Genealogy Forum UK

I have a couple of potential brick walls I've hit, both around the 1850s and both because the father's name on an ancestor's marriage certificate did not turn out to be who I expected. Obviously marriage certificates being filled in by a human they're prone to mistakes but I was wondering how prevalent that sort of thing might be as it's put a real spanner in the works of my research.

One I'm almost certain is a mistake, it's a marriage between a James Dutton and an Ann Fairhurst with both the father and son's occupation listed as "Butcher". I believe I'd previously found James Dutton and his father in the censuses for 1841 and 1851 and in both they're listed with an occupation of "Skinner" which, I believe is part of the Butchery process at that time? So far so good. The only problem being in the census, and according to Cheshire Parish records available online, James' father's name is Joseph Dutton. On the marriage certificate his father's name is listed as James Dutton. The thing that leads me to think this is a mistake is both the bride, groom and the witnesses have an "X" next to their names, meaning I think they were illiterate? I would assume that there is a much higher chance of mistakes on a marriage certificate if the bride and groom were unable to read?

The other one is not so easy to prove or disprove because I've been unable to find my ancestor living with his father in any census, which I think will make it very difficult to go back any further. My only clue is through the relatives he's living with in the census. I can effectively prove who his grandfather is, but not his father. But again, the father is not who I expected and I've been unable to find a birth certificate for him with the father than matches his marriage certificate, but I have found a birth record that would match who I originally thought his father was. All very confusing... has anyone else had similar problems or am I likely barking up the wrong (family) tree?

Did some lookups at the archives today and have a marriage for Joseph Poole and Florrie Parry. Joseph's father is Joseph Parry, Miner and Florrie's father is Florrie Parry, Miner. Had it double checked by archive staff and this is definitely what has been written. Best is everyone signed - no crosses. Amazing how it could have been missed. Not even a note in the margin.

When the name transcribed does not sound anything like the real name, in any accent, then it is generally the handwriting of the clerk/priest/father that is the issue.

Looking at the certificates/ entries for those you know to be brothers/sisters can sometimes help to sort out errors and they might have been written as you expected and show your actual ancestors one was an error

I have a death certificate where I believe the deceased husband has the wrong name.
Leah Jeavons widow of Thomas Jeavons, liscened victualler.
However I believe she's the widow of Abraham Jeavons, and that Thomas is her son. If this is the case then the informant is Leah's daughter in law, and possibly when asked who the husband of the deceased was she misunderstood and gave her own husbands name.
I've no way of sorting this one, as although I know there was a Leah Jeavons buried at a particular church with dates that match, the monumental inscription records are missing for that year (and a couple of others) from the records office. So unless this grave is still in existence and legable and happens to give the name of Leah's husband then I've no way of finding out if I'm right!
I suppose as it's a death it's just icing on the cake - but I do like to have things nicely rounded off!

Thanks for the tips although it's not a transcription error, at least I don't think there could be. They're copies of the original certificate (as far as I'm aware!) I've attached jpegs of the 2 certificates I'm unsure about though.

The Dutton/Fairhurst marriage I was expecting the father's name to be Joseph, but as both the groom and the bride's father are also called James I could understand why the clergy could have wrongly entered "James Dutton" as the Groom's father. Everything else I have points to James Dutton's father being named Joseph.

With the Harrop/Dutton marriage it's a bit more confusing, this is definitely the correct marriage, but I was expecting James Harrop's father to be another James Harrop, not John Harrop. There's a bit of confusion as to what exactly a "Driver" might be in 1872 as well. I have a theory but sadly one that's rather difficult to prove. If I have the correct lineage for James Harrop (the groom) then his father died very soon after he was born (based on cheshirebmd and Cheshire Parish Records. He did however have an older brother named John, but only a few years his senior. I've traced John in the 1871 census to a Vessel in Collingwood Dock, Liverpool called "Faith" which, having looked at the history of Collingwood dock I believe was almost certainly a Canal Barge. If Driver refers to the driver of a canal boat is it possible James Harrop may have mistakenly entered his brother's name (who could very well have been his best man) in the Father's Name of the certificate?

Thanks again.

Sorry but I have to delete the certificates you posted. It is against copywrite to post it. You can add small parts of it though.
Jo

I know of someone who had the same problem. This man had taken the marriage information from the parish register which was held at the local archives. I can't remember the names now, but say the groom's name was John Bloggs and his father's name was Joseph Bloggs. He then carried on going back through his research trying to follow Joseph Bloggs, but the man was running into a brickwall - just like yourself. So what he did, was send off to the GRO for the marriage certificate and the groom's father was John Bloggs not Joseph Bloggs as was written in the parish register at the archives.

You have copies of your certificates from the GRO, so I think it would be a good idea if you contact the Record Office who hold the marriage registers for the certificates which you have to see if they are the same.

I'm not sure how many copies of a certificate have to be written out at the time of a marriage, but I know for certain that they are written in the original parish register, if the marriage took place in a church, and also the register office has a copy as well.

I searched for a marriage certificate at my local archives a couple of weeks ago and all that was written on it was the bride and groom's names plus the witnesses. I bet if I applied to the GRO it would all be written out.

Hope this helps.