1851 census

[Anne H]

Hi Steiner,

It would be the bride and groom giving the actual details themselves, although I think it might be the official who married them who initially fills out the form for them to sign and take to the Registrar...someone else might be able to confirm who does what.

As to the husband knowing his mother-in-law's name...he may not have had his MC at hand and also, emotion can take over at a time like this and it wouldn't be unusual to forget details.

I was just looking at one of my DC's today where the informant is the deceased's son. He got his deceased father and grandfather's name correct, he said his mother's ms was Murray...it wasn't - it was Millar. He said his paternal grandmother's name was Christina _________, it wasn't...it was Catherine Alexander, but his maternal grandmother's name was Christina. So you can't exactly take everything at face value even on the official certificates.

Regards,
Anne H

[JustJean]

A final point;

Who would have given the details on the 1881 Marr certificate to the registrar?

Wouldnt John Carrick have taken his marriage cert along when he registered Margaret's death in 1911 - or if not he must surely have known who his wif's mothe was?

Anne has it right...the couples themselves supply the information on the MC. The version that we get to view is not the same copy that the officiating individual completes. The minister (or whomever is solemnizing the nupitals) completes the information and the bride and groom each sign or make their mark. That gets sent on over to the registration folks who then copy it into their book. Because of that we don't get to view original bride and groom signatures on the images that GROS have created. (Of course there are exceptions to this rule....in the case of irregular marriage records for example but that doesn't seem to be the case here) So yes there is plenty room for error there...the information is dictated and taken down and then it is copied over. As for Mr Carrick taking the MC with him to record the death of his wife. THere was certainly no reason why he was required to provide it....it would only have been if he needed to see it to know what to give for names. Since the names do not match then it's making me feel thatt he did not have the MC document with him! Perhaps he thought he knew....perhaps he really did get it right and the MC is wrong.....perhaps he didn't know where the MC was kept at home....perhaps the MC wasn't kept at all but had been misplaced or destroyed.....well you can see the possibilities are truly endless to predict the mind of John Carrick and his ability to act as informant.. Unfortunately the person best equipped to know was the deceased.....

Best wishes
Jean

[speleobat2]

And sometimes even the deceased wouldn't know. I'm dealing with one right now where the child's mother died when she was only 1 or 2 years old. Apparently, a woman was hired to care for the children until their father remarried three years later.

Then in 1920, when the girl married she put the caregiver's name as her mother on her marriage certificate! On her death certificate from 1957, her mother's name is correct. Her brother who was two years older put their step-mother's name on his marriage certificate!

Sometimes all you can do is cross your fingers and hope that you find some information down the road to back up your initial findings!

Carol