confused!!

[scampitt]

hi everyone, well i went to the hampshire county records office today and had great fun, except i could not find any mention of my nan in the births microfiche, found her death certificates and it gave her date of birth as 2/7/1909 but when i had a look it wasnt there, i went the quarter before her birth (just in case) and the two after, i then looked at 1910 and 1908, and nope i couldnt find her!!! so any suggestions, her name is celia (cecilia) gerrard, and she came from romsey, can anyone give me any help please!!! thank you carol

[eileenb]

Hi there
Now this is going to sound like a very stupid question but you did look for your nan under her maiden name didn't you? The reason I ask is because I have been daft enough in the past to look under the married name for a birth!
Who registered the death? Whoever it was may have taken a guess at her birth date because they didn't actually know it.
I gotvery frustrated not being able to find a birth for one of my ancestors until someone pointed out that she may have been married twice and what I thought was the maiden name actually is another married name.
Have you got her marriage certificate which will show her previous name(s)?
Post the details and other people will have a look for you.
Hope this helps
Eileen

[scampitt]

thanks eileen, now you come to ask me, yes thats her maiden name her married name is pitt, she married once, 26/3/1932 to william arthur pitt, (29/8/1908), from carol

[susan-w]

I guess it's most likely her age was registered wrongly. I've discovered huge discrepancies with women's ages :) To shave ten years off your age is nothing.

However, I had the same problem with my grandmother - she gave her father's first name as John on her marriage certificate. I spent ages searching in the GRO indexes, but could find no trace.

I eventually discovered that her father's name was really Isaac, she was born in Warsaw, and a Jewish refugee. My mother had no idea that she was even Jewish. I've since discovered that this isn't as uncommon as you might think.

[Guy Etchells]

What index did you use to search for your nan, was it the GRO index or was it the local Superintendent Registrar's Index.
It could be that her name was not indexed by the GRO but is on the SRI.
Cheers
Guy

[scampitt]

thank you susan and guy, i did think that maybe she was lying about her age, but didnt want to believe it!!! the age on the marriage certificate says 23, but..... as to the GRO or the SRI (god there are so many things to learn about this hobby!!!) it was the GRO i was looking at, does that make a difference? i thought that everyone had to be registered, isnt it a criminal offence not to?? or am i being naive - again, thank you carol

[LynA]

Are you sure she was born in Hampshire? FreeBMD shows a Celia May GERRARD registered in Sept 1909 quarter in Lambeth (1d 342)
Best wishes,
Lynda

[Steve Steere]

I am doing a study of the Hampshire surname SCOREY, and have found on a couple of occasions that the wrong year of birth has been shown on the GRO Death index, proved as I have baptism's and other details.
I do wonder if they got the date of birth from a relative who registered the death, and as we all know people do get it wrong.
If that is the case then you will need to trawl through the birth indexes, and as FreeBMD are almost complete for the late 1890's & early 1900's you may find it.

[Ladkyis]

Be careful with the place of birth too. My husband's family all said that Grandad Macey was born in Frome, Somerset - except Uncle Bill who said nothing. He showed us the death certificate which gave the place of birth - after the 1960s the death cert does this - as Allbrook, Hants. Silent Uncle Bill knew this because he had taken his father's birth certificate with him to register the death but, most people do not have access to the birth certificate and don't give it a thought at such a difficult time. so keep an open mind on dates and places and family knowledge.
Ann

[Geoffers]

hi everyone, well i went to the hampshire county records office today and had great fun, except i could not find any mention of my nan in the births microfiche, found her death certificates and it gave her date of birth as 2/7/1909 but when i had a look it wasnt there, i went the quarter before her birth (just in case) and the two after, i then looked at 1910 and 1908, and nope i couldnt find her!!! so any suggestions, her name is celia (cecilia) gerrard, and she came from romsey, can anyone give me any help please!!! thank you carol
Not wanting to depress you any further - but have you also tried the GRO index under JERRARD? Could she have had another first name in front of Celia which she didn't like and so dropped it? - always worth checking just in case. The comments made by others about keeping an open mind on dates/places of birth are some of the best bits of advice you'll get with regard to this hobby.

Geoffers