Genealogy Chat

Can anybody please tell me what options i have if i cant read the entries on 1837. I am looking for a marriage. I have found what i THINK is the bride but cant read the place name or numbers, the grooms details are just as unreadable. I have taken a chance and sent for one cert only for it to be the wrong people I did put a meessage on here yesterday and was given an idea as to what it might say, but that has proved incorrect. There is no transcription of FreeBMD, i have found a child of the marriage on Familysearch which seems to confirm that the parents were in fact married. Info Sarah Ann Tinkler William Smith i have found Sarah on Dec quarter 1850, the numbers look like 111(3) 220 and it could be Islington Found a Wm Smith with what also looked like those numbers, I sent for the cert leaving out Sarah's name as sometimes she is on census as Ann , got a cert back for a marriage of a Wm Smith and Penelope Forrester. It was suggested to me yesterday that maybe it said 3 228, i was just about to order another cert when i noticed that GRO had altered the number on my original order from 220 to 228, so i have it anyway. Does all this makes sense - i am confusing myself!! Hope someone can put me out of my misery maureen

You could ask the GRO or the local records office to look for you. They do charge for this service, but at least you're guaranteed to get the right one.

Well, I viewed the page on FreeBMD and would certainly say the reg district for Sarah Ann Tinkler is Islington and the Volume number is 3 (which is correct for Islington). As for the page number, to me it is only the first digit that isn't clear. 2nd and 3rd digits are 2 and 0. I then did a search on FreeBMD of all people who married in Islington in Q4 of 1850 to see what their pages numbers are recorded as. All the page numbers that looked valid were within the two-hundred-and-something area, so your number for Sarah Ann should be 220. (All entries for a given district in a given quarter should be on consecutive page numbers in the index) Are you saying you are after a marriage between a Sarah Ann Tinkler and a William Smith? You say you didn't include her name on the order as she was sometimes called Ann, but her name on the cert should be the same as it is on the index. Not sure I have actually helped!! Let us know what you are looking for and I'll see if I can find anything!! Merry

Having now looked at the image, I agree. It is Islington, 3, 220 If you order the cert with these details, you should get the right one. Unless of course, this isn't your Sarah Ann...

That's what I was thinking - But if Maureen needs Sarah Ann to marry William Smith and there isn't a William Smith with the right page number, then it may be the wrong entry in any case! Merry

Maureen, when was the first child born? Merry - I can see myself getting confused here lol

lol Tracy! We can hardly go looking for Mr and Mrs William Smith, somewhere near Islington, on the 1861 census, to see about their children!! M-A-U-R-E-E-N ........ wheeeerrreee ...... aaaarrreee ..... yooooouuu??????? Merry

Merry, I don't know what you mean... there's only 190ish! lol

Really sorry everyone. I popped out to get some milk, called in hairdressers to make an appointment to cut my hair and she offered to do it straight away!! . I will sort out everything i have got and get back to you maureen

NO....I don't believe it - on my last reply I was going to say, Maureen must be at the hairdressers......!! That is honestly the truth...... Am going for a lie down!! Merry

Think i have got things sorted - you wouldnt believe the mess i have got myself in with these B... Smiths 1871 Census Ann Smith c 1829 St Ives Huntingdonshire living Camberwell William Smith c1819 Norwich Southgate children Martha c 1851 born Lowestoft Norfolk then 7 other children born after Martha - all in London/Surrey Area. . On family search Martha is stated as being christened 18 Aug 1850 Saint Peter Southgate Norwich Norfolk, parents William Smith, Sarah Ann Tinkler. Batch C132672. I have been in contact with a distand rellie who has the birth cert of one of the older children and it also states the same parents (i am awaiting Martha's birth cert) What i am looking for is the marriage between Sarah/Ann and William Smith, because of the hundreds of William Smith's i decided to go about it by looking for Sarah and then trying to match a William to the ref no. Maureen

Merry If you are so good at predicting things maybe you can tell me what William Smith married Sarah Tinkler!! maureen

Can't look now, as am going out - (not the hairdressers!) beware that Ann, wife in 1871, may not be the same person as Sarah Ann Tinkler, mother of Martha etc. Merry (back later)

