BMD Index

[suzieq]

Hi,

A little while ago I located the marriage of my g-g-grandparents John Whitehouse and Caroline Jones in West Bromwich on the FreeBMD website, and was then able to locate the parish marriage record in my local archives. Excellent.

My question relates to the BMD indexes themselves.


Marriages Jun 1872
Carter  Ann    W.Bromwich  6b 1010   
Davies  Thomas     W Bromwich  6b 1010   
HANCOX  Caroline     W. Bromwich  6b 1010   
JONES  Caroline     W. Bromwich  6b 1010   
Whitehouse  John     W. Bromwich  6b 1010   


Is there any reason why a person would be listed in the marriage indexes twice for the same marriage, but with a different surname? ie. Could Caroline JONES and Caroline HANCOX be the same person? The reason I ask is that we have some death cards in the family that have been passed down through the generations on that side of the family... as well as cards for JONES and WHITEHOUSE there is also one for a person surname HANCOX, and we have never known where it might fit in with our tree at all.

Just a coincidence?

Suzie 

[dinkey]

I had exactly the same thing with my g grandfather James Travis. He married a woman who was a widow. She was on FREE BMD under her maiden name of Mace and her married name of Barnes. Both giving the same reference number.

Hope this helps.

dinkey

[craggus]

Thanks for that dinkey. Looks like it might be worth exploring a little further after all     

One thing that confuses me... where does the information come from that was used to create the BMD indexes? There was no mention of a different surname within the parish records for the marriage, and aren't marriage certificates and marriage parish records identical in content?

Thanks 

Craggus  (partner of Suzieq!)

[casalguidi]

Hi Craggus

The church send a copy of each marriage entry in their registers to the local registrar.  They, in turn, then send a copy to the GRO who create the national indexes.

Doesn't really solve your query does it if you are certain that there was no mention of a previous marriage/different father's name on the parish record?

Best wishes

Casalguidi

[craggus]

Doesn't really solve your query does it if you are certain that there was no mention of a previous marriage/different father's name on the parish record?

No mention on the parish records... back to the drawing board! We may now have to resort to plan B: Searching the thousands of graves in the cemetery named on the death card to try and find extra information off the Hancox headstone that may or may not exist! Actually, that sounds kinda fun... does that make me weird?  

Thanks for your help 

[casalguidi]

 ................ there must be a lot of us "weird" people out here then    It's a lovely therapeutic way to spend an afternoon or two!

If it's a council run cemetery, they should have burial and grave registers which will give a shortcut to plot numbers.  The latter will give details of all those buried in each particular grave and they should also have details of stones erected/grave purchases etc..

Good luck

Casalguidi

[Boongie Pam]

It could be 2 different Carolines?

Even though there is only 2 males present there is nothing to say all the page for "W.Bromwich  6b 1010" has been transcribed.

I no this is an outside shot but worth bearing in mind.

Cheers,
Pam
 

[craggus]

Thanks Pam.

To be honest, under any other circumstances we wouldn't have even noticed the other Caroline on the list.. it was just the fact that the surname was familiar that made us think "hmmmm, hang on a minute..."!

Craig 

[casalguidi]

there is nothing to say all the page for "W.Bromwich  6b 1010" has been transcribed.

There should only be four entries to each ref. number at that date so there shouldn't be any more to come.  Hence it is more than likely a) the same person indexed under two surnames or b) one female too many under that ref. number.

Casalguidi