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Author Topic: What's the difference?  (Read 584 times)
LizzieW
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What's the difference?
« on: Thursday 02 July 09 11:37 UTC (UK) »
Whilst  looking at the parish records for the marriage of my 3 x g.grandmother, I noticed that most women, if unmarried, were described as "Spinster".  However, my 3 x g.grandmother was shown as "Single Woman".  Was this difference due to the fact that when she married on 24 August 1816, she had already had a child (with 3 x g.grandfather) on 30 April 1816?  Did spinster equate to virgin?

Lizzie
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BENSON- Dalton in Furness (Ulverston) and Hull
BETTISON - Derbys
BOULTON - Dalton-in-Furness and surrounding areas
BRAND - Lincs
COCKETT - Lincs, Yorks, Lancs
DA COSTA (or variants) -  Spain or Portugal, London (Middx), ?Hull
GILCHRIST - Scotland, Lincs
HINGLEY - Derbys/Yorks
MANN - Sussex, Kent, Herts
MUMBY - Lincolnshire and Hull
PEMBERTON - Ches, Lancashire
STANTON - Lincs
ROBINSON - Lincs
WHITTAKER/WHITAKER - Ches/Lancs
WRIGHT- Bethnal Green
stanmapstone
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Posts: 6593


My answers only refer to England and Wales


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Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 02 July 09 12:18 UTC (UK) »
Spinster is the proper legal designation of a woman still unmarried, Single Woman means exactly the same.

Stan
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Mapstone, Mapston. Sunderland, Somerset
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
LizzieW
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Posts: 3301
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 02 July 09 14:13 UTC (UK) »
Just wondered why, rarely over many pages, single woman was written and in the same hand as all the other entries, sometimes on the same date.  All I could think of was that it was because 3 x g.grandmother (and perhaps the others) had had a child before marriage, or maybe the parish clerk just felt like having a change Roll Eyes

Lizzie
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BENSON- Dalton in Furness (Ulverston) and Hull
BETTISON - Derbys
BOULTON - Dalton-in-Furness and surrounding areas
BRAND - Lincs
COCKETT - Lincs, Yorks, Lancs
DA COSTA (or variants) -  Spain or Portugal, London (Middx), ?Hull
GILCHRIST - Scotland, Lincs
HINGLEY - Derbys/Yorks
MANN - Sussex, Kent, Herts
MUMBY - Lincolnshire and Hull
PEMBERTON - Ches, Lancashire
STANTON - Lincs
ROBINSON - Lincs
WHITTAKER/WHITAKER - Ches/Lancs
WRIGHT- Bethnal Green
XPhile2868
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 1011
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #3 on: Friday 03 July 09 03:17 UTC (UK) »
Could it not be due to her age? Was she too young to be considered a spinster?

Stephen Smiley
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Smith (Lancashire), McKenna (Ireland/Liverpool/Leyland), Maynard (Hertfordshire/London/Preston), Ricketts (Gloucestershire/Wigan/Preston), Scowcroft (Preston), Harling (N. Yorkshire/Lancashire), Willis (Preston), Clegg (Manchester/Preston), Dodd (Wigan/Cheshire), Alston (Lancashire), Hulks (Hertfordshire), Nicholson (Lancashire), Russell (Lancashire), Wilson (Kendal)

Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
stanmapstone
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Posts: 6593


My answers only refer to England and Wales


WWW
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #4 on: Friday 03 July 09 07:52 UTC (UK) »
If she was a minor, under the age of 21, the register would have after "with consent of" the name of her parent or guardian.
Stan
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Mapstone, Mapston. Sunderland, Somerset
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
LizzieW
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 3301
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #5 on: Friday 03 July 09 08:47 UTC (UK) »
Quote
Could it not be due to her age? Was she too young to be considered a spinster?

No she was 24, I found her birth as well, so a good day's work, I found she had two daughters I didn't know of, the one born before she married and then a 2nd one, who were both too old to be on the 1841 census, i.e. they had left home.  (No deaths registered).   I then found the births and baptisms of all the sons I knew they had, except my 2 x g.grandfather!  I know I have the correct family because of various census, marriage certs etc.  Of course, when I got back home and looked at my records,  I saw on the 1901 census, he had actually put his town of birth, rather than just the County and unlike his siblings, he had been born in a nearby town and I hadn't looked at those records! 

Lizzie
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BENSON- Dalton in Furness (Ulverston) and Hull
BETTISON - Derbys
BOULTON - Dalton-in-Furness and surrounding areas
BRAND - Lincs
COCKETT - Lincs, Yorks, Lancs
DA COSTA (or variants) -  Spain or Portugal, London (Middx), ?Hull
GILCHRIST - Scotland, Lincs
HINGLEY - Derbys/Yorks
MANN - Sussex, Kent, Herts
MUMBY - Lincolnshire and Hull
PEMBERTON - Ches, Lancashire
STANTON - Lincs
ROBINSON - Lincs
WHITTAKER/WHITAKER - Ches/Lancs
WRIGHT- Bethnal Green
maxxangel
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Posts: 72


Grandma and Grandad
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday 05 August 09 01:09 UTC (UK) »
Could the registrar just have had a mental block that day and forgot the word he was supposed to use and put 'single woman' instead? It certainly happens to me a lot!!
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Powell - Ireland
Watkins - Wales
Davies - Wales
James - England
Allen - Staffordshire
Barrett - England
Hewlett - Oxfordshire
LizzieW
RootsChat Marquessate
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Posts: 3301
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday 05 August 09 09:42 UTC (UK) »
Possibly, but he seemed to have a similar mental block every two to three days.  I just thought perhaps it was his way of stating that the woman had a child, without being seen to be prejudiced.

Lizzie
Logged
BENSON- Dalton in Furness (Ulverston) and Hull
BETTISON - Derbys
BOULTON - Dalton-in-Furness and surrounding areas
BRAND - Lincs
COCKETT - Lincs, Yorks, Lancs
DA COSTA (or variants) -  Spain or Portugal, London (Middx), ?Hull
GILCHRIST - Scotland, Lincs
HINGLEY - Derbys/Yorks
MANN - Sussex, Kent, Herts
MUMBY - Lincolnshire and Hull
PEMBERTON - Ches, Lancashire
STANTON - Lincs
ROBINSON - Lincs
WHITTAKER/WHITAKER - Ches/Lancs
WRIGHT- Bethnal Green
youngtug
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Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday 05 August 09 09:54 UTC (UK) »
spinster is a woman of marriagable age who is single and has no children.
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LizzieW
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Posts: 3301
Re: What's the difference?
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 05 August 09 14:28 UTC (UK) »
Quote
spinster is a woman of marriagable age who is single and has no children

That's what I thought.  My 3 x g.grandmother already had a child when she got married to my 3 x g.grandfather who was the father of the child.

Lizzie
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BENSON- Dalton in Furness (Ulverston) and Hull
BETTISON - Derbys
BOULTON - Dalton-in-Furness and surrounding areas
BRAND - Lincs
COCKETT - Lincs, Yorks, Lancs
DA COSTA (or variants) -  Spain or Portugal, London (Middx), ?Hull
GILCHRIST - Scotland, Lincs
HINGLEY - Derbys/Yorks
MANN - Sussex, Kent, Herts
MUMBY - Lincolnshire and Hull
PEMBERTON - Ches, Lancashire
STANTON - Lincs
ROBINSON - Lincs
WHITTAKER/WHITAKER - Ches/Lancs
WRIGHT- Bethnal Green
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