General Chat

Was there a marriage?
Just got my dad's birth certificate, well the one where he was adopted by my gran's 'husband' when he (my dad) was 16!
It has the addresses of both parties - and they're over 80 miles away from each other!
I thought, maybe my gran had put the address where she was living when my dad was born - but if that was the case, instead of having him in the local hospital, she had him over 30 miles away.

Thought I'd look up the marriage of my gran and my dad's stepdad - but I can't find it!
Gran and her new 'husband' did eventually live in the same vicinity, but when he died, he was buried next to his first wife, and in the write ups about his funeral, gran isn't mentioned - my dad is, as his stepson!!
I know my dad needed a birth certificate to join the Fleet Air Arm (gran never registered him at birth), and her new 'husband' was best friends with the man my dad knew as 'dad', who was already married to someone other than my gran, and killed in 1941, so I'm wondering if this was a 'marriage' of convenience.

O?

have you tried under just his, the husbands name? her name may not have been what you knew her to be.

I've tried under both names, even under possible previous marriage names for my granI
My dad's stepdad had a very unusual name, and I've found his first marriage - he was a widower when he and my gran 'married'.

any chance in Scotland??
or another spelling?
or the both using his surname?

Did you click to look at the other names on the page of births?

Just wondering whether he was registered under two surnames -- that's quite common if the mother was married at the time of the birth but the child wasn't her husband's. The presumption of legitimacy required that the child be registered as a child of the marriage, but where the father acknowledged paternity, the birth would be registered in both names.

Since he wasn't registered until long after birth, that's probably unlikely. ;)

Is the late registration entered as a handwritten addition on the page for the actual quarter of birth, showing the reg dist of birth? (With a reference like "J39", to indicate the quarter of actual registration.) I guess you've checked for that quarter under every imaginable surname. ;)

It does make sense, though, that the address given is the one where she was when he was born, or where he was born. The birth is supposed to be registered in the district where it happened. Maybe she did have him 30 miles away from home!

I've found all his registrations (5 including the one that was crossed through!)
There are two in the year he was 'adopted' - ie under mother's maiden name and stepfather's name, with a ref note, and two, at the bottom of the page for the year he was born, yet again, mother's maiden name and stepfather's name - with a ref note.

Neither my gran's address, nor my stepfather's address is anywhere near where my dad was born!
There is/was a hospital less than 4 miles away from her address on the certificate

Maggie, I do not know if this will help at all. When I had my youngest thirtynine years ago, I had her in a hospital the other side of Derby, whilst living some twenty five miles away. When I registered her, it had to be in Derby city itself. Others were born in a maternity home about 6/8 miles from home, and the registrar came to the home, to do the registrations.
Julia in Derbyshire

Hi Julia,
I had to do something similar myself.
My problem with dad's birth certificate, is that his mum and stepdad are meant to be married - so why are their addresses on the certificate so far apart? According to google maps, they are between 84 and 126 miles apart - depending on whichever road you take - and in different counties!

If the address my grandmother gave was where she was living when dad was born, why did she travel 30 miles to the hospital to give birth to him, when there was one much nearer?

But maggie, that may have been where she happened to be when she went into labour? -- visiting or staying temporarily.

Or it may just be an address she remembered when she went to register the birth all those years later. ;)

...so why didn't she go to the nearest hospital? We're talking 1926 here - not everyone had a car!
I think the address is where she was living when dad was adopted.
I can't find a marriage between her and my dad's adoptive father either.

Maggie,

You could register a birth in a place other than where the child was born, they should put -"as per declaration" on the certificate.

I'm thinking what you have is a later issued birth certificate issued after the step father was in place some year later,perhaps this was the time of the marriage?

Maybe another pr of eyes can see something youre missing?

Can you find who gran and her 'husband' are both living with in the nearest available electoral lists of that time.?
Did your Dad have any siblings whose births might have been registered in the same area?


Gwyn

Hi Kay, Yes I do have the post adoption certificate, where under 'name surname and maiden name of mother', my gran is listed as (eg) AB now the wife of CD of 3 Some street Cornwall
Under 'Signature, description and residence of informant' it has
AD 10 Another Street Devon, so it looks like gran and her 'husband' were living apart. It's also interesting that gran was the informant and it was registered in Devon - to be precise, Plymouth North, which includes the area of the address gran has given on the certificate.

Just spoke to my mum, and she's sure my dad's sister (2 years younger) was adopted too - yet there's only one registration (under grans maiden name) of her birth under the proper year of birth - no notes at the bottom of the page - yet she always called herself by my dad's adoptive father's name!

Gordon Bennet - how can one recent ancestor cause so many problems!
...and we STILL don't know who my dad's real dad was - nor that of his sister!!!

Hi Gwyn,
The electoral roll is an idea - will have to see if there are any more ancestors I need to look up before I join!

Actually, at the time, dad was living in the same area as the address gran gave - as, soon after his adoption, short birth certificate in hand, he joined the Fleet Air Arm!

Maggie.

The sister may have been re--registered some years later.and will appear in births of that year,,but that years birth index will have note added,

ie,
Smith Ann 1900 Jan, London.

Brown Ann 1910,June,London--/

end of indexing will be.
See'M 1900.

this is for gro office ref use when a certificate is applied for,,,,,,,,only the late registration will be issued.

Hi Kay - tried that!
I just had to put in her first name - Verenia - no surname or dates - and all of 11 turned up! Just her with my grandmother's maiden name.
Then tried the name she was known by (this side of the family certainly don't make life easy) and dad's adoptive father's unusual surname - nothing.

My gran was lovely, and she told some interesting stories - seemed like she lived her life in a story too!