I know we are always told to check on details and not to use just the finding aids but.... how often are the details on actual certificates wrong?
I ask because I have a mystery on my hands and wonder if the name of the father on a marriage certificate could be incorrect.
I have found 2 possible Margaret Goostry(s) - 1 born 1824 (Burnley) and 1 born 1835 (Hanley Staffs)
The 1824 one appears on the IGI records as daughter of Samuel and Martha (Jackson) Goostry.
The 1835 one appears as daughter of James Goostry on the 1841 and 1851 census. I can find what appear to be census records for her through her life including a marriage to a John Wood.
The one born 1824 is, I believe, on the 1851 census living in the home of Samuel and Martha Goostry - now back in Staffs where Samuel was born. She is married to William Henry Jones and they have children. They are both shown as Inmate (or that is what it looks like to me) as the relation to the head of the household. Her age is 26 which is correct for being born 1824. I can then track them through all the following census records.
Samuel and James are brothers - Sam born 1790 and James 1795 in Staffs.
It all seems very straightforward BUT I have made contact with someone who has obtained a marriage certificate ( in 1845 - St Mary's Parish Church - Bury Lancashire) for the marriage between Margaret Goostry and William Henry Jones. His father is shown, correctly as Isaac Jones (who has a fantastic history as has William Henry's brother, John Pidding Jones) but Margaret's is shown as James Goostry (Coachman). If this was James's daughter she would only be be 10 years old, wheras the other Margaret would be 21. The certificate gives both their ages as Full Age so this does not really assist.
I initially wondered if the local vicar had mixed up the 2 bothers and entered James in error but as the marriage took place in Bury, away from both the places Samuel and James were born and lived in, this is not likely.
It may be that there is a further Margaret Goostry who had a father by the name of James and was born in 1824 as well and was for some reason lodging with Samuel and Martha Goostry, but I have searched extensively and cannot find one.
Can anyone suggest how I could try to resolve this mystery? :(
Thanks !
I ask because I have a mystery on my hands and wonder if the name of the father on a marriage certificate could be incorrect.
I have found 2 possible Margaret Goostry(s) - 1 born 1824 (Burnley) and 1 born 1835 (Hanley Staffs)
The 1824 one appears on the IGI records as daughter of Samuel and Martha (Jackson) Goostry.
The 1835 one appears as daughter of James Goostry on the 1841 and 1851 census. I can find what appear to be census records for her through her life including a marriage to a John Wood.
The one born 1824 is, I believe, on the 1851 census living in the home of Samuel and Martha Goostry - now back in Staffs where Samuel was born. She is married to William Henry Jones and they have children. They are both shown as Inmate (or that is what it looks like to me) as the relation to the head of the household. Her age is 26 which is correct for being born 1824. I can then track them through all the following census records.
Samuel and James are brothers - Sam born 1790 and James 1795 in Staffs.
It all seems very straightforward BUT I have made contact with someone who has obtained a marriage certificate ( in 1845 - St Mary's Parish Church - Bury Lancashire) for the marriage between Margaret Goostry and William Henry Jones. His father is shown, correctly as Isaac Jones (who has a fantastic history as has William Henry's brother, John Pidding Jones) but Margaret's is shown as James Goostry (Coachman). If this was James's daughter she would only be be 10 years old, wheras the other Margaret would be 21. The certificate gives both their ages as Full Age so this does not really assist.
I initially wondered if the local vicar had mixed up the 2 bothers and entered James in error but as the marriage took place in Bury, away from both the places Samuel and James were born and lived in, this is not likely.
It may be that there is a further Margaret Goostry who had a father by the name of James and was born in 1824 as well and was for some reason lodging with Samuel and Martha Goostry, but I have searched extensively and cannot find one.
Can anyone suggest how I could try to resolve this mystery? :(
Thanks !
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