Marriage Not Registered?

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Pamela McGowan
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:32 am

Marriage Not Registered?

Post by Pamela McGowan »

Does anyone know of any reason why a marriage may not have been registered?

I'm just back from Dublin today, where I visited the records office; my starting point for searching was to look for the marriage of James McGowan and Ellen Rooney.

When I looked through the index books, there was no entry under both names in the year I needed. I also checked the years previous and after to no avail.

On my G-grandfather's birth certificate, it says that James and Ellen were married on the 4th Jan 1892 in Manorhamilton. However, extensive searching has revealed nothing.

Does anyone know if I have perhaps made a mistake, in which case it's back on a plane to Dublin in the near future??
[Searching for McGowan, Rooney]

[brick walls suck]

pamela.a.mcgowan@student.paisley.ac.uk
CA
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:21 pm

Post by CA »

Did you check the handwritten 'late registrations' at the back of the index books?

Was the marriage Catholic or Protestant? They are recorded in separate index books at the GRO.

A search of a 2 year time span is quite narrow, I'd extend it a bit further either side of the year in question. Another possibility (without casting any aspersions) is perhaps the marriage date was 'tweaked' to fit with a birth!

Did you check under Gowan, Magowan, Macgowan?

I'd be surprise at a non-registration by 1892, but it is possible. Certainly in the earlier years of registration, a lot of BMDs went unrecorded.

Have you tried locating the marriage in the church records?

That's all that I can think of at the moment but, on positive note, you may have another visit to our fine city of Dublin to look forward to! :lol:

Best of luck anyway.

CA
Pamela McGowan
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:32 am

Post by Pamela McGowan »

Thanks for your help, I must admit I was a little unsure of the index books, it being the first time i've looked through them. I did have a look at surname variations, but didn't notice any late registrations, i'll definately be having another look I think.

I might just pay for a search online, and have the certificate posted over to me (if it exists)

The birth thing may be a possibility, the first child that I know of was born in Scotland in 1893, but I have no info on any other children prior to that.

It's a good thing flights to Dublin from Glasgow are only £20 return right now, I can go over as often as I need!!
[Searching for McGowan, Rooney]

[brick walls suck]

pamela.a.mcgowan@student.paisley.ac.uk
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