Genealogy Chat

Hi Stan, I don't know what age it was she died... I know my grandfather said she was only a few months old.!! How do I track her down now Stan? Annie

Hi Annie THe first thing to note is that the birth of Isabel Clark is listed as Dec 1900, Southampton 2c 2. Note she is Isabel, not Isabella, there. This means that the birth was registered between October and December 1900. She was 7 months old on 31 March 1901, so therefore should have been born in August 1900. This means that the parents must have used most of the six weeks allowed to register the birth as it was not registered before October - as indeed they might, being travelling music hall artists. It follows, however, that a death aged 0 would appear in the quarters up to June 1901. Aged 1 she would appear between the September quarter of 1901 and the June quarter of 1902, and similarly for later years. There is no death entry that corresponds exactly to these parameters. The Morpeth (Jun 1901, Morpeth 10b 324) or Houghton (Dec 1901, Houghton 10a 287) entries may be possible, although I would not have expected to find a music hall in Houghton le Spring, and it would imply the Census age was wrong. There are Isabella possibilities aged 0 for Sep 1901, Fulham 1a 236, and Sep 1901, Sunderland 10a 486. Both again imply an error in the Census age. There could also be the possibility of an entry for Clarke with an 'e', although none appears on FreeBMD. Personally, I marginally favour the Sunderland one, if they were in a touring show, as it is the next large town to Newcastle. There is really no way of knowing for certain without sending for each certificate in turn, with a check - in the occupation column of a child's death certificate it should say daughter of (the father's name and occupation), so a check against these, or even just the name, would prevent totally wrong certificates being sent, and reduce the cost a bit. Sorry I can't give more advice. Best wishes Stan

Hi Stan, I wish I had a 'smidgen' of your experience... I just don't know how you think the way you do to get all the info.. Thank you so much, I'll see if I get the right ones through. Annie Also, can you tell me, altho at the local records office I don't see some of the children listed for Annie and James Clark, and yet in some of the census they do have children with different names, does this mean they weren't born in southampton? Annie

Hi Annie A child should be registered where they were born. If registered in another town because the parents had travelled there before finding a registrar, the details should have been passed back to the correct registrar. Censuses should also give place of birth, but sometimes these are inaccurate due to forgetfulness, ignorance on the part of the person filling in the form (e.g. the landlady for boarders), or generalisations like showing everybody from one place with dittos because the person being asked or the census taker was in a hurry. So, yes, Annie and James could have had children born in other towns. Regards Stan