deceased fathers on marriage certificates

[JillJ]

I have an instance of a woman who 'invented' a husband to cover up an illegitimate daughter.   The 'husband' was shown as deceased on the daughter's marriage certificate (but the groom lied about his age to cover up lack of parental consent) and by the time the woman was in her eighties she had obviously forgotten who she invented because his forename and occupation changed.   She very cleverly said that she had married a man with the same surname as herself but in actual fact she never married at all!

Jill

[Keith Sherwood]

I have learned not to take as true the evidence on a marriage certificate that seems to indicate that the bride or groom's father is still alive at the time of the wedding if the word "deceased" does not appear in brackets after his name.  I subsequently discovered on several occasions that the father was indeed already dead.
However, if the word "deceased" does appear I have taken it to be true, and have been able therefore to search for a death certificate prior to the marriage.
Often, as people have said, for a number of reasons, the name of the father given is simply untrue...
Keith

[kerryb]

Take it all with a pinch of salt - that is my new motto!

I have several marriage certificates with father deceased on including one which sent me for weeks searching for a Henry William only to find eventually that he was called William Henry.  I know he was dead but did the son have to forget his name quite so quickly!!!!

Kerryb

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Kerryb,
Almost the same name, but the entry William Henry White (deceased) appeared on my great-grandmother's two different marriage certificates as her father.  He did indeed die well before either marriage, but he was in fact her Grandfather - my grandmother's father's name doesn't appear on her birth certificate, and I'm pretty certain we'll never find out who he really was...
Keith

[kerryb]

Hi Keith

It the little anomalies in my results which make my family tree so fascinating and exciting as I work it all out.  But I would love if I could back in time and ask questions as to why, what, when etc?  If only

Kerryb