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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: W1ghtg1rl on Monday 26 August 24 14:36 BST (UK)
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I have a marriage certificate date 9 Jun 1867 in Southampton for George James, 21, bachelor, father John James, Groom. The marriage was after banns.
Most likely George was born 1845 to Harriet Game (unmarried) daughter of James and Mary James nee Game in Ringwood. She is Game in the first few censuses then becomes James although still unmarried.
So, if this is George, why did he get married in Southampton saying his father was John James a groom?
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Illegitimate children can and will invent a parent on documents and thereby avoid the possible stigma of having unmarried parents but there are literally dozens of other reasons it happens.
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George Game was baptised 7th Jan 1846 Ringwood
Parents names - Harriet Game (from Ringwood). No father named.
George Game birth registration in Oct-Nov-Dec 1845 Ringwood
Page 193 Volume VIII
Affiliate Line Number 38
Harriet Game was herself illegitimate. Baptised 20 Sept 1820. The daughter of Mary GAME of Ringwood.
Her mother, Mary GAME married James JAMES in Ringwood in 1828. Hence the name change for Harriett, as she eventually took on the surname JAMES, the name of her step-father.
Harriet married in May 1861 under the surname GAME, to Edward Keeping. She does not record any name for her father on the marriage certificate.
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At this time illegitimacy was a a cause of great shame and one would want to hide that fact. Sometimes there might be an element of truth in the name "invented" for a marriage record. For example George's father might have worked as a groom, or his name may have been John.
Given that Harriet's mother Mary married a James JAMES (widower), have you looked for a John James in that side of the family? Maybe a son of James from his first marriage?
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Are you aware that Harriett had another illegitimate child before George.
This is her birth registration
GAME, ELLEN - (no mother's maiden name indexed)
GRO Reference: 1841 D Quarter in RINGWOOD Volume 08 Page 195
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I have only looked at this quickly, but it does look as if James James did have a son named John James, from his first marriage to Elizabeth.
John was born in 1813 in Christchurch. He was married in 1834 Ringwood to Martha Wright.
In the 1841 census he is living in Kingston, Ringwood with his wife and 5 yr old son Thomas. He is an agricultural labourer. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M79C-9Q6
John's abode is very close (on previous census page) to his father James who is with Mary and Harriett Game and 1 yr old son named George. (This son, George died age 3 in 1842)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M79C-97T
In the 1851 census John James is living in Ringwood with his wife and children. He is now a cattle dealer. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGPK-CYY
So there is the potential that John James was indeed George’s father, and that George knew who his father was. I see that George himself was a groom / ostler/ horse handler, which is how he describes his father’s occupation.
If his father’s name is not on George’s birth certificate, then DNA matching would be the only way to be certain.
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My grandmother was born around 1880 in Kent, England. She has a father's name on her marriage certificate and I have not been able to find any evidence that he existed, despite many years of research. A professional researcher hired a number of years ago was also not able to find him. I have also not been able to find a birth record for my grandmother. The earliest she appears in records is in the 1901 Census.
I believe she was illegitimate and possibly given up by her mother. To save face she made up her father's name and perhaps even changed her name.
Kaybron
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My father and his sister used their uncle's name as father when registering their marriages.
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My grandfather's own name (including his middle name) was entered as his father's name on his marriage cert.
I later discovered that the first two names were correct. It was only the surname that was wrong!
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My great grandfather's father died when he was two years old, so he would not have remembered him. His mother remarried and when he was baptised aged 16 he gave his father's name as Benjamin, an upholsterer. Ten years later when he married he gave George, a cabinet maker. Neither were true.
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Thank you all so much, I had found out some of what you have told me, but not all, more digging to do, should keep me busy!
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Hello W1ghtg1rl
Here are just a few extra notes relevant to your research.
Please don’t hesitate to come back if you have questions / problems.
Harriett Game’s husband Edward Keeping seems to have had some wealth. He died 3 June 1877.
There is a will for him that might let you know if Harriet inherited anything, or whether it all went to the family of his first marriage
1881 census Ringwood
Harriet Keeping 60 (widow) is with her mother Mary James 88 (widow)
There is a death in Ringwood in 1882 for a Mary James (aged 91), which could be the correct one.
June 1883 Ringwood
Harriett Keeping (widow) married Caleb Mintey (widower & marker gardener)
Caleb Mintey died 27 July 1889
His widow Harriet was one of the executors of his will.
1901 census Ringwood
Harriett Minty 80 living on own means
Harriett (Game – Keeping) Mintey died 1910 Ringwood (age 89)
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Harriett Game had an older sister named Maria Game (also illegitimate) who was baptised in Ringwood in Oct 1823 at age 5 (so born abt 1818)
Maria Game married in 1840 Holdenhurst to Charles MARTIN. Her sister Harriet was a witness to the marriage.
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Baptism for Mary GAME - 26 Dec 1791 in Dorset, Sturminster Marshall
Parents – Elizabeth (nee Frost) and George Game
(Another sibling named Phyllis baptised at the same time)
Phyllis Game marriage in Ringwood in 1816 to Robert BARNES
The family are living in Kingston Ringwood in the census records
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Wow, just wow, thank you so much for all this information, much obliged.
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In my collection of GRO Certificates at least 4 of them include at least a false declaration.
At worst there are two Certificates which are pure works of fiction.
You cannot 100% trust Certificates, nor Baptism records, nor Census records.
In one Marriage Certificate I have the female who is getting married declared her Father which is rather odd as no Father is listed on her Birth Certificate and the Man her Mother eventually married was only 9 years of age when she was born so I think that we can discount him.
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Phyllis Game marriage in Ringwood in 1816 to Robert BARNES
The family are living in Kingston Ringwood in the census records
I've just noticed that Phyllis Barnes (nee Game) and her sister Mary James (nee Game) are living next door to each other in the 1861 census in RIngwood. :)