Merry Thanks for that!! Think i will go and do my jigsaw puzzle, thats all sky and sea and just as confusing. I am going to send for this Sarah Tinkler wedding cert, if it only helps to eliminate her Enjoy your trip, pouring of rain here in Essex. maureen

I'd think that if Martha was born in Lowestoft that they would have been married there. Unless they married after she was born? Might be somewhere near St Ives though, given Sarah was born there. Like I said, very confusing lol

Maureen - if you email 1837 with the name etc and tell them what you can't read they will do a manual check and email the answer. It takes a few days but they are very helpful - they have checked several for me in he past. Kath

If Martha was baptised August 1850, under the name Smith, doesn't that suggest that her parents were married before she was born? So they would not have married in the December quarter of 1850 anyway. It should be easy to check that there wasn't a Martha Ann Tinkler's birth registered (which should have been the case if her birth was registered before they married), but not so easy to pick out the right Martha Ann Smith. I think you are right to concentrate on finding a marriage entry for Sarah Ann Tinkler first, rather than William Smith! I think it has already been pointed out that if it says 'Tinkler, Sarah Ann' in the marriage index entry then you are quite safe using that name to order the cert without worrying about her sometimes being called Ann. Good luck, Kate.

Please don't order that cert yet........I'm sure it can't be the right one, as there is no correspending Wm Smith and the marriage has no reason to be in Islington!! (I'm not saying it is absolutely wrong, but I have a gut feeling.....) And after all, you know I'm psychic!! How's the sky going? Dinner now - will do some digging after.... Merry

I/m not having any luck yet - would it be worth putting up a request on the Records Office board asking for the details of the family in 1851?? (hopefully in Lowestoft, Suffolk). You might be able to confirm that William's wife in 1851 was or wasn't the same person as he is with in 1861 and 1871...... At least it's convenient that ''Ann'' comes from St Ives, Huntingdonshire and not somewhere prone to being more vague!! That bap entry you mentioned for Martha in 1850 is bothering me a bit - it wasn't very comon for the vicar to record the maiden name of the mother if the parents were married. On the other hand, it's fairly uncommon for the father's name to find it's way onto the IGI if they were not married, and also the child has been transcribed with the surname Smith..... If I was you I would sit tight until I had received the birth cert for Martha - did you say it's on it's way?? Maybe it might reveal something?? Merry

Thanks again everyone. How i came to think that this Sarah Ann Tinkler was the correct one, even though the marriage was in Islington was because i started in 1837, went through all the Sarah/Ann Tinkers and Tinklers marriages, right up till 1850 when i found this one. I jumped for joy when i thought i had found a William Smith to match the ref No. I cross checked all the other Sara's/Ann's with William Smith's and found nothing. I know that it meant Martha was born before the marriage, but it did cross my mind that that was maybe why Sarah went to London to get married, maybe they had made out to everyone in St Ives that they were already married.Also, the next child, Robert 1853 was born in Islington, followed by Mary1858 Poplar, William 1860 Southwark, Issac 1863 Putney, Charles Henry 1865 Sydenham, James 1866 Sydenham and Henry 1870 Peckham. A rellie has got hold of some records of the Norwich Church that Martha was baptised in, and there is no trace of her parents marriage on them. William was baptised 5th March 1818 the son of Robert and MARTHA. I have a copy of the birth of the 5th child Isaac1863, the parents are William and Sarah Ann nee Tinkler. seeing as Martha was the eldest and finding her details of baptism with the same parents on familysearch i then assumed the children all had the same mother but maybe William had a first wife called Ann (as on the census) no - that doesnt make sense, it is the 1871 census after the kids were born. Oh hell - i am fed up with this, it does your head in!! Yes, i sent for the birth cert of Martha Ann, but it been 12 days, not looking too good, just recently i have found them a lot quicker than that. I have also put all the female Tinkler marriages in FreeBMD without a first name, cant find any that married a William Smith - maybe Sarah had been married before, thats a thought!! My jigsaw was bought by my husband last Christmas, think he thought i had nothing to do with myself, (little does he know how much time i spend on the computer while he is at work) thought i had better have a go at it as i was beginning to feel guilty, and i cant get anywhere with that either!! Think i will take up knitting.!! maureen