Marriage cert. entries.

[p.risboy]

Hi,
I have been studying my G.G.Grandfathers 1847 marriage cert. and not wishing to make names 'fit', what are the possibilities of the registrar putting the wrong name in the 'Fathers name and surname' box.
The reason I ask is that I have found a possible match for him and a brother and father.
The name in the 'box' would be his brothers, and his father at the time was 85yrs. old. If he was too infirm to travel to his sons wedding could his brothers name been inserted instead.
I think this is doubtful, but could it or has it happened.

Steve

 

[pejay]

Hi there Steve I think you can get plenty of spelling mistakes and mistranscriptions, I eventually found a marriage cert for the name Miller when it should have been Mellor, but it was the right one. Also if someone has a strong brogue/dialect the registrar would often write down what he thought they said, but I haven't heard of what you suggest - sorry I suppose registrar's have bad days though like all of us.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

It is possible to put a brothers name as father especially if the brother had a middle name the same as the father. Eg George Smith had an older brother called Thomas Albert Smith and their father was Albert but George put Thomas Albert Smith under fathers name. This could happen if a much younger sibling lost his father at a young age.

My ancestor William Thomas Coombs put Matthew George Coombs, Coachman, under fathers name in his 1856 wedding. His father was only George Coombs and William had an older brother called Matthew George Coombs, a lifelong printer, born in 1812, son of George & Sarah Coombs. George died when William was young so maybe he got confused and thought that if his brother had two firstnames and one of his names was their fathers first name, then the dad had the same first names if he hardly knew his dad if he died when William was young.

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

I have just found his brother Williams marriage cert. And he too has put 'his' name in in the fathers 'box'.
I think their Father was a bit put out as both of his eldest sons seem to have got married and deserted the family farm.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

I think some people didnt want to one day be the successor to their fathers business so they went it alone themselves. In my tree I have had children of well to do businessmen and community pillars grow old and die in dire poverty.

Ben