Mistakes on marriage records

[Guy Etchells]

I am at loggerheads with a relative. We have what I believe to be my great grandmother's marriage record, with her father's name slightly wrong, let's say possibly misheard a bit like 'Josh' for 'Joseph'. My relative refuses to accept that mistakes on marriage records occur, so she won't accept any research that relies on this document. Looking for "mistakes on marriage records" here gets three threads, but I am looking for something more substantial, that will show mistakes are even made on important formal papers.

Zaph

Of course mistakes are made, but when people say a birth record is wrong or a marriage record is wrong it may not be.
It could very easily be that the registrar or clerk copying from the register to the certificate has made a mistake, one example of this is available here
http://anguline.co.uk/cert/marr_cert.html
I had to apply for a marriage certificate for my mother's marriage shortly after her death in 2004, as I did not want to send the original certificate I had in case it got lost in the post. On the new certificate her maiden name was given as IMY instead of GUY.

If simple mistakes like that can be made when both her father's name and mother's maiden & married names are shown on the register in modern times when I assume the clerk is literate, it is not surprising that errors would be made in earlier times when many people were perhaps semi-literate.
Cheers
Guy

[wivenhoe]

What document are you looking at -
church record?...image of handwritten document?...transcription?
civil record?...image of handwritten document ?...transcription?
                                                   

What document is the relative looking at -
church record?...image of handwritten document?...transcription?
civil record?...image of handwritten document ?...transcription?

There must be more than just a slight variation, such as the example you are giving, to cause two researchers to differ. I wonder how either claim can be supported.

When and where was the event? 

[coombs]

If the research is backed up by other records, then it is OK to just discard it as a simple error. Info given was only as accurate as what was being told. Of course this applies to birth and death certs as well as marriage.

A man I knew was born in 1964 in Doncaster to Jamaican parents, his birthday was always believed to be Nov 8 but his funeral service card said 1st September 1964. Hard to say which is the correct one, he died in 2008 of a rare lung illness. The only way to be totally sure would be any hospital records if he was born in hospital but they will not be open to the public. A conflicting DOB can add doubt into the mix even for people alive today or who were born in the 20th century.

[Meelystar]

My Great Great Grandmother had the wrong first name for her Father as well. John instead of William although his occupation was correct.  No family witnesses. Her place of birth was not correctly listed in the censuses and her age was 5 years out.
In short I thought I knew who she was but I couldn’t be 100%.  The not quite right info could be explained by the fact that she was orphaned by the age of 5. Eventually the 1939 register that listed her date of birth (although a year out) proved her to be the correct person.
That’s one example on my tree, I have others 

[Zaphod99]

Thanks all, so far.

Wivenhoe, we are both debating the image of handwritten document.

Zaph

[Milliepede]

So could you post it for us all to have a look at? 

[BumbleB]

Just a thought - your relative doesn't agree with the record which you believe to be correct - OK.  BUT has your relative come up with anything to confirm their theory?

Yes, we can all agree to disagree, but if someone is being so pedantic, then surely that person has to come up with the evidence. 

[Zaphod99]

No, she has no alternative idea, and the document doesn't actually show anything other than the fact that the father's name is a diminutive but obscure alternate.

I think I've got enough here to convince here that she can't exclude it totally.Thanks.

Zaph

[medpat]

I had problems with a wrong father's name on a wedding cert.

My husband's paternal grandmother's family was the problem.

I had her family (I believed) and sent for her wedding cert. - different father's first name.

Started again looking for her family but couldn't place the father's name with a daughter of her name. Her age was consistent on all documentation and could only find one birth in the area over the couple of years I looked at, I sent for the birth cert. . I was back at my original family. More confusion.

About a year later I searched again and up popped an adult baptism for the lady, it named her parents, they were same as her birth cert., the marriage cert. was wrong.

Wondered what the reason was, a misheard name, but they were completely different . Mix up with another couple or just a rushed job. Whatever it was, fortunately a recently found DNA cousin has also proved it's the correct family. 

Eveyone makes mistakes, even on official documents.