Place of Birth is too vague

Place of Birth is too vague

 

Another all to familiar scenario you undoubtedly will come across, is where you are researching your ancestor who, although they have mentioned a place of birth, the location mentioned, such as a country, state or parish, is to vague to be of any valuable use.

Some ways to narrow done your ancestors birth place include:

  • Check census’s entries in the census’s before and after the one you are currently looking. You might find that they have actually given a more specific town or village.
  • Check with your ancestor’s siblings and/or other family members on the census and see if they have given any more specific places of birth. Chance are that your ancestor was born in the same location

If you can think of any other way not mentioned here to find your ancestor in a census, please let me know.

Happy Hunting!

Place of Birth is too vague

My ancestor is not in the Census!





My ancestor is not in the Census!

My ancestor is not in the Census!

 

It is only within the last 100 or so years that travel both internally and internationally became cheap enough that ordinary people could take advantage of it. This means that short of migration or a job that involves travel, most people should almost certainly be home on census night.

If however, you still cannot find your ancestor:
 

1.      Check every name variation you can think of ( for ideas please see my post on name variations) with first and middle names if you know them,
 

2.      Use every bit of information that you are aware of in the search criteria and failing that slowly remove pieces of information to cast a wider and wider net,
 

3.      Check the address of all known relatives: parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (including those of the spouse) as they may be staying with them,
 

4.      Check the address for neighbours,
 

5.      Could they be in jail? Check for criminal records,
 

6.      Could they be in a hospital or a poor workhouse? Check the records for hospitals and workhouses in their local area,
 

7.      Is there any reason they may have changed their name? It makes it a little harder but not impossible if you have their other vital records (birth date and place, occupation, spouse, children etc).
 

Hopefully, there are enough ideas here that will help you locate your missing ancestor and allow you to move on in your research.

If you can think of any other way not mentioned here to find your ancestor in a census, please let me know.

Happy Hunting!

 





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My ancestor is not in the Census!

 

Conflicting Information in Documents





Conflicting Information in Documents

Conflicting Information in Documents is something that as a Family Historian, you will come across on a regular basis.

Finding different information about a person you are researching among the various different documentation that you will view happens a lot more than people seem to think.

Age is the most common variance you are likely to find but, it is also the one thing that people are most likely to change for all sorts of reasons. Other areas of difference I have found in the past that people appear to have changed include the place of birth, their name, their occupation and their residential addresses.

Possible Solution:

To help to determine which document has the correct information in it we can:

  • Make sure that we have the right (and the same) person in both documents (It seems obvious I know). This can be achieved by checking any previous information we have on the person and ensuring that it matches the other information that is contained in the document
  • Determine whether the person themself was the one that would have forwarded the information or, was it given by someone else who could have made a mistake ie a family member on a death certificate or a landlord on a census.
  • Determine whether there was possibly any reason for the person to change their details eg lower or raise their age to join the military or change their address to be eligible for something (Parish charity etc).
  • Determine whether there was any medical reason for the discrepancy ie. were they suffering from anything that could affect their memory or mental state?

It can possibly take a lot of leg work with a few assumptions thrown in but it is possible to determine which of the documents is most likely to contain the correct information.

It would also be advisable to make a note of your reasoning behind disregarding the info in a document in your sources so that future you and, anyone else that views your research, can understand why you believe the information to be incorrect in the first place.

Happy Hunting!

If you know of any other methods to determine how to find which document has the correct information please email me and let me know.





Conflicting Information in Documents