Remember there are still many places in the world where there is no systematic registration of births, marriages and deaths but normally everyone in the neighbourhood, village, tribe or clan knows who's who going back several generations. Some societies may have locally written genealogies, but in many cases they still rely on oral history. That would have been the case in Britain. Everyone in the street or parish would have known directly or by hearsay which John married which Mary. If you moved to another place or to the big city where nobody knew you, there was nothing to stop you calling yourself anything you liked. Few people would have come into contact with any administration outside the parish where they lived. If necessary, someone would vouch for them - an employer, a landlord, the local vicar, etc. Many British people still have an aversion to being asked for proof of identity, hence the widespread opposition to carrying identity cards. I had a case where two men of the same age with the same names (who it later turned out were first cousins) married women with the same first names in the same year in the same area. It took several years, but we finally proved which couple was which, through circumstantial evidence that led eventually to sufficient proof - a place of birth of a descendant still living at the time of the 1851 census, the name of relative later living with the family, a surname given as a middle name somewhere else in the family, etc. If there are wills they can be useful as fathers often described their married daughters as "wife of X" and the grandchildren may be named at the same time, thus aiding identification. Just saw a headline that if the new British Govt has its way, 2011 will be the last official census in its present form. MAR in France. > Message du 09/07/10 23:43 > De : "Robyn Shaw" > A : [email protected] > Copie à : > Objet : Re: [WAR] Fw: Re: SMALL FAMILY marriages > > > Gus, can you tell us, and maybe others, what on earth WAS on a wedding > certificate before 1837. With so many people having the same names, how did > one differentiate between John Small of Blogs Street who married Mary > Dunnnowho, and John Small of Jones Street who also married a Mary, both in > the same district....how would you ever find YOUR John or for that matter, > your Mary? > Robyn, Qld. Oz. > > On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Gus Tysoe wrote: > > > > > > Name of father to both sides who marry, SHOULD be on the wedding > > > certificate. > > I've not been following this thread, but *IF* this marriage was of the > > parents of John the First Fleeter - which it appears to be from the > > context - then the Register will NOT show the fathers' names :-( > > > > That specific requirement wasn't introduced until the adoption of Civil > > Registration on 1 July 1837. > > > > Gus > > > > List archives are at > > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > -- > Robyn Freney-Shaw > Manager/Co-Ordinator > Spiritus Soup Kitchen > Toowoomba. > List archives are at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >