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Could the Vicar have recorded the surname incorrectly?

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  • Could the Vicar have recorded the surname incorrectly?

    I am researching the family of Ralph Gowland born approximately 1817. On Census he indicates he was born at Stanhope, Co. Durham. On one census he even mentions the Village of Eastgate (which is not far from Stanhope).

    Ralph married a Jane Tate. They lived in the District of Easington, Co. Durham. However the only marriage record I can find is that of a Ralph Golden. The GRO gives his name as Ralph Golden December quarter 1839 Easington Volume 24 Page 95. The marriage records for Monk Hesleden Church shows the marriage on 29th December 1839 show a Ralph Golden (full age) of Thornley, the son of Thomas Golden to Jane Tate (full age) daughter of Robert Tate. I have not seen the original entry, these details come from a local indexing site.

    I can find very few members of a Golden family in the Stanhope area, but what I have found is the baptism at St. John the Baptist Church, St. John’s Chapel, Stanhope on the 5th September 1813 of a Ralph Gowland, son of Thomas Gowland and Mary. There are entries for two other children to this couple. Their address is given as Swinhopeburn which is close to Westgate and Eastgate, Nr. Stanhope.

    If the Vicar heard Golden instead of Gowland and if Ralph and Jane could not read, they would not know that their marriage had been recorded incorrectly. Or am I simply trying to fit the information to what I wish to know?

    Can I please have your comments and where do I go from here?
    Linda - Happy Hunting

    A tidy house is the sign of a broken computer

    Researching: Brown, Bell, Key and Musgrave from Cumberland. Dodds, Green, Campbell, Hall, Armstrong, Davison from Co. Durham. Raymond from Devon/Cornwall.

  • #2
    I would say Golden is your Gowland I just looked on FMP and there is no record of a Golden for your time span that I can see.

    Comment


    • #3
      Since Ralph Gowland and Jane are in Monk Heselden in 1841 but there is no Ralph Golden I think you can be cautiously optimistic that this is the right marriage.

      He would have had a strong Durham accent and if the vicar was unfamiliar with it he could easily have heard Golden for Gowland.

      Anne

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      • #4
        The registrar recorded my Granny's surname as McDonald instead of McDonough when she married.

        Jay
        Janet in Yorkshire



        Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

        Comment


        • #5
          Many thanks for your comments. If I get the chance I shall visit County Hall Durham to view the original record. Would guess however that Ralph and Jane signed with a x. I shall go with Gowland.

          Thank you for taking the time to look this one up and respond. Grief is that the time. Must go and make some tea and leave the computer on its own for a while. lol.
          Linda - Happy Hunting

          A tidy house is the sign of a broken computer

          Researching: Brown, Bell, Key and Musgrave from Cumberland. Dodds, Green, Campbell, Hall, Armstrong, Davison from Co. Durham. Raymond from Devon/Cornwall.

          Comment


          • #6
            I think it highly likely that you are correct in your belief that this marriage is the right one and an error by the Vicar has caused the confusion. Checking from the wife's family, there are only 3 marriages in Durham of a Jane Tate and a groom named Ralph, which took place respectively in 1779, 1815 and 1839, the last being the one in question at Easington. Jane Tate appears to be the youngest of at least ten children born to Robert Tate and Dorothy Burdon and was baptised at Castle Eden on 8/3/1818, with a birth date shown of 5/5/1817. In 1841, she and Ralph Gowland share a dwelling at Hesleden with Anthony & Mary Harrison and Robert & Dorothy Snowden plus their respective children. Mary & Dorothy also seem to be daughters of Robert & Dorothy Tate with Mary b. 20/10/1809 & bap. 18/3/1810, and Dorothy b. 3/7/1812 & bap. 22/11/1812, both at Easington. It is also probably their parents on the opposite page to their entry in the 1841 census schedule at Heselden Village; Robert Tate, 63, Publican, and Dorothy Tate 62 at the Ship Inn.
            The Vicar at Monk Heselden, William Hayes, seems to have been in post since at least 1813 but if he did mishear the name Gowland at their marriage, he recorded their name correctly when their first born, Mary Jane Gowland, was baptised at MH on 10/12/1840. Ralph was then shown as Banksman on the Rail Road.
            None of this changes the need to view the original 1839 marriage entry for your couple, which unfortunately the BTs on FamilySearch for MH does not cover but, with three apparent sisters sharing the same dwelling and their parents also apparently in the same village, it does perhaps reinforce the belief that the Jane Tate, recorded as having married Ralph Golden, is the daughter of Robert and Dorothy Tate, and the wife of Ralph Gowland.

            I will send you a PM later with page details of the Tate baptisms etc on FamilySearch, but have to go out right now.

            merleyone

            Comment


            • #7
              I have done some transcriptions of old parish records for one of the OPC sites and I know just how hard it can be .... I think you will find that this is the record you are looking for, but just reinforces how important it is to check the original document (or at least an image of it) rather than rely on the guesswork of others !
              Last edited by AntonyM; 17-08-12, 13:04.
              Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
              Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

              Comment


              • #8
                The PR may say exactly the same. My 3xg-gf Benjamin HOLT was recorded as Benjamin OAT in the PR & at the GRO. The three children he baptised were all recorded correctly although one daughter was married as OAT twenty years later.
                Glen

                Comment


                • #9
                  Many thanks merleyone, AntonyM and Oakum Picker for responding.

                  An extra thanks to merleyone for that fantastic information. I had found Ralph, Jane and Mary on the 1841 Census, but with tunnel vision had not seen the others. I have yet to start work on the Tates so the information you have given has given me a head start.

                  I shall go through to County Hall Records Office (if I can get a viewer) asap and make copies of all the entries I can find.

                  Thank you again. Kind regards.
                  Linda - Happy Hunting

                  A tidy house is the sign of a broken computer

                  Researching: Brown, Bell, Key and Musgrave from Cumberland. Dodds, Green, Campbell, Hall, Armstrong, Davison from Co. Durham. Raymond from Devon/Cornwall.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Durham Records online have this marriage and Grooms name is again transcribed as GOLDEN. You can purchase the transcription not sure about original entry.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Good Morning holcan, many thanks for looking that one up on Durham Records Online. Must admit I have spent a fortune using DRO website. Might be expensive but excellent information. I had found the Golden entry and shall be going through to County Hall next week to have a look at the original entry for Monk Hesleden. Will take the opportunity of looking for other Gowland entry originals too.

                      Again thank you for looking this one up. Kind regards
                      Linda - Happy Hunting

                      A tidy house is the sign of a broken computer

                      Researching: Brown, Bell, Key and Musgrave from Cumberland. Dodds, Green, Campbell, Hall, Armstrong, Davison from Co. Durham. Raymond from Devon/Cornwall.

                      Comment

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