Married 20 years later?

[NixonHoltClan]

I've found a marriage record which I am positive is the right one. However, according to this, they would have married 20 years AFTER their first child was born. This was in the early 90s (marriage 1932, first child 1912). Second child was born 1920.

Is this likely to be the right one?? I presumed that marriage came before kids, back then.

The only other than I can think of is there has been an error on the marriage record, but the original record on ancestry.co.uk is typed and not hand-written, so I can't see it for myself. I don't want to pay for a copy of the marriage certificate as I am doing the tree for somebody else (and they won't want pay for it, I know)

[cati]

Well, without the certificates there's no way of telling: but my greatgreat grandfather was born 13 years before his parents were married, so you're not alone!

Cati

[annaS]

Not common but definitely not uncommon either. I have more than one in my trees.

Anna

[SWar]

I had this problem when researching OH's grandparents.  They married the same year as their eldest son.  Checking back, I found grandmother was already married and they actually married the same year that her first husband died.

Sue

[carol8353]

My great grandparents married 21 years after the birth of their first(of ten) children 

My gran was 14 when her parents married.So I imagine she and her siblings knew when they did,or perhaps they just went off and did it in secret.They married at Fulham registry office in 1914.

Carol

[Johnoz]

I can claim a 17 year gap between children and marriage with one set of 2nd great grandparents. They were married in 1851, 2 years before his death in 1853. His death certificate records that he died from pythisis [TB] which he had for 2 years. One likes to presume that the news of his illness gave the decision to marry before it was too late.
John Gourlay

[Deb D]

Don't panic ... my gt grandmother married her second husband twice; - once in 1911, and then again in 1965.  We're not sure whether she thought the original "license" had "expired"! 

[Guy Etchells]

I would suggest checking for an earlier marriage.

My grandparents had four children between 1912 and 1922 but did not marry until 1934. My grandmother simply took his surname as hers.
The reason for this I discovered from the 1911 census.
My grandfather had married earlier in 1896.

For whatever reason they did not divorce, whether due to cost, or perhaps she refused to divorce him I don't know, but he waited until after her death in 1933  to re-marry.

I must admit that as he had been the family historian, I had not even questioned the idea that he had not married my grandmother. It was not until I was tidying up some loose ends after the release of the 1911 census I decided to purchase their marriage certificate that I discovered the truth.
Cheers
Guy

[cathaldus]

My paternal grandparents had their first child in 1905 and went on to have all their children (including my own Dad) until 1927.   They actually got married in 1921 (and in Church!!)

Bill