One groom two brides, help

[blossoms]

Help, I am looking for the marriage of a Robert Crow, but  have come up with a marriage and a license, both dated 1st November 1801, Bishopwearmouth, Durham the marriage is to Sarah Wood, the License one to a Barbara Wood, can this be? Could they be sisters? Can a man marry two wives at the same time? please can someone solve this. regards B

[Nick29]

It was not uncommon for sisters to marry on the same day (sometimes in a joint ceremony).  I think what you have is that both bride's records have been found, but only one groom.   You may need to go through the marriage records manually to find the other groom.

The other possibility is that the wrong bride's name was entered on the original record, and was subsequently amended, and both records have been indexed.

[JenB]

Durham Records Online has Bishopwearmouth Marriages up to 1837.
http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/newsearch.php

I have just done a cross-referenced search on the site.

A search on Robert Crow, spouses name Sarah comes up with a marriage and a licence in 1801 in Sunderland District, of which Bishopwearmouth was part.

A search of Sarah Wood, spouses name Robert comes up with identical results.

A search on Barbara Wood comes up with nothing at all.

Where did your information about Barbara come from?

Jennifer

[blossoms]

Hi, Jennifer and Nick, Thank you both for taking the time in giving me your advice, I’m new to this and have a lot to learn, I got the marriage and licence details from Family Search site, I have found two children of a Robert Crow and Sarah Wood, not as Robert and Sarah Crow, they are Robert born 1804 and two records for a Isabella, one states she was born 1802 the other 1809, if a child died, would they possibly give the same name to another child?  No luck with finding another marriage for a Barbara Wood, but still searching, it the marriage/License part I don’t understand. I’m wondering, did they have registrar office weddings in those day and perhaps it was a wedding of two religions and Barbara was the wrong name entered on the license, many thanks for you help, regards B

[JenB]

Blossoms

The information about Robert and Barbara which you have found on the Family search site is what is known as a 'submitted record', that is to say it has been entered there by someone (we don't know who), who has not given any basis in fact for what they have entered. You can see at the bottom of the page under the word 'messages' where it says 'Record submitted by a member of the LDS church'. Very often submitted entries are pure guesswork.

The only sort of record worth taking any notice of is one which is 'extracted' from the actual parish registers. The record which shows Robert marrying Sarah Wood is extracted and can therefore be trusted. It is also 100% backed up by the information which I found yesterday on Durham Records Online. There is no Robert Crow/Barbara Wood marriage at Bishopwearmouth.

Hope this helps?

Yes, often if a child died a subsequent child would be given the same name.

You may find it useful to take a look at Durham Records Online, which I mentioned yesterday. This is a pay-per-view site, with extensive records. You can often find useful information without paying by creative use of the search system!

Jennifer

[blossoms]

Thank you so much Jennifer for pointing me in the right direction.  Most of my research as been with the Family Search site, I just assumed that all the details had been check with their church records and to be able to cross check with The Durham Records Online will help so much, regards B.

[JenB]

Blossoms
Here is a link from the Rootschat lexicon which gives a little more background to 'submitted' entries on the IGI. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,247393.0.html

Basically only trust an 'extracted' record. Sometimes 'submitted' records are correct, but they must always be treated with a pinch of salt and checked against the actual parish registers.

Jennifer

[blossoms]

Thank you Jennifer for this additional advice, it really is appreciated.  What an amazing site this is. I have not had many dealings with parish registers, this will be a new chapter for me, up till now, my data has mainly come from the census, regards B.