Different records, different surname

[Phoenix]

This isn't my family, but I can't leave well alone!

Out of curiosity, I was looking for Elsie Burgess's parents: John L Burgess and Ann B.

I found nothing on freebmd, so went to the local site.

Tees Valley indexes give this
1 1883 BURGESS JOHN L H-518-3-0-50 Hartlepool
2 1883 ELLITSON ANN B H-518-3-0-50 Hartlepool

Definitely the right family as Elsie's brother had Ellitson as a middle name.

Going back to freebmd, we have:

Marriages Jun 1883 (>99%)

ELLITSON Ann Bulmer Hartlepool 10a 162
Smith John Leonard Hartlepool 10a 162

How???

[Merry]

If it was a church wedding then I'd go for a vicar copying the wrong name when writing his GRO return sheets. Maybe the surname of a witness? It doesn't look as if either of the marriages on each side of this one involved a Smith as the bride or groom.

I do also note that on Ancestry the Q2 1883 marriages for men called John Burgess do not have a link to the GRO index page, but I've viewed that page via FreeBMD and there's no John L Burgess and the entries for John Burgess match up with those listed on Ancestry, so I don't know why Ancestry can't link to the image for those entries?

[Merry]

It was a church wedding:


Name: John Leonard Burgess
Gender: Male
Marriage Date: 16 Jun 1883
Marriage Place: Holy Trinity, Hartlepool, Durham, England
Spouse: Ann Bulmer Ellitson
FHL Film Number: 1519301

[Phoenix]

I find John as a 2 month old baby in 1861 with parents Henry (24 b Kent) and Elizabeth (22 b Gateshead)

Henry appears to be son of Leonard Burgess - which fits - from Halling in Kent and also appears to die in Gateshead in 1863.

Certainly I can find none of them before John's marriage, nor a marriage for Henry. It is probable that John was illegitimate and possible that his mother took up with someone entirely different while he was growing up, but if that were the error, I would have thought he would have been double indexed in the GRO, as from that distance they could not guess at such a thing.

[Phoenix]

Oh, thank you, Merry! That makes it even more curious - and terrifying! One wonders just how his name came to be written as Smith in the GRO Indexes. As you say, it could have been a witness. But it does shake my faith still further in the GRO!

[Merry]

In 1881 there's a John L Smith b 1860 Gateshead, a stoker in the RN. There's no birth reg for a John L Smith in Gateshead at the right date. Trouble is, Smith isn't a name you can rely on to tie information together successfully!


I agree, if there was more than one surname used at the wedding in 1883 then there should be more than one index entry. I was stuck with Mrs Elizabeth Burgess too.

[Merry]

and also appears to die in Gateshead in 1863.

There's a birth for a Henry Burgess in Gateshead in 1863, so the death could be for him. However, Henry b 1837 does disappear whilst Henry b 1863 doesn't appear in 1871. (perhaps under a different name with his mother and even maybe a brother of John L)

There are a few Ancestry trees with Henry 1837 on them, but none seem to have anything on him after 1851.

[Shona]

John Leonard Burgess, born 23 June 1860 and baptised 15 June 1860, Gatehead, parents - Henry and Elizabeth Burgess.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=fs1englandbirthsandchristenings&MS_AdvCB=1&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=angs-d&gsfn=john&gsfn_x=NN&gsln=burgess&gsln_x=NN&gskw=leonard&gskw_x=1&cpxt=1&catBucket=rstp&uidh=fpy&cp=11&pcat=34&fh=9&h=12492973&recoff=&ml_rpos=10

Checking through the indexes on Durham Records Online, the cemetery registers record the burial of Henry Burgess in 1863 (born c1863). Abode: 22 Nelson Street, Gateshead. Also, they have an entry for Elizabeth Burgess in 1863 (born c1844). Abode: 22 Nelson Street, Gateshead.