The certificate should be an exact copy Jon hope this helps,Linda and Tony OK thanks both, will have a dig through the archives, can't remember that at all. So, maybe a possiblity that elizabeth did remarry or just take on his name? The certificate I have for Elizabeth's death is typed out, not handwritten. So what the original says is anyone's guess? any way of having that checked out do you know? BTW Forton is spot on for the area where Elizabeth was living in 1861.

Linda and Tony wrote: "The certificate should be an exact copy Jon" The word there is *should*. A cousin of mine received a copy of a death certificate from the GRO with the informant shown as 'Elizabeth Carter, Widow of deceased, Daughter-in-Law, Present at the death, Shirland'. This served only to confuse us, as we couldn't understand how someone could be both the widow and daughter-in-law (or possibly meaning step-daughter at that time). His wife was Elizabeth and there was a known daughter-in-law called Elizabeth Carter. A few months later I ordered some other certificates from Chesterfield RO, Derbyshire, which covers the above Shirland. I enquired about the informant on the certificate. I received a telephone call to say that in their original registers, the words 'widow of the deceased' had been crossed out. This explained everything and obviously was an error in the copying from the RO's registers to the GRO copy. So, what I'm saying is that if the certificate you obtained was from the GRO, maybe you could check with the relevent register office to see if their register contains exactly the same information? Hope that helps, Sarah -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.0/27 - Release Date: 23/06/2005