In this post I want to highlight some ways in which we can be misled by the records whose accuracy we often take for granted. I don't mean only simple mistakes, because while that may well be the case, a lot of inaccuracies creep into records when people are trying to blur the truth. This could be due to a desire to conceal something that was socially unacceptable, such as illegitimacy; or worse, something that would criminalise them – bigamy, for instance.
Here, I've listed some examples. Of course, some genuine miscommunication may occur when an event is being recorded, as in the first example below. This is not an isolated incident; I've encountered several such cases in Scottish records.
☙ Watch out for someone giving inconsistent information about their parents, such as someone whose father isn't named on their birth record, but for whom a father is given on their marriage or death record. An example in my family is Frederick Byrne. He has two middle names, but he doesn't give them on his marriage record; they would certainly make his birth record easy to find if he had. He was illegitimate at birth, with only his mother Barbara Byrne named on the certificate as a parent. However, on Frederick's marriage certificate (above) he gives the name of a maternal uncle as his father and combines the names of his grandmother and great-grandmother to create a fictitious mother. And just to be on the safe side, he claims both of his parents are deceased, so that nobody can contact them and challenge the relationships.
☙ Occasionally you may find a census record that changes a child’s birth surname to that of the man with whom her mother has subsequently formed a relationship. This may have been an assumption on the enumerator’s part, or perhaps the instinct of the family to appear "respectable". Then, in subsequent records, the child reverts to her birth name. Blended families are nothing new, but greater stigma was attached to them in the past than now, especially if a couple were living together without the benefit of marriage. Due diligence on the researcher's part can often ferret out the surname preference of the individual vs. the claims of their parents.
☙ Individuals
who go to a registry office to report a life event may misunderstand the
registrar’s questions; for example, a man registering the death of his wife is asked “and
the mother’s name?” but he misinterprets the question and gives his own
mother’s name instead. If you notice a
married couple whose respective death certificates record both their mothers with
the same full name, this might be the reason!
☙ When it's available, compare the marriage date a couple gives later in life with their actual
marriage date. It’s not uncommon in Scotland to see different marriage dates appearing on the birth certificates of a couple's children, or to spot the marriage date being
“adjusted” to disguise a birth that would indicate illegitimacy.
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| 1890 Scottish marriage certificate |
☙ Watch out for someone giving inconsistent information about their parents, such as someone whose father isn't named on their birth record, but for whom a father is given on their marriage or death record. An example in my family is Frederick Byrne. He has two middle names, but he doesn't give them on his marriage record; they would certainly make his birth record easy to find if he had. He was illegitimate at birth, with only his mother Barbara Byrne named on the certificate as a parent. However, on Frederick's marriage certificate (above) he gives the name of a maternal uncle as his father and combines the names of his grandmother and great-grandmother to create a fictitious mother. And just to be on the safe side, he claims both of his parents are deceased, so that nobody can contact them and challenge the relationships.
☙ Occasionally you may find a census record that changes a child’s birth surname to that of the man with whom her mother has subsequently formed a relationship. This may have been an assumption on the enumerator’s part, or perhaps the instinct of the family to appear "respectable". Then, in subsequent records, the child reverts to her birth name. Blended families are nothing new, but greater stigma was attached to them in the past than now, especially if a couple were living together without the benefit of marriage. Due diligence on the researcher's part can often ferret out the surname preference of the individual vs. the claims of their parents.
☙ The couple may be listed as married on a census record (or even a gravestone) – but were they? Check for a marriage event before or round about the time of their eldest child’s birth.
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| Certificate with notation in Register of Corrected Entries |
☙ In
Scotland, an added bonus to civil registration records is the Register of Corrected Entries (RCE). Look in the left-hand margin of a certificate, or at the top of the certificate screen on the ScotlandsPeople system, for a notation that indicates a link to the RCE. These are amendments which may be, for instance:
- Updates to a child’s name, including changes when it was registered incorrectly
- A record of the father’s name when paternity has been established in the case of an illegitimate birth
- Corrections to inaccuracies in names of an individual on a record
- The findings of the procurator fiscal or a Fatal Accident Inquiry, in the case of a sudden death. This can include information not given on the death certificate.
The RCE is an excellent source of additional knowledge, especially in the case of sudden deaths. It's a favourite of mine, and in a future post I'll write about them in more detail.
Meanwhile, remember the genealogist's maxim:
"Never assume!"
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