Genealogy Chat

My grandfather William John Read born 1868 according to his m/c met & married grandmother in St.Pancras 1894, first child born St.Pancras the previous year. On the mc he gave father's name as Thomas Charles. I checked census 1891 found what seemed the relevent family living fairly close to grandmother, father shown only as Thomas. 1881 census surname is shown as Reid but is the same people living Islington, but 1871 shows Thomas P. I sent for grandfather's birth certificate. only to find it instead of Thomas Charles it shows as Thomas Peter. There is a younger son on the census Thomas C. I have checked every census entry for William John Read/Reed/Reid 1871-1891 for London cross matching with Thomas as his father allowing 2 years either side of 1868 but there are only about six none of which are anywhere near the Islington/St.Pancras area. Not having any further information regarding grandfather's siblings where do I go from here. Could he have confused his father's second name with his brother's ? Would really appreciate some other opinions on this. Thanks in advance Grace

Well you are doing all the right things, sending off for the certs etc. I did have a case of the bridegroom having the wrong first name! in a pre 1837 wedding. It seems likely that his uncle was present and somehow James became Samuel! I often wondered if Samuel had signed as the witness and the clerk had made an error. I take it you have looked at the actual image to see if there has been a transcription mistake on the census?

Hi TC - thanks for your reply. Yes I have checked the original index and it definitely is Thomas P. Until I checked the 1871 I was almost convinced this was the right family. Looks as though its back to the drawing board, but I'm rather stumped on this one.

Grace, When ordering a cert from the local Registrar, I was told that people often said the weirdest things when put 'on the spot' - the suggestion was that they were so nervous or distracted at their marriage that they often got things wrong. I reckon it would be a easy mistake for your Grandfather to have made - after all, a brother's middle name would probably come to mind more quickly ... if indeed he actually knew his Father's middle name! Regs Jane

Mistakes can easily happen when parent and child have similar names. When my aunt died aged 97, my son was living nearby and was asked by his aged uncle, aunt's brother, to register the death. He knew she was Minnie and rang home here for details. 'Was she Minnie Eliza?' 'Yes that's right, born 29 October 1901'. Aunt was duly registered and then on the day of the funeral someone said, ' She always said she was Minnie Ann Elizabeth' ........ So she was. It was her mother, also born 29 October, who was Minnie Eliza.- a fact that we later reported to the registrar. Did Thomas sign as a witness at any family events or as an informant?

Many thanks everyone for your replies. Apart from the middle name of Peter instead of Charles it all seems to fit, even some of their occupations of coal porter etc., as my Uncle was a coalman all his life and my father even did the same job when work was hard to find before WW2. Grace