Rob: > The only part of a marriage cert that can be taken as true are the names of those marrying and the vicars name Not even those. Quite a few people change their names, even if only by using a middle name as first name. And "a certificate" involves copying during which names are the most likely fields to be wrongly copied. Not to mention David/Daniel, Caroline/Catherine, etc! Paul

I agree with Paul.. My ggrandfather married with one surname the first time and another surname the second..another was a bastard and invented a father to make it look good..so nothing can be taken as true...unless you have backup..I have at least 5 name changes or errors.. Mary Sydney -----Original Message----- From: Paul Prescott Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 10:05 AM To: staffordshire@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [STAFFORDSHIRE] Widows in 18th Century Staffordshire Rob: > The only part of a marriage cert that can be taken as true are the names > of those marrying and the vicars name Not even those. Quite a few people change their names, even if only by using a middle name as first name. And "a certificate" involves copying during which names are the most likely fields to be wrongly copied. Not to mention David/Daniel, Caroline/Catherine, etc! Paul ****************************** ATTENTION TO ALL:- When replying please remove the details that do not apply to your mail and change the SUBJECT LINE for best useage of ARCHIVED MATERIALS. ****************************** PLEASE keep your Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software up to date. BEWARE of messages making it onto the List with a single URL. NEVER follow the link. It's usually from an infected source! ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to STAFFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message