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Thanks for that mgnv.

Recent pm received explains a lot ....

" ....the richard you are trying to find is my gran father george henry richard goody and catherine born 19 may 1903 is his daugther she was married in 1922.
The reason catherine signed williams name on the1911 census is that living in a rented house and being femail, and their being no male bread winner in the house she could have been evicted.
She would have been playing for time untill she could move on her terms.
william when alive would be the name on the rent book and he would have paid the rates so any thing that changed that set up to either the house owner or officialdom would have been horrific for catherine,dont forget were talking 1911 womans rights ? forget it. regards
ian goody. "

That also solves another mystery.
On death cert of Catherine Goody (nee Tommony) it says informant is son Geoff R Goody.
I have searched forever to trace this guy with no luck.
I am now certain that Geoff R should actaully read Geo H R...
Transcribers eh ?...Arrggghhhh !

Michael - just to clarify, William Goodey marr Catherine Tommony at St Paul's Preston. They would have signed the parish register which is now in Lancs Record Office (catalogued under PR 2973/1 - the Banns book is PR 2973/2, but I don't know if they would have signed that). The parish clerk (or whoever) makes a copy of the marr entry, and sends that to the Preston Register Office whose books are now held by the Lancs Register Office, so the Register Office will have the parish clerk's signature for the bride, groom and witnesses ( - there's no reason they can't be typed signatures even).

Lancs Register Office will have original signatures when they signed the reistrar's own register - after 1898, this would mostly just be register office marrs and RC marrs where the registrar attended the ceremony and had them sign his register since until abt 1980 RC priests weren't trusted to keep registers

Thanks to Kay for finding correct entry.
Finally received marriage cert 1923 for Catherine Goodey which names William as deceased father.

I also have a death certificate for Josephine who Catherine adopted.
She turns out to be her granddaughter Mary Josephine Heaps, Elizabeth Goody's daughter.

........many thanks to all who took an interest to try to fathom it all out.

Lancs Register Office would probably have Catherine's signature on some/all of the birth regos for her kids.

Not to be confused with the Lancashire Records Office in Preston, we also have a Certificate Office based here where you can get certs that were registered in Lancashire up to 1974. This is where I had the signatures checked.
Whether they hold the actual or are able to view them via computer I don't know.
It's also the place where they transcribe the Lancashirebmd.
They are at present looking for another marriage for Catherine Goody.. .one with William named as father.
Will let you know !

I don't see how come the local office have the original marr cert in this case:

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1878
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
GOODEY William TOMMONY Catherine Preston, St Paul Preston 247/1/225

Here they got married in a C of E church, so I would guess the original m.cert was in Lancs Record Office (i.e., Preston).


Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1902
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
GOODEY George Henry SLATER Elizabeth Preston Register Office or Registrar Attended Preston PRESTON/126/15


Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1903
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
GOODY Catherine St Peters Preston SLATER ST.P/73/99

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1906
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
GOODY James East Preston Preston SLATER EP/7/92

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1909
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
GOODY Mary Elizabeth North Preston Preston SLATER NP/17/20


My ggg gran's death was rego'ed as Christina Anderson MS Scott by her son, Alex, whom she'd been living with. This caused quite a bit of bother, since her name was Elizabeth, and I didn't know of Alex - the first few kids were not baptized, and he'd left home before 1841. His d.cert confirmed his mum was Elizabeth, and she's named as Elizabeth on her gravestone (with "Christina"'s dod) in Turriff kirkyard, buried with Alex and his wife and kids. I put it down to a brainfreeze on Alex's part when regoing the death.
Probably the same thing happened on Cathy's wedding day.

One wonders if Arthur will run out of kids before Preston runs out of chuches!

I think I have to agree with her as it seems the only reasonable explanation...
So that has cleared that up.


And she could have shown you the original marriage cert,I have seen at least one when the local reg said she wasnt sure on something and we confered on it with my reasearch before she wrote it out.
I also have a photocopy that she did of it there and then for me,but it really was an awful one to read from 1852.
Maybe they arent supposed to though?

Cant see why not when you have paid for it already ....

FBG, I took the copy of the 1911 census page you emailed me to Preston's registry office along with William's death certificate. The lady there kindly looked up the original Marriage cert (of which I have a copy but it's not a photocopy) and although not allowed to show it to me, she confirmed that William's signature is NOT the same on the 1911 document as on his marriage cert. In fact, she said it was his wife Catherine's handwriting.
I asked why she would lie on the census and was told that it's not uncommon, as most of the time people just didn't understand the questions, or in some cases would get neighbours to complete the sheet for them.. which could also account fo the number of children being wrong. A neighbour could just write down how many were still at home, not knowing how many had already left.

