Genealogy Chat

Or how about this one...

Bloke turns up out of nowhere in 1920 (no birth reg to be found, and no previous census listing). He marries grandma (I've got the marr cert, yay :-) ) and they have my dad.
A year later the bloke naffs off, forever, never to be seen or heard of again. Granny refuses to have his name mentioned EVER, so nobody in the family knows anything.
Can't find his death reg. Can't find him on ships passenger lists, military, or anywhere else.

In other words, he came from Mars, spent a few years on earth and returned to Mars.
And as a consequence i have ground to a halt only one generation back on my (lopsided) family tree.
Thank you to the bloke who is my grandfather.

Doing a newspaper search for someone with the surname Convey is frustrating. You get several thousand examples of the word being used as a verb!! :-D

John.. then first son Thomas second son John
Then Thomas has first son John second son Thomas
and so on... so I have so many Thomas and Johns... till my dad..

He is ROY.... I wonder what happened there???? :-)

People switching between their first name, abbreviation of the first name and middle name on census, marriage and children's birth records. My gg grandfather was christened John Henry but used John, Henry and Harry depending on his mood.

A new one here:
Having a 96 year old relative and seeing the suggestion on all family tree sites 'Start with your elderly relatives and find out what info they have. They will love filling you in'. Then when going to see said 96 year old auntie being sent away with a flea in your ear because 'that's all years ago, why would I want to talk about that?'

Five sisters all living called Mary Catherine, Mary Jane, Mary Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Mary Grace.

Never having the same children living with you on two consecutive census. One of my ancestors had eight children by two different husbands all the children survived to adulthood however they never appear with their mother on any census more than once.

I have the surname Collie in my ancestry, type in that name and the result is so many its enough to send one barking mad.
Robert

Older relatives who give you three different versions of the same heritage on three different occasions, bless em

A 'widower' with two very young children and a live-in house-keeper with a child of her own.
I thought 'how sad that his wife died and left him with those two wee boys' and I was happy when the next census showed him 'married' to housekeeper and with more children. BUT no trace of a marriage!
Then further research led me to wife number 1 living as a 'windower' in London with two of their daughters!
Then they all disappear!

Getting married the month after a census and then emigrating to places unknown before the next one - as well as having a common name for the area so children are a mystery!
B

i found in one of my family names that they had 3 daughters all called barbara that had all passed away,and also 3 sons named john who passed away hence their 4th daughter and 4th son being called barbara and john. the funny thing is the parents were barbara and john.how confusing. then the last john went on to do the same thing when he married mary and had 2 daughters called mary 2 called eleanor and 2 called allison. and also searching for a different side of my family whose names are mary thompson who married joseph lewis around 1920/30 and named there children george edward mary william charles etc the other childrens names are not as common but still very hard to find.
ashleigh

Ancestors who WERE given a middle name at birth but never used it throughout his life, making the search for him 10 times harder as he had a fairly common surname.

Ancestors who say they were born "Out Of County" of their residence in the 1841 census, but have the nerve and cheek to die before the 1851 census, so I dont know their place of origin, and thus making the search 100 times harder this time.

Mothers of illegitimate children not using the fathers surname as a middle name.

Ancestors who put an X on some certs, yet sign their names clearly on others.

Another good transcription error - I couldn't find Arabella Shrive in 1901 - she had turned into Isabella Shine. Does make life difficult! (But at least sh'd got her niece living with her and that's how I found her in the end, by accident!)

SMITH !!!!!

my grand mother was a smith and married a smith, so did her sister......

One surname of interest is SHEATH.
Try Googling that and one is directed to some very 'suspect' sites !

I too suffer from ancestors with 'changing name syndrom'
One was registered at birth as Silvey, but died as Jane....In between she was baptised Jane Sylvia.

One family in Herefordshire in 1901 had forgetful parents who state that son,Henry 10,was born in Herefordshire.
....I think he was Edward Henry born in 1890 in Wales....and back to birth name when he later married.

.....and why can't either of my JONES families, ....yes, I have them on both sides, ...be the ones to name their children something unusual.
Sorting out children of that surname with names like Mary, Jane, George or John is not for the down-hearted.

Gwyn

Aussietrish:

Lane. Ha. Try Hill.

Then try having Cokes mixed up with your Hills ...

Linda in the Midlands

Request review
Yesterday at 21:53
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.



My great grandad was married using a middle name he wasn't given at birth, and died using that name ................... but didn't use either the middle name or its initial on any census or any other document that I have so far found.

I do know I have the right man though .... my grandfather was the informant on the death certificate, and the address given on that was the one on the 1901 census

............ although the district of the town was one that had not appeared anywhere else ...... Lyons Dam, Oldham. That led me to searching old maps etc ........ it was a very old name for the area!!

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

Sympathy for those researching the 2001 CENSUS. :-)

You think your hard done to, my mother was an Oldham (town in Lancs) and my father was an Aston(as in town near Birmingham) searchs take forever.

Try Scholar as a name to research - every child at school is described as a scholar.

Jenny