In my family there is one instance of the groom (his mother unmarried), naming his grandfather as his father on his wedding certificate. I think that it is perfectly understandable why a groom would be reluctant to admit to his in-laws and possibly his bride, that he does not know who his father was. On another occasion, the groom in collusion with his stepfather, gave his own name as his father, on his marriage certificate. Trevor in NZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Massey" <karen_staines@hotmail.com> To: <essex-uk@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 7:30 AM Subject: [Ess] Grandfather named as father on marriage cert? > > > > My ancester Sarah Ann Bailey was born in Orsett around 1850 and i want to > trace her parents. On the census i found her living with her grandfather > WILLIAM BAILEY but never with her parents. > I ordered 2 birth certificates that i though it could be, one was > definatley wrong whilst the other gave the mother as EMMA BAILEY and > Father as Unknown. William Bailey had a daughter called Emma so this is > possible. I also ordered Sarah's wedding certificate and the father named > on it was WILLIAM BAILEY. The grandfather WILLIAM also had a son called > WILLIAM. Confused yet??!! > The second william would have only been 14 when Sarah was born. > > I think that perhaps her mother was EMMA BAILEY and she gave her > grandfathers name as her father on the wedding certificate as her bought > her up. Is this a logical theory? > > Thanks in advance > Karen > > _________________________________________________________________ > Win New York holidays with Kellogg’s & Live Search > http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/107571440/direct/01/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

I have an instance on a marriage certificate when the groom's father is quoted as "John Allen" (a very common name), "Labourer" (a common but untraceable occupation) and "Deceased". He was definitely illegitimate, as was his half brother, and we doubt that even his mother knew who the father was! The information on any certificate is only as reliable as the person supplying the information. And if they don't know (or want anyone else to know) the truth, they will change what they say. Heather Trevor Brown wrote: > In my family there is one instance of the groom (his mother unmarried), > naming his grandfather as his father on his wedding certificate. I think > that it is perfectly understandable why a groom would be reluctant to admit > to his in-laws and possibly his bride, that he does not know who his father > was. > > On another occasion, the groom in collusion with his stepfather, gave his > own name as his father, on his marriage certificate. > > Trevor in NZ > >