Joseph Connolly & Elizabeth Golding

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Merry

It has been known for church records not to make it to the GRO and sometimes (less often) even to the local reg office! There's information about this in the book 'A Comedy of Errors or The Marriage Records of England and Wales 1837-1899' by Michael Whitfield Foster (or it might be in the sequel, I don't remember). Or, of course, they might just have not married for various possible reasons, the most likely being that one of them had already been married. However, there is no indication of a marriage for either of them in the right area (I looked 1875-1885). They might still appear as single in 1881 if the marriage had failed before that date.

EDIT that book is fairly out of date now in some ways, but would probably still be interesting to people who want to know how the registration system used to work.

While that book was written some time ago, the marriage indexes have not been revised. My grandparents' marriage missed the first cut and both entries are handwritten at the foot of their respective pages as afterthoughts.

[Phoenix]

I note that on the 1911 census, Joseph himself has not said that he or his wife are married. That has been completed by the enumerator. They may have been together for 29 years, but he baulks at committing a blatant lie to paper.

It might also be possible that a religious (ie Catholic) ceremony was held, but the registrar was not available. So they would be married in the eyes of God, but the civil aspect of marriage was not completed. There ought to be no reason why that should happen in the 1880s, but it is feasible.

[JohnS]

Originally Posted by JohnS

I am researching Thomas Connolly who married my aunt Edith Mary Sharratt in 1931.

Edith had a son (name removed in case still living) in Q2 1932. She died a year later in Q2 1933. I was thinking maybe she died in childbirth (just a hunch) although a second child wasn't registered. I ordered a PDF of her death certificate but received notification today that it cannot be produced as the original document is of poor quality.
I cannot find (name removed in case still living) nor his father Thomas (b. 29 Sep 1898 from baptism record) on the 1939 register, although I accept that (name removed in case still living) would have been only 7 years old and may be blanked out of any document. He could have also been living with relatives?
This whole branch of my family has turned out to be a bit of a mystery. I just wish I'd started this research a lot earlier when other aunts/uncles were still alive and may have been able to help.

[Olde Crone]

Try ordering from the local reg office. Details on cheshirebmd. Their copy may be a better one!

OC

[Merry]

This is most likely Thomas:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...a&pId=23841143

His year of birth is two years out, but the right month and day (my birthday lol!).

I'm just about to remove Thomas's son's name from your post as he may still be alive and we don't allow posts about living people without their permission. If you know he is dec'd I can add his name back later!

[Merry]

Oh, I just looked to see who the parents of Bernard are. I wonder if you have the correct Thomas for the husband of your Edith as it looks like that Thomas with dob 29 Sept 1896 was married to Florence Clews in 1916 and his wife in 1939 was Florence. There is also a Lucy Clews in the house who may be his mother-in-law. Of course this Florence might not be Florence Clews, but I can't see another potential marriage after 1933 to a different Florence.

Could this be the right Thomas if that one isn't.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discovery...33419c6f9f1a11


Second marriage:

https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bi...=successSource

[Merry]

Those links don't work for me as they are .com not .co.uk

[kiterunner]

You can log into the .com site with the same username and password as the .co.uk one, Merry, or change the .com in Maggie's links to .co.uk

[Merry]

You can log into the .com site with the same username and password as the .co.uk one

I did that, but I didn't get taken to the entry.