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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2002-05 > 1020826810


From: "Noel Clark" <>
Subject: FW: Goff/Pollett - and marrying
Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 13:03:41 +1000


I'd suggest that anyone who has a little spare cash purchase a copy of:
"A Comedy of Errors - or the Marriage Records of England and Wales
1837-1899", by Michael Whitfield Foster of Wellington, New Zealand, ISBN
0-473-05581-3.

I regard this as one of the pivotal books about family history research.
It is a fascinating read.

In this book, Mike Foster reports over 6-years work on the marriage
records. He has entered the complete GRO Index records for several
quarters into a database (about 250,000 marriage records), and then has
been able to match up the entries that occur on the same pages of the
original records.

Not only tha, Mike is one of the few family historians to be allowed
inside the hallowed halls of the GRO to actually test the accuracy of
the Index against the original marriage records submitted to the
Registrar-General by the Superintendent Registrars of all the
registration districts.

The results are astonishing. There are mistakes everywhere. A
significant number of marriages did not make it into the Index. A
significant number are mis-indexed. Some include one partner and not the
other. And so on and so on. Some pages were even missed out during the
production of the microfiche that most of us use.

In summary, Mike estimates that there may be up to a million errors in
the period 1837/1899.

Mike concludes that the only really satisfactory way forward would be to
recompile the Index from the original records (which still exist), and
he suggests that there would be sufficient volunteer labour to do this.

To date I am not aware of the suggested project getting off the ground,
although I believe that one county (is it Cheshire?) is doing it for
marriages in that county.

The Essex Society for Family History considered such a project for Essex
marriages, but decided not to go ahead. I, as one member who volunteered
to take part, was very disappointed in this decision. But I recognize
that there is a limit to how many projects can be undertaken, because
all projects struggle to get enough volunteers. Regrettably most people
are takers and not givers.

In case anyone asks, the "Free BMD" project (although it is a fantastic
project) is NOT what Mike Foster proposed. "Free BDM" is a computerised
version of the existing GRO Index, and therefore contains all the errors
in the original Index, and inevitably introduces a few of its own.

Enough from me.

If you haven't got the cash, put Mike's book on your list for Mother's
Day, Father's Day, your birthday, or even next Christmas.

Regards,
Noel



-----Original Message-----
From: norman.lee1 [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, 6 May 2002 18:59
To:
Subject: Re: Goff/Pollett - and marrying

Dear Listers

Has anyone any ideas of why so many marriages do not seem to be
recorded? Of
course, the partners may not have married, their marriage may have not
made
it to the central registry, they may have married 'unofficially' in a
non-conformist church and not realised that it had to be 'officially'
done
again in a registry office or C of E. I have only one pair of my
forebears
that I am certain did not marry but there are his parents that I can't
find,
his grandparents also. Was there a family tradition of not bothering to
get
married? The only reason for being sure that he did not marry his first
'wife' was because he declared himself to be a bachelor when he married
his
second wife - this time officially.

So - what do you think, Listers?

Audrey (Stockport UK)
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Parker" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 10:56 PM
Subject: Goff/Pollett


> I have a problem, one of many. Shortly before the 1881
census
Isabella Goff married a man named Pollett. She was born in Grimsby
although
of an Essex Family and was living with her parents, as a married women
with
a child William born 1880, in 1881 in Essex. I cannot find any
information
on their marriage or on him or his parentage. Any, and I repeat any,
help
would be really appreciated.
>
> Ever hopeful,
>
> David
>
>

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