Name change?

ergonomics

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can give insight on two bits of information I'm stuck on. I'm trying to research my great-grandmother but have hit a dead end.

I have a copy of her wedding record to my great-grandfather in 1898. On the church record her parents are listed as Edward Walshe and Mary Walshe but on the civil record only her father is recorded and the name is listed as Edward Brennan. Does anyone have any ideas why the father's name would have changed from Walshe to Brennan from one record to another? Which record is most likely to be correct?

The other query is that I have only found one birth record that could possibly match my birth record but on that, only the mother's name is recorded, again as Mary Walshe. Other than there's just a line through the father and no mention of the baby being illegitimate which is what I've normally seen when the father isn't recorded. However I know that's not a hard and fast rule though so I'm assuming the safest assumption is that she was illegitimate?

Thanks!

L1011

Walsh and Brennan could be two different (and one very bad) translations from Irish - Breathnach. I'd want to be absolutely positive they are actually records for the same people due to how common the names are/were though.

ergonomics

L1011 wrote: »

Walsh and Brennan could be two different (and one very bad) translations from Irish - Breathnach. I'd want to be absolutely positive they are actually records for the same people due to how common the names are/were though.

Thanks for the reply! I thought of the Walsh - Breathnach - Brennan angle too but wasn't sure. The records are definitely for the same people though. The date, time, location and husband's parents' names are the same on both records. The only change is the absence of my great-grandmother's mother and the change in her father's name.

pinkypinky

What date are we talking about?

Could she have been married previously? Walsh married name, Brennan birth name...

Hermy

On the church record are the parents listed as Edward Walshe and Mary Walshe or as Edward and Mary Walshe?
In other words is the fathers surname already implied by being mentioned for the bride?

ergonomics

pinkypinky wrote: »

What date are we talking about?

Could she have been married previously? Walsh married name, Brennan birth name...

It was 1898. The name change refers to the bride's father, not the bride herself.

Hermy wrote: »

On the church record are the parents listed as Edward Walshe and Mary Walshe or as Edward and Mary Walshe?
In other words is the fathers surname already implied by being mentioned for the bride?

So on the church record thr father is Edward Walshe, mother is Mary Walshe - two separate people. Bride is listed as Bridget Walshe.

On the civil record the father is Edward Brennan, mother isn't listed and bride is still Bridget Walshe.

pinkypinky

And her marital status is listed as spinster?

ergonomics

pinkypinky wrote: »

And her marital status is listed as spinster?

Yep. I just checked the original record to be sure and on that her father is listed as Edward Brennan and she is listed as Bridget Walsh or Brennan. Maybe the mother married twice?

Here's the record I'm referring too: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1898/10428/5797191.pdf

However on Rootsireland you can see a typed version of the Civil Record and Church Record and that's where I'm seeing the father listed as Edward Walsh on one record and Brennan on another.

Hermy

I wouldn't put too much faith in transcripts where contradictions arise.

However, the bride's surname being entered as Brennan or Walsh on the civil record suggests there wasn't merely an error with the fathers surname as I had first thought.

Hermy

ergonomics wrote: »

The other query is that I have only found one birth record that could possibly match my birth record but on that, only the mother's name is recorded, again as Mary Walshe.

On what basis have you narrowed it down to a single record?

KildareFan

<However on Rootsireland you can see a typed version of the Civil Record and Church Record and that's where I'm seeing the father listed as Edward Walsh on one record and Brennan on another. >

The RootIreland record is a transcription and clearly the transcriber or the priest was confused.

You would need to see the church register to see what it says. Based on what you've said about Bridget's civil birth record, it is likely that Bridget's parents weren't married when she was born as no father is listed. Her mother's surname was Walshe, and it looks like Bridget preferred that surname as she uses that name when signing the marriage register and registering her daughter Johanna. It is possible that Bridget's mother married an Edward Brennan after Bridget's birth; but Edward was probably not Bridget's father, as otherwise she would have accepted the Brennan surname.

pinkypinky

I agree with KildareFan: you've got to confirm the church record - not the transcript of it.

tabbey

There is also the possibility of clerical error. We all make mistakes, parish priests may have received an oral report and forgotten the details by the time they entered it in the register. The clergy never dreamt that some day there would be people across the world looking at their records.