Genealogy Chat

A friend recently gave me access to a death certificate which had been altered due to a statuary declaration 9 years after the event.

This was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it and I have (with my friend's permission) included it in a blog.

I won't post the address here as it contains links to a genealogy facebook page that my friends and I run and would not like to break any T&C's but if anyone would like to see it just send me a PM and I'll send you the address.

It has also left me wondering if anyone else has any unusual certificates and if so would they like to say how they are different from the norm.

I have a couple of unusual ones....both birth certificates.

A 1888 birth was registered as a girl named Eva. The informant was the child's mother, who 'made her mark'.
I imagine the certificate then being stored away at their home until 1901, perhaps until the child was leaving school ?
In the far right-hand column is a declaration by both of the parents that Eva should say Evan ( pronounced even ) and in column 3 Girl should read Boy.

This person married into our family and was the father of children, so the correction was right.

Another birth certificate 1882 was for an illegitimate child. She is registered with her mother's surname and no father is shown in column 4, but column 7 shows the informant was Edward, father.
What a bonus for me that he was the one who registered his daughter and acknowledged her as his child, although because he was unmarried his name could not go in the Father column.

Gwyn

They are both brilliant finds. I wonder why it took so long for them to notice that Evan birth certificate was so very wrong.

I have one where I thought that I was looking at twins because they where both registered on the same page but in fact they where the same person. The child's parents decided to change his name 4 days after they had registered him.

What's interesting in the one in the blog is that the Statuary Declaration was made 9 years after the death. She was originally registered as a single person and it was her husband who made the declaration. Very strange.

I haven't found any certificates that are unusual at least not yet.

Gwyn wonder why it tool so long to notice the errors?

The certificate in my blog which was alter 9 years after the death was most probably because the husband wanted to remarry and had to prove he was free to do so.

I image Gwyn's family didn't know it was wrong until someone had learnt to read, maybe Evan himself wanted it to take with him.

I know Evan and family lived in a South Wales mining valley. I've wondered if he needed his birth certificate before he was allowed to go into the pit and it was only then that the mistake was noticed. ... He was 13 years old though.. ?
I don't know if his father could read, but can imagine that once the registration had been done, the copy certificate was taken home and tucked away in a drawer and not really checked ...if they were able to.

There must be quite a few copy certificates issued, which don't tell the correct information.
My grandparents marriage certificate was hard to find at first because I was searching under his name. When I found it, by searching with his bride's name, he had been logged with a big chunk of his surname missing and his father is named with that same wrong surname...... I think not !

HI Tooty fruity,
Just noticed your post / Unusual Cert,s/ 3 May I have a marraige cert for my g g grandfather, James Hamilton. In the column which asks for his fathers name and surname, instead of a name there is a horizontal line and a fingerprint which I think is very interesting but unfortunately means Ican go no further with his line.
REGARDS RON

I have my grandparents' original marriage certificate. They married in 1903 but the vicar used a certificate from the 1890s.
Printed at the bottom of the certificate was One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety -------- The vicar crossed out Eight and wrote Nine but he did not cross out Ninety and wrote in Three at the end. Making the year1993.

I would not have seen this on a copy

That is indeed interesting Ron.

I love the quirky certificates, You are very lucky Sheila to have an original certificate which shows this amendment.