Jan What appears on the marriage certificate is what the couple told the person writing it up. It is not always true and no one had to provide evidence that they were stating facts. The marriage of my father to his first wife showed his fathers name as Thomas when it was in fact George Henry, which is the name he gave when he married my mother. Victor Jan Holmes wrote: > Hi All, > > I am trying to unravel a mystery surrounding my husband's GG grandmother Ellen PLAXTON, I have been to the archives at Beverley today to check, and have come back more confused than ever! > > Ellen's marriage to James MORLEY in 1855 gives her age on the certificate as 19 and her father as George PLAXTON, which points to a birth in 1836. The IGI and the Cottingham microfiche have a baptism for Ellen PLAXTON in 1836, father Charles (!!) mother Ellen, and one in 1832 with a father George and mother Ellen. Ellen's census shows her age matching a birth in 1835/36, and she was buried in Cottingham cemetery in 1900, where the age on her headstone is 65. > > The IGI has a marriage in 1827 of George PLAXTON and Ellen DOPER (on the microfiche it definitely isn't DOPER, though it is difficult to tell exactly what is does say) and a marriage of Charles PLAXTON and Mary TRAIN (not Ellen!) in 1819. (I think this Charles is the older brother of George). My FTM 2008 software brings up an Ancestry One World Tree match for Charles suggesting he died in Ontario, Canada and I haven't been able to find him on any English census. Ellen is living with George and Ellen in 1851, in 1841 aged 5 she is living with William and Elizabeth KIRMAN.....I haven't even begun to look at their connection with this puzzle yet!! > > So I have 3 questions. > 1. Does anyone have any of these Cottingham PLAXTONS in their tree and can shed any light on any of this? > 2. Is it likely the PR could be wrong? > 3. Does anyone know where I can find out if and when Charles went to Canada, and who went with him? > > Hoping someone can help. > > Jan Holmes > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get Hotmail on your mobile. Text MSN to 63463 now! > http://mobile.uk.msn.com/pc/mail.aspx > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-EAST-YORKS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Thanks Victor. I too have marriage certificates with a different father and the wrong ages. In all but one though, the father was a made up one due to illegitimacy (which caused me many problems when I was just starting out, thinking that this was a legal document and therefore must be true!!!) As I began to realise what you have just mentioned, that they obviously didn't need to provide proof of any of the facts, I realised that the ages didn't necessarily have to be true, either. Perhaps a minor couldn't get parental consent and looked older so said she was, or to make the couple's ages closer if one was much older or the woman was older than the man...I've had all of these. In this case I'm pretty sure that Ellen and James were both the age they said they were...19. The strange thing to me is that the baptism seems to be a mix of right mother wrong father, or right father wrong mother!! Did Charles have an affair with Ellen?? I've just checked up in Doncaster this week too about my GG Grandfather. His name was William Benjamin, illegitimate son of Sarah Jane. I have his birth certificate with no father, but the IGI baptism gives his father as Benjamin. Instead of William Benjamin son of Sarah Jane, the baptism record said William son of Benjamin and Sarah Jane. It seems to me that the vicar misheard (although it is likely that William may have been named after his unknown father). So mistakes can happen.....are George and Charles close enough to have been misheard? Regards, Jan PS I know your name well from another source entirely, though I myself have never spoken to you. Do you think the Tigers have a chance of going up? :))))) > Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 21:08:11 +0100> From: victor@markham.me.uk> To: eng-east-yorks@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [ENG-EAST-YORKS] PLAXTON Cottingham> > Jan> > What appears on the marriage certificate is what the couple told the > person writing it up. It is not always true and no one had to provide > evidence that they were stating facts. The marriage of my father to his > first wife showed his fathers name as Thomas when it was in fact George > Henry, which is the name he gave when he married my mother.> > Victor> > Jan Holmes wrote:> > Hi All,> > > > I am trying to unravel a mystery surrounding my husband's GG grandmother Ellen PLAXTON, I have been to the archives at Beverley today to check, and have come back more confused than ever!> > > > Ellen's marriage to James MORLEY in 1855 gives her age on the certificate as 19 and her father as George PLAXTON, which points to a birth in 1836. The IGI and the Cottingham microfiche have a baptism for Ellen PLAXTON in 1836, father Charles (!!) mother Ellen, and one in 1832 with a father George and mother Ellen. Ellen's census shows her age matching a birth in 1835/36, and she was buried in Cottingham cemetery in 1900, where the age on her headstone is 65. > > > > The IGI has a marriage in 1827 of George PLAXTON and Ellen DOPER (on the microfiche it definitely isn't DOPER, though it is difficult to tell exactly what is does say) and a marriage of Charles PLAXTON and Mary TRAIN (not Ellen!) in 1819. (I think this Charles is the older brother of George). My FTM 2008 software brings up an Ancestry One World Tree match for Charles suggesting he died in Ontario, Canada and I haven't been able to find him on any English census. Ellen is living with George and Ellen in 1851, in 1841 aged 5 she is living with William and Elizabeth KIRMAN.....I haven't even begun to look at their connection with this puzzle yet!!> > > > So I have 3 questions.> > 1. Does anyone have any of these Cottingham PLAXTONS in their tree and can shed any light on any of this?> > 2. Is it likely the PR could be wrong?> > 3. Does anyone know where I can find out if and when Charles went to Canada, and who went with him?> > > > Hoping someone can help.> > > > Jan Holmes> > > > > > _________________________________________________________________> > Get Hotmail on your mobile. Text MSN to 63463 now!> > http://mobile.uk.msn.com/pc/mail.aspx> > > > -------------------------------> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-EAST-YORKS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message> > > > > > -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-EAST-YORKS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Amazing prizes every hour with Live Search Big Snap http://www.bigsnapsearch.com