William Sidney Gibson - Identity of father

[Coromandel]

Certificates issued by the GRO are based on copies of records sent there each quarter by local registrars. Errors were introduced during this copying process, so there can be differences between certificates issued by the GRO and those issued locally.

[wonnig]

Certificates issued by the GRO are based on copies of records sent there each quarter by local registrars. Errors were introduced during this copying process, so there can be differences between certificates issued by the GRO and those issued locally.

Hello Coromandel
That was my thinking, but as per my update below, GRO say that the original Norwich record shows Albert and not George.
Question is, do I accept what they say about having contacted Norwich, or do I go & check for myself?
I suppose that first hand evidence is better than word of mouth!!

[grisel]

Hi wonnig

Do you have any details re George/Albert from William Sidney's first marriage? (Is it the 1902 one to an Emma?)

Another thought - given William's disability could the details of his father been provided to the registrar by his wife to be (in 1939), and there was some misunderstanding along the line?

[wonnig]

Hello Grisel
Yes,William married Emma Margaret Watson 24/11/1902 at Norwich, and they, (or she), had 1 daughter, Beatrice in 1900 also at Norwich and she appears to have died in early 1939.
His 2nd marriage to Helen L Connorton was on 27/12/1939 at Norwich Register Office.
Helen was born 12/10/1890 at St Pancras and had 1 son Henry Victor on 20/12/1920 at Norwich.
The notes by my aunt indicate that William married his housekeeper. On the 1901 census she was a house keeper at an address
in London.
His disability as a factor had not occurred to me, Now you mention it I think that there could be a very strong possibility that you are right. She would, no doubt, have never met William's father so could well have misunderstood what his name was.

Thanks very much for your having come up with that, it's much appreciated.

[grisel]

Hello Grisel
Yes,William married Emma Margaret Watson 24/11/1902 at Norwich,
.

Do you know if he gave his father's name as George or Albert at this marriage? If George then the Albert in 1939 was probably some sort of mistake.

[wonnig]

Do you know if he gave his father's name as George or Albert at this marriage? If George then the Albert in 1939 was probably some sort of mistake.

I have no idea on that.

The only possible contact I have is my aunt, who is nearly 80yr. Her recollection of things is very unreliable and cannot be trusted to be correct.
I'm convinced that Albert is a mistake, and that your explanation in relation to his disabilities is extremely plausible.
His 1st wife died in early 1939, and he remarried in December that year. I imagine that she only "appeared on the scene" after Emma had died. If William was severely deaf & dumb she would have had to provide all of the information to the registrar, and possibly would not have known the forename(s) of his father, or have misheard them from him if his speech was very limited.

At the moment I'm trying to pin down when George Gibson may have died, but it's not easy with a fairly common name. There was a George Gibson who died at Grimsby in 1930, age 77, (so born 1853 appr).
My father & his parents moved from Yarmouth to Grimsby sometime between 1920 & 1923 which makes him a possibility.

[kaysii]

Could it be that the father was not round very much when he was young (he's never around on census night) and for some reason he doesn't know or recall his father's name and there is no close relative to ask by the time he marries in 1939? He wouldn't want to appear to not know and just made up a name? Only can speculate I'm afraid. Kaysii

[wonnig]

Based on what little I know of him, since the marriage in 1874, George (Sidney) only appears to have been around often enough to impregnate his wife on 11 occasions, (14 if you believe the 1911 census!), so that is a possibility, but it's probably not the case as George Sidney is recorded on the marriage certificate of William to Emma Margaret Watson in 1902 at Heigham, Norwich as the father of the groom. She probably died in 1939, 1st qtr, (freeBMD shows Emma M Gibson age 65, (bn 1874?), at Norwich Outer).

I imagine that George S could have died well before 1939. He would have been about 85 if still alive at this time, so i imagine that wife no 2 would have probably never met her "father in law", and might not have known his name and offered Albert because she had mis-heard whatever William may have told her at the time, (assuming he was able to talk to some extent), or made a name up because she needed to offer a name. Whoever gave the name did at least know that he was/had been a fisherman.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a death cert for George Gibson, died Grimsby 1917 (age 62+/- so bn about 1855). The closest possibility I've found so far.

[kaysii]

A George Gibson b around 1855 in Lincolnshire is in Grimsby in 1911 and is a joiner. Might be the one who died in 1917? Interestingly in Hull in 1911, there is a George Gibson married for 29 years who is a fisherman and born in Marylebone, London.

[wonnig]

Hi kaysii
You are probably right about the Grimsby George Gibson. The 1917 death one was 62 then, which puts his birth at the right year.
The Hull one would have married 8 years after mine, if the 29 years is correct, but worth looking at. I'll take a visit to my FHS in Lincoln to see what I can find out there re the joiner. Better that than £9.50 or whatever it is now for a certificate. I'll have a look at 1911 on FMP while I'm there. (I've not renewed memberships for it & Ancestry as I don't enough these days to justify the cost!!)