RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Harli on Friday 10 September 10 20:35 BST (UK)
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Hi
Can a GRO birth certificate be wrong? My great grandfather was Frederick Robins, on his marriage certificate he named his father as Isaac Robins, Ostler, deceased (he died in 1864 aged 42). His mother was Elizabeth Jilson (or Gilson and sometimes Jelson). I can find a marriage for Isaac Robins and Elizabeth Gilson but on Frederick's birth certificate (1862) his father is listed as Charles Robins, Ostler! Is there any possibility that the certificate is wrong? and if so how would I be able to find out?
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Perhaps his name was Isaac Charles, or Charles Isaac ... and either was used
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Yes, a GRO certificate can be wrong, and for very many reasons. It might be worthwhile doing a search on this site for GRO certificate threads which will give you a far better idea than I can of the possible pitfalls.
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Its a pity Isaac was born before births were registered ... but you might find out more from the parish records ... of his baptism, maybe. Which county was he born in ?
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Assuming I have found the right family, the father is Isaac in the 1851 census and again in the 1861 (though not actually at home that night). So he must have used that name at least. Charles could be his second name, or it might be due to confusion as Frederick had an older brother called Charles.
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Hi
Isaac was born in Winchcombe Gloucestershire.
Yes Gardener you have found the right family in 1851 and 1861. In 1861 Issac was at 5 Cornmarket Street working. Possibly in the same pub at which he died in 1864. There is another Isaac Robins with a wife called Elizabeth and he was also an ostler but lived in Dorset, he had me very confused for a while!
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Hi Harli,
I have the same sort of problem, I have a marriage cert in 1921 with the father of the bride listed as Arthur but my aunt talks about her granddad Albert and I think I have found them in 1911 and again the head of the household is Albert. Something is wrong somewhere and the only conclusion I could come to was that the marriage cert was wrong, :o ;D ;D
Teaurn
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GRO certificates are copies from transcripts, so it could be an error made when the transcription was done. You could contact the local register office for the area where the marriage took place and ask what their original document says, or the county record office to check the original parish record.
Equally it could have been written down wrong at the time, either a mistake or someone gave the wrong name. But it could also be, as already suggested, that he did use the name Charles.
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Hi Harli,
I have the same sort of problem, I have a marriage cert in 1921 with the father of the bride listed as Arthur but my aunt talks about her granddad Albert and I think I have found them in 1911 and again the head of the household is Albert. Something is wrong somewhere and the only conclusion I could come to was that the marriage cert was wrong, :o ;D ;D
Teaurn
It happens ... for years I searched for Bertha ... which is what she was always called in the family; finally found her as Alberta !!
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I was looking for someone yesterday who was baptised 'Virtue', but by the age of 11 she seems (unsurprisingly) to have abandoned it in favour of 'Caroline'.