Marriages - GRO Indexes

[Carrie]

I've been looking through the GRO indexes to try to find a marriage. I have a Mary Sharples and I believe her first husband, William died in 1876 (December qtr) and on the 1881 census, Mary is given as Mary Taylor, wife of a Thomas Taylor, although her children are still using the name Sharples.
So I'd just been looking at the GRO indexes for the marriage of Mary and Thomas between 1876 and 1881. I can find a few Mary Sharples and Thomas Taylors in the same quarters for Bolton, but as they're on different page numbers, they can't be the right marriage. Meaning I've not found them. Could it just be that they've given Thomas's surname to the enumerator? I'm also trying to figure out what was going on with Mary and her first husband, but that's definitely confusing. Ages are completely out on census returns and at one point Mary becomes Nancy.

In more recent generations, the Parents and Uncles are no help, I know from my dad and Uncle that there was Big Joe and Little Joe Sharples, but neither know how they were actually related to them. Then last night my dad throws out a completely new surname and says "we were related to them somehow as well". I'm convinced I'm never going to get anywhere with tracing my dad's side of the family.

 

[pee wee]

Hi Carrie,

This is probably coming from left field, but what are the chances of mary marrying again between William Sharples & Thomas Taylor.
Searching on FreeBMD

I found a possible marriage for Mary Sharples to Robert Mather Q3 1878 Vol 8c Pg 281

Death for a Robert Mather age63 Q2 1879 Vol 8c Pg 245

Possible marriage for Mary Mather to Thomas Taylor Q3 1880 Vol 8c Pg 453

All listings were for Bolton.

Of course there are other names on the pages & the records don't show who married who on the listings but it might give you another search line.

I hope I haven't confused the issue more for you.

Good luck.

cheers Peta

PS :- do you know what mary's maiden name was?

 

[Carrie]

I did spot that marriage and did a double take. There are Mathers in the family (my great aunt's cousin I think), but I'm pretty sure they're related to my grandfather's side of the family rather than my grandmother's side which is what I'm tracing here. I'll have to see if my dad can confuse me even more.

With the exception of one individual, my mum's side of the family were great to trace, found them all, no confusion. My dad's side of the family is another matter. I got nowhere with tracing them and was given false information by one particular family member. I did speak to my great aunt when she was still alive, but she was from the generation who couldn't understand why I was "raking up the past". It was like getting blood from a stone persuading her to tell me where her parents were buried and she commented that even if I knew the cemetery I'd never find them and she refused outright to tell me what years they died. It was only after her death that I found she had all their certificates and the details for the purchase of the grave (I even know what depths they're all buried at now!). No secrets to hide, just like my dad said, you didn't talk about the past. Until about 4 years ago when I picked up trying to trace this side of the family again, my dad had never realised that I'd never seen a photo of my grandfather.

Hopefully I'll know Mary's maiden name soon. Aiming on picking up some certificates when I'm in Bolton at the weekend.

 

[Carrie]

I now know that Mary and William's son, Joseph was born on 18th December 1871 at 145 Lever Street, Bolton and that his mother's maiden name was Moores (Mary Moores and William Sharples appear to marry in Bolton June Qtr 1856). Joseph Sharples marries Mary Walsh on 1st January 1895 at Holy Trinity Church, Bolton.