Genealogy Chat

The postman has just been and delivered 7 certificates for me; but 5 of them were the wrong ones. :-(
I was hoping for the birth certificates for some people on my family tree. With two of them there were a couple of people with the same name, born in the same place at the same time; so I ordered all 4 certificates (2 with one name and 2 with the other name). All four related to people not on my tree.
There is a bit of a mystery with the fifth one. :-S I have a copy of a birth certificate for one of my great, great grandmothers. On it it states the time that she was born (as well as the date). So I thought she must have a twin. I could only find one birth record for somebody with the same surname, born in the same place, in the same quarter. So I got that certificate. This person was actually born about a month after my great great grandmother and has different parents; but also has the time that they were born at.

Did you check the birth out on the index image or did you just accept the transcription?

Twins would normaly appear on the same page number or one on the last page number entry and the other twin on the next consecutive page number

Roy

When I looked up my great great grandmother I didn't think to look at anybody else. It wasn't until I got her certificate and saw the time on it that I thought she might have a twin.
I've just had another look and you're right. There is somebody else (who is clearly unrelated) between them on the index.
It does seem odd though that the times were recorded when they don't appear to have twins.

Scottish birth certs always give the time of birth.

But I expect you would have said if they were Scottish certs.

Graham look at the index ( image ) to see if anyone with the same surname is listed with the same volume and page number or a consecutive number.

or post details

Roy

There will be unrelated people with the same page number on the index, The page number relates to the page in the book that the births were entered into

My great great grandmother was Lavinia Pitman; born in Bridgwater, Somerset in 1843. The birth was registered in July (although she was born at the end of June). The person who I thought might have been her twin was John Pitman (also born in Bridgwater in 1843). As I have said, the certificates disproved my theory. Their births are in the same volume, but on different pages. I can not find any other Pitmans born in the same town in the same year.
EDIT: there are others in the same year; but different quarter

Are you aware Lavinia also is registered under the surname

Duckham--------Lavinia Pitman,
Pitman-----Lavinia Pitman.


If it was a multi birth and one a still born ,that may account for the time being recorded,,,,,,,still births had no formal birth registration,neither a recorded death......but maybe a record could exsist for an un-named child burial at the local church,?

I would still tend to think she was a twin, As kay said stillborn were never registered at that time

A still birth is basicaly a child born who never took a single breath although some did live a short time after birth, In law because they never they never took a breath then they never lived so cannot be registered as a birth after Registration Act of 1926 made stillbirths registerable and they came into force 1st july 1927

Roy

Lavinia was born out of wedlock. Duckham was her mothers name. Her parents got married two weeks after she was born. On her birth certificate her given name is Lavinia Duckham and her surname is Pitman.
I hadn't thought about the possibility of a still birth. I'll have to look into that. Thanks guys. :-) :-) :-)

Just to clarify, A child was NOT given a surname on a birth certificate

The surname for a child was inferred usualy from the surname of the father, where no father was named then it was taken from the mother,

And one reason mothers often gave the child the fathers surname as a middle on registration when they were not married to the father.

For info on BMD certs put this link in your favourites

http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/births.htm

Roy

When civil registration started, it wasn't made clear if the time should be entered in the case of single births. Most registrars didn't record the time in those cases, but some did. The situation was only clarified in 1875.

Lavinia was born on the 15th of June. Her parents married on the 16th of July.
I made a mistake on my last post. It was on her marriage certificate that Lavinias full name was given as Lavinia Duckham Pitman.
On her birth certificate her name is recorded as Lavinia Pitman. Her father was William Pitman and her mother Susan Duckham.
Thanks for the insight Mgnv. :-)