Genealogy Chat

I have been trying to find the GRO marriage Ref for ZILLAH WHEELER + ELIJAH PURCELL.I have them both separately on the 1901 census,and they had a child in 1907.Presuming they did actually marry,I have searched the indexes for Zillah Wheeler and the many Various spellings of Purcell,but found nothing.I also checked Ancestry,Free BMD and West Mids BMD,and still found nothing.ANY ideas anyone?

Could they have married abroad, in which case you'd certainly need to look elsewhere - but then you'd need to find out which country, tough one!! Kim

Not as far as I know!!! I forgot to mention that they lived in Smethwick and would possibly have been registered in King's Norton or West Brom,or pssibly even Oldbury or Dudley as they lived there too.

I was going to say that Kim - although I was about to suggest Scotland - maybe they might have gone to Gretna Green. Unlikely, I know, but not impossible. Even if they married abroad, surely they'd be listed still in the foreign returns of the GRO indexes though. Was the groom in the army or armed forces? That might be another reason the marriage occured abroad. Also, even though they might have had a child in 1907, that is no reason at all to think they were actually married. My mum's parents had three children from 1947 onwards until they finally got hitched in 1953, so make sure you check after this date also for a good few years.

I can't think of any reason why they might get married abroad,but I think Elijah was married before,so that might be a reason to go to Gretna Green ! I assumed they were married because their son's birth cert said Mother:Zillah Purcell,previously Wheeler.So 1901-1907 seemed a logical place to start!! There are so many different spellings of Purcell that the thought of searching even more years is so daunting,not to mention tedious!

Thanks for any other help in advance,my internat time is about to run out!

I have a birth cert where the mother's name is given as ''Elizabeth Stratford, formerly Gardner''. In the burial register at the church she is described as ''Elizabeth Stratford, properly Gardner''... not quite the same, methinks! ;-) Christine

A birth cert threw me. It had mother Horstead formerly Smith, so I trawled back and forward looking for the marriage. It turned up 17 years after this child was born! So dont narrow the field too much. As its after 1866 - why dont you spend a few units on familyrelatives.org where you can just enter the names for a search and they bring up everything in the time span 1866-1920. Worth a go?

As I was on Family Relatives I did a quick look up and the only two marriages that I could find between a Purcell and a Wheeler in the west midlands were John Purcell Married Florence Lizzie Wheeler Bromsgrove 6c, Page 724 September quarter 1906 and William Purcell Married Fanny Wheeler Solihull 6d, Page 1291 September quarter 1912 I checked 'all areas'' with the Zillah and Elijah forenames and there were no results. Hope the above is of some help. Good luck - June

I have birth certs of 1912&1913 where the childen are registered as if the couple were married ,but they didnt marry till 1914 after he had joined up. Presume it was so he could send allowance home. So i would broaden the search years too Shirley

Thanks to everyone! I think I;ve got a few spare credits for familyrelatives,so I'll widen the years and see what that brings up,Thanks again.