Multiple IGI entries on familysearch

[Konovolov]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering what you guys do when you find multiple entries with different dates on Familysearch?

I have:

Sarah Kirby England, Marriages, 1538–1973 marriage 17 Jul 1791 Suffolk, England spouse William Alger

Sarah Kirby England, Marriages, 1538–1973 marriage 07 Aug 1791 Suffolk, England spouse William Alger

Sarah Kirby England, Marriages, 1538–1973 marriage 14 Aug 1791 Carlton-Colville, Suffolk, England spouse William Alger

Sarah Kirby England, Marriages, 1538–1973 marriage 25 Aug 1791 Carlton-Colville, Suffolk, England spouse William Algor

https://familysearch.org/search/record/results#count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3Asarah~%20%2Bsurname%3Akirby~%20%2Brecord_country%3AEngland%20%2Bbirth_place%3Asuffolk~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1770-1780~%20%2Bdeath_place%3Asuffolk~%20%2Bdeath_year%3A1825-1835~%20%2Bspouse_givenname%3Awilliam~%20%2Bspouse_surname%3Aalgar~

Seems it's the same marriage, but why the different dates? Would it be the dates they were recorded in varying parish registers? Or perhaps the first would be a banns posting or something similar? When any of you come across this sort of thing which one do you choose?

Any opinions would be great,

Thanks,

Craig

[JudithM]

Banns had/have to be read in church on three Sundays before the marriage, so the three earlier dates which were all Sundays I believe, probably account for the banns readings.

[JudithM]

Banns had/have to be read in church on three Sundays before the marriage, so the three earlier dates which were all Sundays I believe, probably account for the banns readings. 25 August 1791 was a Thursday - that was probably the actual marriage date.

[Konovolov]

Many thanks for the prompt reply Judith. This was the first time I had come across 4 occurrences for the same event. For the instances where there are two different dates, would I assume that you take the latest one?
Craig

[PhotoFamily]

I've also seen marriage allegations listed as marriages - if you take the film number, & go back to the catalog, you may be able to tell the type.

I've also seen entries duplicated - I thought it was due to legacy entries?

[kylejustin]

my first thought is marriage banns with the latest date being the marriage. but i also noticed the husband's surname was spelled differently in some entries. i have seen multiple entries before, just indexing the different interpretation of a surname's spelling.

[Uncle John]

And sometimes it's just multiple sources now brought together in one place (e.g. parish record, Bishop's transcript and so on).

[SmallTownGirl]

FamilySearch index from banns books, taking the date of the last reading of the banns as the marriage date. They even index a marriage if, even though the banns were read, the cleric notes that it didn't happen. And they can index banns from the churches of both the bride and the groom, if they lived in different parishes, so that can also account for there being more than one entry in more than one place.

[Konovolov]

Thanks everyone