Annette wrote: > If you were married in 1870, did you have to provide your birth certificate, or did you just put what you were known by. > > I have John Alfred CAWTE age 26 married on 1.1.1870, surely he would have had to have been born in 1844. > So why could I only find a birth registration of John George CAWTE. (George was his fathers name). > Could this one and the same person?? In addition to the points already made, you should be aware of the possibility that John George was an older brother who died in infancy. Re-use of the same or very similar name in these circumstances was very common. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Fisher in Luton, Beds, UK. jim@jimella.co.uk Personal site: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jimella/home.htm Management accounting site: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jimella/