Genealogy Chat

I am looking for a large family (with 12 children) on the 1901 Census, I know 5 of the childrens names but not their birth dates and roughly where they lived. I have tried the 1901 decoder, also tried looking for each of them individually on Ancestry but no luck so far. Is there a quicker way of finding groups or do I have to keep on plodding? Di

You can do an address earch on http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ otherwise you could post some names, the more unusual the better, lets hope it's not Mary, John, William, Elizabeth, etc... ;) and where you hope to find them. Birth places would be a help too Sam

Names not too rare I'm afraid but here goes: All surname Coates; Rachael, Tommy (Thomas?), Jack (John?), Ethel, Margaret. The family lived in Heckmondwike and Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Doris (another one of the twelve) was born 1908 Dewsbury. Di

do you know any of the parents names, ages, approx ages of kids, etc?

Sadly not, and looking at your name my Rachael could be a Rachel.. Oh dear I knew this was going to be a tough one!

Older children may be away from home for one reason or another. The oldest may be at work, some may be farmed out amongst the local family members (or even neighbours) because of spatial reasons. Some may even be away at school or in prison. It would not surprise me to find only about half the children at home, even if they were quite young.

I've found one rachel Coates, aged 14 and her mother is already 53 years in 1901, doubt she'd still be producing in 1908! (in Barnoldswick Yorkshire)

(desperately trying not to sound cheeky) Where did you get the kids names from? Are you sure that they are all born by 1901? If all else fails, if you order the cert from 1907 then that will give you the parents names, then you can find the marriage, then finding the ages of the kids is much easier. Also if you have ancestry, you could search through the census pages for each of the enumeration districts. Time consuming I know but .... Rachel

Hi Rachel, I got the kids names from a family member who remembers them. He knows Doris was not the oldest or youngest, so I have to assume she's somewhere in the middle and if there are 12 in total some would more than likely be around in 1901. You're right about the cert for Doris, I will order and see what the parents were called. Di

Found these of FreeBMD, Ethel you knew about but also a Margaret born after 1901: Births Dec 1898 COATES John Bradley Dewsbury 9b 586 Births Jun 1905 Coates Margaret Dewsbury 9b 598 Births Sep 1908 Coates Doris Dewsbury 9b 545

Sue, thanks these look promising, I will follow up John Bradley Coates and see if he leads me anywhere. Di

Oh and just found another one: Births Dec 1908 Coates Tom Dewsbury 9b 520

Not so sure about Tom he too close to the birth of Doris but how about: Births Dec 1905 Coates Ethel Dewsbury 9b 561

Thanks but I think Tom belongs to someone else, Doris was born 13 Jul 1908 so he's a bit too soon after her.

So if at least John, Ethel & Margaret were all born after 1901, there is no big family group before is there? We're only left with Rachel & Tom.

I suppose not Sam, although there are still the other 7 children whose names I have yet to find plus the parents but then again not as bigger group as I had hoped. Di

Oh well.... You know Doris is ''yours'' so ordering her cert seems the best option, then tell us all who her parents are, I'm intrigued now. I got a cert in less that 7 days last week, from the GRO Sam