RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Davedrave on Tuesday 23 February 21 09:16 GMT (UK)
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When I was reviewing some records yesterday I realised that two marriages occupying the same page of the register were of sister and brother. It wasn’t immediately obvious, and initially I went on a bit of a wild goose chase.
In July 1864 Emma Sayers married in Moulsham church in Essex. She was the daughter of Benjamin Sayers, miller. William Sayers son of William Sayers, fellmonger, also married. I couldn’t recall a Benjamin Sayers, and drew a blank with censuses. (Emma and William lived in the same area). Maybe they were cousins and Benjamin was yet another Sayers missing a baptism?
I then remembered that William’s father had died in 1851 and that his widow mother had remarried in 1853, to Benjamin Burgess. 1861 Census: Benjamin Burgess, miller; wife Sophia, and children including Emma Burgess and William Burgess.
This raises some interesting points: did William or Emma ever call themselves Burgess, and how did Benjamin Burgess become Benjamin Sayers? And surely the vicar would have known siblings were marrying at the same time? And yet the anomaly in the father’s name was missed.
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It's quite possible they went by both names.
Emma may have seen Benjamin Burgess more of
a father figure so put his christian name but her
surname so as not to appear illegitimate or have
to give an explanation.
The vicar would have been used to people going by
different names.
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Seems Emma did use her real father's surname and her stepfather's first name for her marriage. I have a very similar case.
My ancestor William Thomas Coombs was born in 1828, his dad George Coombs, a coachman, died in 1831. William's mother had her banns read in 1834 but no marriage has been found. However William had a much older brother Matthew George Coombs born in 1812 who was a printer, and never a coachman.
When William married in 1856, he said his father was "Matthew George Coombs, coachman". A combination of his dad's occupation and his older brother's full name. As his dad died young, he must have seen his older brother as a father figure. When Matthew G Coombs wed in 1845, he said his father was "George Coombs, coachman". At least Billy Coombs (he'd slap me lol if I referred to him as Billy ;D) knew his dad was a coachman, just assumed his dad was Matthew George Coombs.
Their father was never Matthew George Coombs, just George Coombs, born in Dorset, his dad was a Matthew Coombs, so that must be where the name in the family came from.