Genealogy Chat

The things our ancestors used to do that today make our lives more difficult

Let's kick this off with:

Poeple naming their daughters Elizabeth, Ann, Jane or Mary, and their son's James, Robert, John or William which generally are the same names used by themselves, their parents, grandparents, siblings, siblings children Uncles, Aunts etc etc.

Poeple being baptised (for example) as Jane Ann and then for the rest of their lives being known as Ann Jane


Any others to add?

Only ever giving their place of birth as Ireland.

Sooooo not helpful!

Chris

People having the surname Gray and then marrying someone with the surname Smith. Two very annoying surnames to research.

People who deliberately hid on census night, or thought it a good idea to change their place of birth from one census to the next.

People who decided to have all their children before getting married, and then marrying someone who had no connection to all the children, and then using his name for the children in every census but the children using their own name on marriage and death certificates.

Lots of female ancestors never naming the father of their children, thus bringing that branch of the tree to a halt.

Kath. x

Having more than one child with the same name.................I've had this 3 times now, in each case I eventually traced the death of the first child with that name which was then given to the next sibling:(

Seems really morbid now, but in those days most families lost at least one child..........very sad.

People changing their date of birth from census to census. And also naming their child one thing at birth but calling them something totally different in each census!
Luckily I have a few odd names which makes life a lot easier when tracing people. So thank you parents of Ephraim, Elijah, Thirza and Fisher.

The people who give their place of birth as whichever town they happen to be living in at the time.

I also have a niggle with the census takers who obviously can't decipher different dialects. We had someone who moved to Northumberland from Norfolk. He is listed as being born in Tibets Hall. IT'S TIVETSHALL!!!!!!!

How about people who lie about their age? Or don't know it? and then have this imaginary figure rounded up or down or sideways by the census taker.....:-)

Jackie

People with the same surname getting married. Specifically in Wales and particularly if the surname in question is Jones!

xx

I've got one of those Ann Jane / Jane Anns! Maybe two ...

How about having an ancestor named Barnard ... and having to pick your way through all the Barnard Castle references whenever you try to search a genealogy-related site (like here, or curiousfox, etc) ... and then after three years of that, discovering that your Barnard ancestor married





















Mary CASTLE !!!

Aaaargh ....

Being in 2 households simultaneously on census night, yet giving slightly different info for each.

Cousins living within 5 miles of each other, and in same registration district, playing copycat, ie marrying wives with same first name and then going on to name their children with exactly the same sequence of well-loved family names. Said cousins also have identical occupations and ages. Fortunately the wives have different ages and birthplaces - phew!

I disagree with the first post. Continuance of certain first names from generation to generation is a valuable clue that you are on the right track.

Alistair

But when each of the siblings also has a child with the same name, eg William, often born within a couple of years of each other in the same parish then each of those williams have children and the parish registers state "son" or "daughter" of William, how do you decide which William is the father of each child.

when they marry cousins or in laws with the same surname i.e john smith married jane smith ( 1st wife's sister ) - not much help
linda x x

When they didn't use the name they were given when they were born but abbreviate their middle name, I was looking for Frederica Ellen, finally found her under the name of Nell!

Another one I have found

Being baptised as Rosanna and then being married as Rose Hannah

Having a surname like Fines or Judge which means any attempt to google the name or search through any online newspapers brings up thousands of unrelated court cases!

Sue
x

The reason children were given the same name as parents ,grandparents etc is due to the English naming pattern which dated from 1700-1875 and after for some families

My hate is children left as nurse child but on the birth cert parents are supposed to be married.Fathers name given on the marriage cert.

No marriage or sign of parents on the census even though the father had a less common occupation
No possible deaths in the area for either parent

Adding a middle name when they didn't have one! spent ages hunting for my greatx 2 grandad who added a middle name he wasn't given at birth.