Genealogy Chat

On searching for marriage details of a relative it states that she could possibly be married to either one of two men. I cannot seem to find any details of her actual spouse, so how do I know which one to add and follow their line? Thank you :-S

Look for possible children.

If the marriage was before 1911, use the GRO site

If after, use freebmd

Or tell us the details and someone will find the info for you

BUT.........you should be working backwards, to do FH properly

If the marriage was early enough, see if you can find her with one of the possible husbands in a later census - or in the 1939 Register if the marriage was between 1911 and 1939.

Or look for children, as Erikah says. Hopefully at least one of the couple has an unusual enough surname to be obvious.

Although it makes family history research expensive, I wouldn't be adding people to your tree without getting certificates to confirm you are following the right line.

You can order a certificate using just one of the couple's names.

As ErikaH says, you should be working backwards from yourself - so you should find the children first and then their parents.

Kath. x

Working backwards is essential for direct ancestors but if you are interested in finding cousins then working forwards may be necessary.

Go to freebmd

Search for your ancestor

You should see something like this

Smith John Barnsley 9c 187

The numbers refer to the volume and page where the record is to be found in the GRO Register.

Click on the last number, and you should see something like this

SLATER Sarah Barnsley 9c 187 Scan available - click to view
Smith John Barnsley 9c 187 Scan available - click to view

Unfortunately, that doesn't answer the poster's question about which of two possible spouses she should attach to the woman she is researching

She has obviously found a record, but needs to know how to proceed further

For example - on FMP
First name(s) Rachel
Last name Harvey
Marriage quarter 4
Marriage year 1867
Registration month -
MarriageFinder ™
Rachel Harvey married one of these people
William Sparrow, John Pye

and freebmd
Marriages Dec 1867 (>99%)
HARVEY Rachel Rochford 4a 351
KETCHER Hannah Rochford 4a 351
Pye John Rochford 4a 351
SPARROW William Rochford 4a 351

We really need to see the record you're talking about to be able to advise properly.

Sometimes a name doesn't show up on a FreeBMD record bedause the district, volume, or page has been mistranscribed - or the name has been missed because of human error when transcribing the GRO Index.

For example:

Marriages Sep 1881 (>99%)
ISHERWOOD Catherine Blackburn 8e 459
JOHNSON Margaret Elizabeth Blackburn 8e 459
LORD Thomas Blackburn 8e 459

Clearly one of the men has been missed from this record, and at first glance we don't know who Thomas Lord married.

However, from Ancestry, I can see that Catherine's husband is the one missed:

Catherine Isherwood
in the Lancashire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936
Name: Catherine Isherwood
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Birth Year: abt 1861
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 23 Jul 1881
Parish: Blackburn, Christ Church, Lancashire, England
Spouse: James Baron
Spouse Age: 23
Father: Henry Isherwood
Spouse Father: William Baron
Register Type: Parish Register

And checking the 1891 census, we see that Margaret Elizabeth is the wife of Thomas Lord:

Margaret E Lord
in the 1891 England Census
Name: Margaret E Lord
Gender: Female
Age: 34
Relationship: Wife
Birth Year: 1857
Spouse: Thomas Lord
Child: James Lord
Ellen Lord
Jane Lord
Birth Place: Clitheroe, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish: Blackburn
Ecclesiastical parish: Christchurch
Residence Place: Blackburn, Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Registration District: Blackburn
Sub registration district: Blackburn Southern
ED, Institution or Vessel: 39
Neighbors:
Piece: 3408
Folio: 29
Household Members:
Name Age
Thomas Lord 28
Margaret E Lord 34
James Lord 9
Ellen Lord 4
Jane Lord 2



Going back to FreeBMD, and looking for James Baron in 3rd qr 1881 - two men of that name show up:

Marriages Sep 1881 (>99%)
Baron James Blackburn 8e 495
Baron James Blackburn 8e 530


Looking at the images of the Index for both Catherine and James, the page numbers have been transcribed exactly as on the Index, so presumably either the 459 or the 495 is wrong on the Index.

ErikaH's example of the marriage fo Rachel Harvey can also be resolved by some further research:


Rachel Haney
in the Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1935
Name: Rachel Haney
[Rachel Harvey]
Gender: Female
Marriage Age: 22
Birth Date: abt 1845
Marriage Place: Paglesham, St Peter, Essex, England
Marriage Date: 12 Oct 1867
Father: William Harvey
Spouse: John Pye

Take as an example this hit for Mary Smith
Marriages Sep 1857 (>99%)
Murtagh Thomas Wirral 8a 557
Neville Mary Wirral 8a 557
Power Edward Wirral 8a 557
Smith Mary Wirral 8a 557

This would be hard to spot thru the census alone, as there are 2 Mary's.
One might distinguish the 2 Mary's by age or birth place, or an in-law lining with them.
Otherwise, one would need kids to check the mum's maiden surname.

There is one useful site of geographically limited usefulness.
https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd
In particular, here:
http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk/

Cheshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1856 to 1860
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Year Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
NEVILLE Mary MURTAGH Thomas 1857 Birkenhead, Civil Marriage or Registrar Attended Wirral BW/5/92
SMITH Mary POWER Edward 1857 Birkenhead, Civil Marriage or Registrar Attended Wirral BW/5/93

One can buy BMD certs from the local office that now holds the reister as well as the GRO that has a copy of that rego.
(One can also buy a m.cert from the actual church if the entry is in the current rego volume.)

As we see above, some local indexes are online. Their local ref usually has 3 parts.
A) A code indicating the church, or subdistrict in the case of Bs & Ds.
B) A sequential volume number - a B/D volume has 500 entries at 5 per page, and M volum eusually has 500 entries,
but the ones carried out to churchs that are not approved to keep official marr rego's are often smaller with 100 or 200 entries.
All marr rego's have 2 entries per page.
C) An entry or page number. Marrrs nearly always have an entry number, so one knows who wed whom.
Sometimes, the hit names the spouse; sometimes there's a "name spouse" button; sometimes one has to look up all the names and match yourself.

Here's an example of that (rearranged in spousal pairs):
Marriages Dec 1856 (>99%)
Balls Robert Eastry 2a 1197
Murphy Catherine Eastry 2a 1197
---------------
Dawson Abel Eastry 2a 1197
Smith Mary Eastry 2a 1197

https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.ROIS.Web.Sites.Public/Pages/Default.aspx

Marriage Certificate Details
Name BALLS, Robert
Year Of Marriage 1856
Entry Number 68
Register D/14/1
Location Kent County Council

Marriage Certificate Details
Name DAWSON, Abel
Year Of Marriage 1856
Entry Number 67
Register D/14/1
Location Kent County Council

Marriage Certificate Details
Name MURPHY, Catherine
Year Of Marriage 1856
Entry Number 68
Register D/14/1
Location Kent County Council

Marriage Certificate Details
Name SMITH, Mary
Year Of Marriage 1856
Entry Number 67
Register D/14/1
Location Kent County Council

There were actually 3 hits for Mary with no mid-name. Above is the one from rego D/14/1