Still wont explain the 1910 death cert for him as he appears to be alive and well on 1911..:))

But fingers crossed about the marriage cert having William as father on it....

Thanks for that mgnv. Like it.

and thanks to Kay who seems to have found another marriage for Catherine Goodey, a year later than the one I have.

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1923
GOODEY Catherine - DOYLE James - Preston Register

Fingers crossed this one has William as the father.

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1895
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
GOODY Arthur POTTS Elizabeth Preston, St Peter Preston 250/2/303


In WA (Oz) by the Eyre Hwy, there's a memorial (it's a road grader) to John Eyre - he and his guide Wylie were the first guys to cross the Nullarbor Plain.
I didn't note down the inscription, but it says he survived thirst, starvation, desertion and even death - so your William wasn't the only one.

Yes that's the William GOODY who apparantly came back from the dead!

Just can't get my head round it.

Banns: St Peter, Preston, Lancashire, England
Wm Goodier - 19 of 10 Carlisle St, St Paul's Parish
Catherine Tommony - 18 of 18 Friday St
Banns Read: 24 Nov 1878, 2nd: 1 Dec 1878, 3rd: 8 Dec 1878
Notes: Banns request signed by Groom
Register: Banns 1864 - 1886, Page 107, Entry 214
Source: LDS Film 1471022 Items 9 & 11

Hannah Goody / Cronnell (nee Fisher) had 9 children to William Goody and 4 more to Thomas Cronnell.
It will drive you crazy following them all, trust me !

I think this is one of yours.

1911 census - household transcription
Person: CRONNEL, James
Address: 31 Young St Preston
GARDNER, Sarah Ann Head Widow F 48 1863 House Keeper Preston Lancs VIEW
CRONNEL, Sarah Jane Daughter Married
2 years F 26 1885 Cotton Weaver Preston Lancs VIEW
CRONNEL, James Son In Law Married M 25 1886 Preston Lancs VIEW
GARDNER, James Son Single M 22 1889 Labourer Preston Lancs VIEW
GARDNER, Thomas Son Single M 13 1898 Rope Winder Preston Lancs VIEW
BILLSBOROUGH, Mary Ann Boarder Single F 26 1885 Cotton Weaver Preston Lancs VIEW
BILLSBOROUGH, John Richard Boarder M 5 1906 At School Preston Lancs

Kay - Well done !
Yep, it took me years to find that mistranscribed wedding....pre internet days !

Baptisms: 19 Feb 1896 St Peter, Preston, Lancashire, England
Emma Jane Goody - Child of Arthur Goody & Elizabeth
Abode: 37 Gordon St.
Occupation: Joiner
Baptised by: W H Green
Register: Baptisms 1893 - 1900, Page 35, Entry 279
Source: LDS Film 1471022



Baptisms: 21 Feb 1900 St Luke, Preston, Lancashire, England
John Goody - Child of Arthur Goody & Elizabeth
Abode: 30 Aberdeen St.
Occupation: Joiner
Baptised by: W Home Curate
Register: Baptisms 1898 - 1900, Page 35, Entry 277
Source: LDS Film 1471020

ok that is why I cannot find the marriage.

Baptisms: 20 Jun 1897 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
Lily Goody - Child of Arthur Goody & Elizabeth
Abode: Aberdeen St
Occupation: Joiner
Baptised by: T. Pearson
Register: Baptisms 1889 - 1900, Page 197, Entry 96
Source: LDS Film 1278777

Baptisms: 25 Dec 1898 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
Margaret Alice Goody - Child of Arthur Goody & Elizabeth
Abode: Aberdeen St
Occupation: Joiner
Baptised by: W. E. W. Carr
Register: Baptisms 1889 - 1900, Page 233, Entry 232
Source: LDS Film 1278777

Thanks LK.
Yes it's a complicated family.
William's mother Hannah bigamously married Thomas Cronnel under her maiden name of Fisher !
The first 2 daughters Annie and Kate Cronnell were actually born Goody.
I have most of the info on both of her families but am grateful for the censuses.

The burning questions are (1) - why William (born 1859) should appear on the 1911 census when I already have his death cert for Nov 1910. and (2) why his daughter Catherine has named Richard Goody as her father on her wedding cert of 1922.
You have my sympathies re: osteopath. My appointment is Wed !

Dea - Unfortunately the marriage cert for William and wife Catherine is hand written. not a photocopy so I can't compare the signatures.