Genealogy Chat

Does any one know what to do about ordering a certificate if the orginal entry in the GRO might be wrong? I believe the surname, page, volume etc are ok but the first name says 'Marie Louie' instead of 'Mary Louisa'. I am 99% sure this is the right person. It's an extremely unusual surname and in the correct area at the right time.

Thanks! It's actually a marriage certificate but I have the reference for 1909. I guess like you said I should just give enough background information - I'll give the guys in Liverpool a call tomorrow as I'm still not sure which first names to put in the online form.

When I order certificates that I am not 100% sure of I always say that I only want it if the fathers name is "***" or someting like that. Sometimes they will deduct a small admin fee but it is a lot less than having lots of certificates that are no use to you. Karen

I think if the names are as close as the ones you mentioned I would go for it. In my own family I had a great aunt Eustina, who named her daughter Eustina after her. She later discovered that her registered name was Justine, but as both her parents were from Germany she had spelt it how they pronounced it. So, if I hadn't know that and had been searching for her, I would have been looking for Eustina, whereas the GRO would have shown Justine. In the 1881 Census the parents had put her as Justine. In the 1901 she had put herself as Eustina. Haven't found her yet in 1891, hope the records are loaded before my quarter's subscription runs out. Jan.

Just to let others know, I just spoke to a very helpful lady at the GRO and she clarified everyting and put a double search on the request for the 8.50 pound fee. More than the website but at least I am clear on what I am getting. So if in doubt give them a call. Quite nervous now as this is the elusive gg grandmother whose husbands keep dieing!!

Well the postman came this morning and the good news is that this is the right person. But the problem I now have is that although this came from the 1909 index, the ages seem to match up with 1904. Does anyone know when the indexes were actually written? Could a mistake have been made as the certificate is difficult to read and to tell whether it is 1904 or 1909. How should I verify this? Parish records??

You could always phone the local registrar to where the certificate was issued and ask them to have a look for you, but if you found it the 1909 indexes, then it probably is 1909. As far as I know the indexes would have been written up by the quarter as they happened. Ros

Thanks Rosalind, I will try that tomorrow!

Angela, Maybe they were fibbing about their ages, I am not sure if people had to provide birth certificates to verify age in 1909, but I have several examples earlier than this when ages declared on marriage did not tie in with actual birth details or ages given to census enumerators. I have examples of both adding years and subtracting them. I expect the actual date is 1909. Pam