Genealogy Chat

I am trying to tie in a marriage certificate with the 1881 census and the IGI. The marriage certificate gives James Yorke age 21(b c1829), father John Yorke on 4/4/1850. His wife was only 16. The 1881 census gives James' age as 51 (b c1830) born in Norton In Malton, Yorks. The IGI gives a James York ch 24/2/1828 at Norton by Malton, Yorks giving mother as Ann. Can it be then that James Yorke from Norton near Malton was born at the beginning of 1828 to a father called John and a mother called Ann? If you can suggest other ways of confirming this, please do. Thankyou,,,,Russell

Hi Russel, The first thing I would do is check the IGI entry against the parish records. Some IGI entries are guessed from census information and some are just guesses. If the parish records have the baptism entry and there are no other possibilities in the register then I would put him on my tree. Hope this helps, Gwynne

seems clear James was illegitimate though, so it's quite likely his father's name was really John Something-completely-different. People fibbed, especially if their mothers were around on the day: no point spoiling the happy day pointlessly raking up embarrassments

Don't forget to check the actual parish records for deaths. It is very tempting to find a birth on the IGI and assume that's the right one only to find that he really died as an infant. In that case there can often be another child born to the same parents and given the same name. Anne

Thankyou for your advice. Not sure about the illegitimacy Robin as there were another 3 Yorks on the IGI to Ann with no father named!,,,,,,,All the best,,,,Russell