members I've met ,I think I'm really going to like it here.

What a lucky find!

Kleftiwallah wrote:Grandad was born in 1872, Granny was born in 1880 and they were married in 1899. On the certificate Granny said she was 22 and Grandad said he was 24. Now I get out my calculator and 1872 away from 1899 is 27 and 1880 away from 1899 is 19.

Is it possible that they 'massaged' their ages on the marriage certificate rather than admit this 27 year old bloke was marrying a 19 year old young lady ? Your thoughts please !

P.S. could we have a smilie for 'a can of worms' ? ? ?

Cheers, Tony.

Who were the witnesses? If they were not her family members it could be that she added years so she didn't need the permission of her father to marry -- she would have needed that until she was 21.

The witnesses were possibly her sibling (female) same surname and her Dad so they were all in cahoots. Their residence at the time of marriage was the same address ! Tis shocking aint it? Cheers, Tony.

Kleftiwallah wrote:The witnesses were possibly her sibling (female) same surname and her Dad so they were all in cahoots. Their residence at the time of marriage was the same address ! Tis shocking aint it? Cheers, Tony.

I've found same address on marriages several times, and sometimes I think they were a bit naughty, but other times they may have been living at a boarding house, so they could get married in a specific church away from their own parish. Now why they would want to do that is another question entirely

Moving to gen discussion it will be better for help.
Jo

Flagging to archived if all done.
will move in 24 hrs.