Genealogy Chat

Just received a birth certificate (1860) and the mother is stated as Elizabeth Mills formerly COUTTS. I have Elizabeth married on the on 1851 living in Rotherhithe, Surrey age 26 born Scotland. Same details for 1861 and 71. Her children range from 1843? to 1864 but no sign of her marriage to Thomas Mills. There several Elizabeth Coutts born around 1825 Scotland on the IGI. Having a dumb moment, don't know how to research this further! Any thoughts? Selena

Hi The Scotlandpeople site have baptisms and marriages covering the dates. Its the official site for Scotland. Suzanne

thanks Suzanne, will have a look, Selena

Selena because there is a 6 year gap between the children this makes me think that Elizabeth is Thomas's second wife, if she is I have a marriage that may fit although Thomas's name is not on the reference there is a male missing.... Marriages Dec 1847 Allen Sarah Rotherhithe 4 461 Barnard Susannah Bennett Rotherhithe 4 461 Barnard Thomas Boucher Rotherhithe 4 461 COOPER Matilda St George Southwark 4 461 COUTTS Elizabeth Rotherhithe 4 461 MOUSLEY Edward Rotherhithe 4 461 PORTMAN John William Rotherhithe 4 461 Georgina.

This looks like Charles birth which would coincide with the marriage. Births Dec 1848 MILLS Charles Rotherhithe 4 437 Georgina.

Cant see Charles on the 1861 census but there are 2 possible deaths..... Deaths Jun 1855 Mills Charles Rotherhithe 1d 331 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deaths Jun 1856 Mills Charles Rotherhithe 1d 301 Georgina.

You will probably find that nearly all or all of the entries you find on Scotland's People 'Old Parochial Registers' are the same ones that are on the IGI anyway. As for the possible marriage, somebody needs to check if there is a matching entry for Thomas Mills in that quarter. Kate.

Georgina there's a problem with that list of marriages... there's an odd-one-out woman: COOPER Matilda St George Southwark 4 461 she wasn't a Rotherhithe bride, so is possibly mistranscribed. I've had a look at some of teh FreeBMD images, and I'm not optimistic. 1847M4-M-1246 MILLER, Henry - MILLESHOP, John 1847M4-M-1250 MILLS, George - MILLS, Thomas 1847M4-M-1252 MILLS, William - MILTON, Mary Ann Christine

Amazingly, the first page I picked for Dec 1847 'M' marriages on FreeBMD's 'view images' facility turned out to be the one with the Thomas Mills entries on, and sorry to say none was in Rotherhithe. As the last entry on the page is a Thomas Mills, I also looked at the next page but it starts with William Mills. So it looks as though the Elizabeth Coutts who got married then wasn't your one. I wonder if you can get a birth certificate for the first of Thomas Mills's children and see if the mother was Elizabeth or somebody else? It might help to narrow down when the marriage could have taken place. (By the way, a gap of six years between children could just mean that a couple of children died as babies.) Kate.