General Chat

Had a Hot Match today ... Someone has a mixture of my family in Sussex & another in a Northern county! Will follow it up, but not going to take for granted even 1 extra person from her tree!

I like to get as much as possible on pre 1850 people before I add them to my main tree ... some I put on here but with note - not proven!

Jac it is, I would love to tell a few of them that my very strict cathalic Grandmother was a snidey lying sod....and bent the rules to suit her BTW not the GGrandmother mentioned in previous posts..

Do you know what's wierd? we probably know more about our ancestors than they did themselves.

Dont you wish you could have whispered in their ears? - dont do it, it's a con! or ...........he's telling such a load of porkies his nose should drop off (and not just through a STD!!!) or...... his dad's not his dad, he's his grandad/uncle/brother.

Fascinating stuff this Family History, aint it?

xxxx

No Uggers but gave me superb directions on location of records,,,,costs if any.was so helpful.....

Hayley, you probably already know this but be careful relying on the witnesses unless you know that they are family members.

Some people seem to be professional witnesses and appear on everyone's marriages. I noticed this in the parish registers when the person above and below had the same witnesses and on different days.

Edit: i say professional but I meant they probably worked there and ended up being everyone's witnesses.

I check and double check everything,I have to be 100% sure before they go on my tree.

I don't think people had a plan for what they put on certs, Hayley. I reckon if Mary was off to get married and the vicar said what was yr dad's name she'd think well he was known as Bill and say William. But if his real name was John or John William, she might say John if she was getting married again ten years later. Likewise, if she didn't have a dad, she might make a name up on the spur of the moment if she was inclined to.

But if you've got the same witness on both certs, you must be on the right track.

Its a lot of maybe? I will never ever know, I am 99.9% she had a sister as was a witness on both certs, one in her maiden name the second with her husband and as was a witness as well, the only " maybe" I can think of is, when she married the first time and put Daniel as her fathers name she was told afterwards maybe by her mother then his real name was William as on the second one he is deceased. However I cant more on with her, in the 1881 census she is in service. I cant find her before that.

Really Kay? Did they look info up for you?

Oh Uggers you musta got on his bumps or hed not had his tipple............I was intouch with WA yesterday and they couldnt have been more helpful.

Hayley.........perhaps she didnt know she was illigitimate? happened in my family......................and cost me a lot of anguish when I found out!

Jac xxx

You would think she could get her fathers name correct thou wouldnt you... has been known that names have been made up to save embarasement from people if they are illigitmate but if she was, I would of thought she would have a well rehearsed story.

Hayley, I am amazed at how often my ancestors altered their names and sometimes threw in an extra one:)

Kay, I need to get to the Catholic Archives in Westminster but last time I contacted them I got Father O'Grumpy who was really unhelpful...

David coz its mine......lol

I have a few doubts about just one....and its my GGrandparents wedding cert I have never been able to trace her, she married my Grandfather 1885 I think and he died again 29 and she remarried 18mths later, I am 100% positive I have the correct certs for both marriages however .... she names her father as Daniel on 1 cert and William on anthe other both have different occuptions and all I cant find a trace with Sarah with either one William and Daniel in any census prior to wedding, the names are not that common either for the bride and groom,

most of my Catholic arent to bad as the Sponsor/(our godparent) ones are family members.

Burials Registers are a pain in London as they end up housed miles from the cemetery where youd think they are kept.

I found an adult baptism today Lynda. There was an A in the margin on the image but it was not that clear. He was baptised a few weeks before his marriage.

Jill

Hayley, I don't mean hot matches, I mean matches with original records. Why don't you let anyone see your tree?

Lynda, I have still a load missing:( The Catholics obviously but some who really should be there:((

Sometimes, I have had to chase siblings and cousins and all sorts just to narrow down my line. Can be interesting but also frustrating.

On some of the commoner lines I sort of give up, so the rarer names are much further back.

One line had land so that helps, another line left wills all over the place so that's really useful and one line had a lot of cousins/second cousins marrying which helped - although that took a while to unpick.

I suppose the thing to bear in mind is that you never really know you're following the right line in one sense do you? All it takes is for Mrs ____ to have a bit of a fling with the butcher and bingo - you're following the wrong family. But you'd never know would you? And although I follow the female lines as well as the male lines I know that there must be errors - because of those unknown elements. So, really, are you that worried? If you are doing the best you can with the evidence available and you're happy with it then what more can you do?

Gut instinct is helpful though ...

Jill

I dont let anyone see my tree however if I am confident of a match then I pass as much information as possible.

If anyone is going back pre 1813 with East End burials in London on Ancestry, keep your fingers crossed yours are buried at Spitalfields or Shoreditch and not Bethnal Green.