is it true? Can anyone find the marriage registration?

Question

Fanny was married to Beverly Mad(d)ison, had one daughter, was widowed after only a few years, then married in 1905-1906 to Spurgeon Joseph Steeves, had four or so more children, then much later married Arthur Nichols.

Some online unsourced remembrances such as this FAG memorial give a date and place for her second marriage:

22 October 1906 • Moncton, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada

This is a time and place where the source document should turn up pretty easily during an online search at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

But somehow I'm not finding it.

It could be the date is off by a year, since their first child was born October 5, 1906 according to the LATE registration of his birth which aligns with the 1911 census.  Babies arriving before the wedding were not that common in this community, so maybe the wedding took place in 1905.  Or maybe the baby was born in 1907, but that is getting tight for the two subsequent children who were born by the 1911 census. 

Maybe the wedding was in Massachusetts, where Fannie and her first husband were married.  Still not finding it.

Their names might be making it harder: Fannie/Fanny shouldn't be a problem, but Madison/Maddison might, and Spurgeon Joseph Steeves vs Joseph Spurgeon Steeves, might mess up the search engines a little bit, especially if he is just Joseph or J S in this record - and then there is always Steeves vs Steves, or just a mis-transcription...

I thought i had tried every combination, so now I'm just willing to admit defeat and swallow my pride and just be very grateful when one of you finds it in 10 seconds or less....

Cheers

Shirlea

Comments

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but in 1902 there is a birth record where Spurgeon J. Steeves is listed as the father - perhaps the location is wrong, as that record is in Hillsboro? https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141A5.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=8E1AF17F-4453-402D-A5CB-07F4583D02A2

It's hard to tell since there aren't any sources on the profile itself , but I'll look a bit

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That one is Spurgeon Jackman/Jackson Steeves. The record is for his son Steeves-1818

Answer 1

Have done some serious searching on FamilySearch and NB Archives online. Found a lot of records and updated Joseph...but no 2nd wedding. Could be the records are lost. A direct inquiry with New Brunswick Archives might be your best bet. Swallowing my pride as well...

Comments

Thank you so much!!

Answer 2

At least once or twice I've not been able to find vital records in Westmorland County when I'd expect to be able to, so perhaps there wasn't 100% compliance with registrations.

Not what you asked for, but here's the late registration of birth for their son Vern Yeaton Steeves: https://archives.gnb.ca/search/VISSE/141A1b.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=841ce413-f7fb-4b47-9cbc-1bf484672f85

Comments

occasionally i've found records mis-transcribed.  Not often at PANB, but the other day i saw a Lutes - Trites marriage where both family names were transcribed as Lutes.  If one looked carefully and compared the over-fancy handwriting, it was clear that one spouse was Lutes but the other was Trites.

Answer 3

She is called his wife on this census: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHH-SX8?i=4&cc=1810731&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXQPL-K36 but I have not found the marriage.

This brackets the marriage as this birth was before the Steeves marriage. https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141A1b.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=a883fdff-4923-4b7e-937e-a26c5439d792

They were in NB not long after the marriage so it's plausable.  https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141A1b.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=7c48ad0d-dc1c-470c-ab82-6610105e5f95

This birth was actually before the marriage but she's calling herself Steeves. https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141A1b.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=841ce413-f7fb-4b47-9cbc-1bf484672f85

Comments

You have or you haven't?

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Senior moment.  I'm allowed that once in a while.

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The 1906 birth of Vern Yeaton Steeves that you've linked above, Matthew and Stu (thank you both!), was registered in 1940, so we just need to bear that in mind when using it to support the timeline of events 30 years earlier...it might be exactly right, or it may have suffered from imperfect memory, or the wedding date as reported at FAG might be off, or both...

I think i've seen a few people whose birth was registered at the time, and yet a Late Registration of Birth was filed for them as an adult.  I've thought it would be interesting to compare situations like that, and see how much congruence there is between the immediate registration and the decades later version.  Has anyone heard of any study of that?

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I've seen a few with revisionist type data on them.  It's hard to tell if they are all accidental or if some are deliberate.  In any case, I agree, the further from the date, the less reliable they are.

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Another bracket on the marriage is the death of Beverly Maddison, Fannie's first husband, recorded at PANB: https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141C4.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=3AB4C357-7C70-45C1-8FCC-24AA69E2B2E9 as 18 August 1905, age 32, kicked by horse

RS141C4

Provincial Returns of Deaths

Name	MADDISON, R. B.
Sex	M
Age	32
Date	1905-08-18
County	WESTMORLAND
Code	2846
Volume
Reference	C4/1905
Microfilm	F18715

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Most people in New Brunswick recorded in the archives seem to have Birth register entries (sometimes two) and later Birth certificates as well.

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They sure do, Aaron, or even more than two!

Once in the "Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661-1959", database

A second time, usually identical, in the "Canada, New Brunswick Provincial Returns of Births and Late Registrations, 1810-1906," database 

Sometimes a third time because they also had a Late Registration as well as their real-time registration.

And many instances, a fourth time, a newspaper announcement.  

Answer 4

Just out of curiosity, have you tried searching the nearby areas such as surrounding counties, or even Nova Scotia archives?

If I'm not mistaken, Westmoreland County was once a part of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. It was one of the original eight (8) counties that were delineated shortly after the creation of the British Colony of New Brunswick in 1786. Initially it included what is now Albert County, as well as part of Saint John County.

Hope this may help. 

-Christine

Comments

Westmorland County