Wrong father ?

[DUREAY]

Hi, looking for parish marriage records for, John TEMPLE and Martha Ann ROBINSON. They were married in Christ Church,Walker, Northumberland on 18th November 1893. I have their marriage certificate from the register office but Martha`s father is named as Thomas TEMPLE. I know him to be William ROBINSON and have checked with the registrar, they confirm that Thomas TEMPLE is on the certificate. Could this have been written down incorrectly? Hoping parish records can help.

[2zpool]

What was John Temple's father's name?

Perhaps someone could look in the Walker Christ Church registers and see what is says there.

Janis

[DUREAY]

Hi  Janis, John TEMPLE`s father is also John TEMPLE. Very confusing.

[Phodgetts]

Could this have been written down incorrectly?

Sounds to me like you have some more digging to do yet! There is a story in there somewhere.

In recent weeks I have come across a family member, a male, who took on his stepfather's name. There was 12 years between this boy and his other siblings which made me wonder if his mother had been married before. After some digging I found that this young man's father was a violent man and a criminal.

I don't know if his mother ever divorced his father, but for certain is the fact that she remarried and took her son with her. The boy in taking on his stepfather's name obviously wanted to disconnect himself from his real father. The lad eventually married in England and then headed out to the good old US of A and it is only on his passport application that he records his proper name, but he also adds his stepfather's name and records his stepfather as his real father. I guess given his real father's criminal and violent past, it would have made his progress in life difficult and he most certainly wouldn't have been able to emigrate or improve himself.

My reason for telling you all this, is that sometimes what we read on certificates and forms isn't always an error! Of course much research has to be done to uncover the story, not that that is always possible. Our ancestors sometimes leave us with many unanswerable questions. Fortunately for me I was able to resolve my family members reasons for what he did.

Happy hunting. Please tell us what you find out. These are intriguing stories, with a hint of 'smoke and mirrors' added to the mix. Lets face it, one cannot make a 'mistake' when filling in such important documents like marriage and birth certificates, so misinformation is deliberate. My own Grandmother 'falsified' her father's details on her own marriage certificate way back in 1938 as her father had committed suicide in 1924. I guess her mother and or other family members brought pressure to bear on that so as to avoid the stigma associated with a suicide in the family. Certainly a deliberate act.

P

[c-side]

Until last week I would have agreed with you about mis-information being deliberate but ..

I have my grandparents original marriage certificate and looking at it again I realised that both witnesses had the surname Thompson whereas one of them should have been Redford.  Bride's father was correctly named as Colin Thompson.  I decided to check the church version on my visit to the archives last week.  The witnesses were correctly named - one Thompson and one Redford - but the bride's father had become John Thompson!  Go figure.

I can check on the church version for you, Dureay, if you want me to

Christine

[DUREAY]

Hi P and Christine, Wow P, do I really want to know what happened? You bet. Martha`s mother died when she was 12 years old and Martha`s father was present at her death so looks like her parents were still married. Her father is on the 1911 census living with Martha`s older sister. Not sure what happened in between.
         Now Christine, maybe there was a mistake like yours. If you can I would love you to try and solve this mystery.
        Thanks to you both. DUREAY

[c-side]

Well, her father’s name is definitely given as Thomas Temple so no obvious admin error.  As both bride and groom live in the same street (Forge Row) have you looked at the census records for 1891 and 1901 - they could provide a clue as to what’s going on.

Christine

[DUREAY]

Hi Christine, thanks for checking for me. Hoped it was an writing error but not to be. On the 1881 census Martha was living in Shildon County Durham with her father and mother William and Jane ROBINSON. Martha was a domestic servant on the 1891 census living with a BRADLEY family in Aycliffe County Durham, so no clues there. On the 1901 she was married and living with her husband and family in South Shields County Durham.
    Looks like I`ll never find out why Thomas TEMPLE was said to be her father.

[c-side]

Don't give up so easily! 

What's puzzling me is why they married in Walker when they all came from south of the Tyne.  The only place called Forge Row that I can find on the 1891 census in either Northumberland or Durham is in Longbenton which is the right area to give them residency for a marriage at Walker but there's no obvious connection to any of the families living there in 1891.

What were they trying to hide, I wonder?

Is it possible that Mrs. Robinson was married twice - first to Thomas Temple?

Needs further investigation