Genealogy Chat

Hi Everyone One aspect of my Family Tree that has had me wondering for some time (or am i being Super cautious?) so thought i would open it up to you for some other thoughts on this, The name of the father on my Grandfathers BC is NOT the same name as the Father on his Wedding Certificate, The Wediing Certificate has a middle name included, So What,,,i hear you saying,,, My problem is that my Grandfather had a cousin with the same name as him, born within weeks of each other in the same village(only difference being this Middle name) I assumed they did this to differentiate between the 2 boys, How can i put my thoughts at rest and be reassured that the name on he marriage certificate Under Father was in fact his father and Not that the cousin (with the middle name) was his father.. Oh dear,hope i have explained this clearly,,, Thank you for your thoughts Kate

Bit hard to say without any details (names, dates, etc)... you'd really need to research both families, find them all on census & get bmd's etc. Hopefully with enough info it will fall into place. Richard

Thank you Richard Yes i agree with you, and i have researched both families, I do have birth certs of each boy,,and marriage certificate of my Great Grandfather..The other one was married to someone else and had his own family at the time of my Grandfathers birth.. I just felt it was strange to see his use of a middle name on the marriage Certificate of his son ,when in the course of my research i have never found hm using it before.and certainly not on his own BC Thank you for your help anyway, Perhaps my addcition to Family History is letting my mind wander TOO much :) Kate

Kate, have you thought that maybe your grandfather thought his father's name had the second name. It could be that simple. My mother always told me her second name was Mary. We have all used Jocelyn Mary as her second name on all records. Then we got her birth certificate. No second name. So it could just be a similar thing.

I have a few who either gained a middle name during their lives, changed their middle name or swapped their 1st & middle names at some stage. I'm sure that they did it just to confuse us all these years later! I guess that if everything else fits, you have to assume that this is what happened.

Elizabeth and Richard Thank you so much for your thoughts...i am beginning to relax a little about it now,,,i guess it was a thread from the other day on *Doubts* that started me thinking what could have been possible . Appreciate your help very much Kate

Kate, Relax!! We all try to get it right when we do this. Sometimes you just have to believe things. The only way you would know was if your great garndfather was not named as the father on your grandfathers birth cert. Anyway even if he had a different father, it won't make any difference knowing, if all the records show something else. Do you want to find out for your records or for yourself? Remember if someone else is doing this tree as well they may have different info. Does that make sense?? It made sense while I was typing it,but not too sure now.

Hi Elizabeth I understand what you mean and again many thanks,I just wanted it to be right for the record for my Granchildren to inherit. Mind you,i do think our family put stumbling blocks in our way just to slip us up from time to time ,don't you? Thats why they were so insistenr that so many generations all had the same name and further more went and married a girl with their Mothers name.. Oh MY...!!!!!!! Thanks again Kate

Kate Your question got me thinking about my grandmother and middle names. She was born Gwenllian Jones in Cardiff in 1889 but 2 of her siblings I have found both have middle names, she has no middle name at her wedding in 1909, no middle name at her sons birth in 1915, no middle name at the death of her husband in 1925, or at her sons wedding in 1941 but on her second marriage in 1956 she becomes Gwenllian Thomas Fisher and this is repeated on her death certificate in 1968. I have wondered how this came about, did she just decide to add it in later life, I havn't come across any significant Thomas in her family tree at this stage?? Lots of unanswered questions in family trees Regards John from Balmain Sydney

Hi John It sure is a puzzle isn't it? I guess you have just about listed all my previos thoughts. At first we tend to take things we discover at face value and as our research progresses we then tend to question things, only to discover that the answer we were looking for is staring us straight in the face, Maybe i have been trying to read something into this name discrepency that really is not there,,,naughty naughty,, Again thanks for the message Kate

Some examples from my own tree: gggf: christened as JABEZ ROPER in 1840, married as JABEZ GEORGE ROPER in 1861, on children's bc's & mc's and on death cert as GEORGE ROPER. ggf: birth cert has FREDERICK GEORGE HUNT, marriage cert has FREDERICK HUNT, child's bc has FREDERICK GEORGE HUNT, death cert has FREDERICK GILBERT HUNT (his mother's maiden name was Gilbert). ggf: baptised as CHARLES JOHN PARSONS in 1826, married 1851 & on children's bc's/mc's as CHARLES WILLIAM PARSONS, died as WILLIAM CHARLES PARSONS. Basically, without any supporting evidence such as census info, addresses, witness names at marriages, etc, it might be hard to be certain that these are the same people. I agonised over these (and other examples) for ages, including scouring the census & bmd's to try and eliminate any possible namesakes. Also, remember that there was not (and for that matter, there still is not) any reason why someone cannot simply change their name whenever they feel so inclined. I'm sure that Jabez, for example, found his biblical sounding name too much and just preferred to be called George - he was a painter & decorator, no doubt a heavy drinker as he died of sclerosis of the liver! Richard

Hi Richard Thank you so much for taking the time to share that.At least i do feel much better now and was interested to learn that you too have agonised over a similar matter, i have a similar incident on another branch where a GGrandfather had used a different first name...but this followed a stint in a *holiday home* at HMPleasure, This did not disturb me as much as my other G granfathers use of a middle name making it identical to his cousin,,,so many unanswered questions ariise?..perhaps i read too many books :) Have a good Anzac day tomorrow.....Special thoughts and memories as always. Kate

If it any consolation, my great grandfather used his middle name on his daughter's marriage certificate, but didn't use it when he got married himself.

Hi Angela Thank you for your post..yes it is making me feel ok about it now with so many people taking the time to answer. good luck KaTe

My brother thought his names were Roger Bruce, but when he applied for a birth certificate he found that he was down as just Roger. My mother said that Dad had originally wanted to call him Bruce, after his pal Bruce in his RAF aircrew during the war. Mum wasn't happy about this. Dad went to register the birth. Didn't want to upset mum, so put down just Roger. Got home. Mum relented, and they christened him Roger Bruce a few weeks later.