Tag: BMD Records

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Why is my ancestor missing from the births/baptisms?

looking for english ancestors birth records

If you find that your ancestor is missing from the Civil Registration records what do you do next?

I was asked this question over the weekend by a family history researcher who had discovered that his ancestor appeared in a census as a very young child in the 1860s.

The problem was that the baby’s civil registration and baptism records was frustratingly missing. The census provided a date, 1860, and a place where the person had been born, but a search of all the subscription sites as well as FamilySearch and the General Register Office website drew a blank.

 

If you have a similar research problem then this is my advice:

  • It is possible that the parents may have changed the child’s name in between registering it and the time of the census in 1861. Therefore think about searching for just the surname and the town of birth in the relevant year to see if you find a likely contender.
  • Did the child miss being registered? It is thought that up to 15% of children were not registered at all. If your ancestor had siblings check to see if they were registered as this may point to whether the family were able to keep under the radar of the authorities. Registration was only made compulsory from 1875 and the onus was then on parents to go and inform the local registrar, before this date it was the registrar who collected the details.
  • My best guess is that the civil registration actually did take place, but that the registrar simply got it wrong and recorded the name incorrectly. I always try to think of what alternative names could have been used. If you think your ancestor is a Josiah, look also for Joshua, John, Joseph, Isaiah etc.
  • With regard to baptism, consider if the parents have had the child baptised in a nearby parish? (Look for a contiguous parish in Phillimore’s or use the mapping tool on FamilySearch.
  • If it was different. perhaps they went to the Parish Church associated with the mother’s parish. Check where she had been from before she married.
  • Another thing to consider was that the child was baptised by a nonconformist minister – they often held on to their own registers and when they moved from one chapel in one town to another they could have taken the register with them. This would mean that it may not be where you would expect it to be!

Happy researching!

 

If you are interested in discovering more about where to research for your English or Welsh family history, then my course is a great way to learn more: www.FamilyHistoryResearcher.com/course

 

Online English & Welsh family history course
Family History Researcher Academy Online English & Welsh family history course
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News from Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2014. Tithe Records

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

NEWS from Who Do You Think You Are? Live

 

A great new resource has been launched by TheGenealogist at this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live show which I am really excited about. I’m talking about the Tithe records. Below is the information released by the team at TheGenealogist.

 

For the first time you will be able to search over 11,000,000 records and view the original documents online. The Tithe Records provide a unique view into our ancestral heritage by providing details of ownership and occupancy of land throughout England and Wales, revealing a wealth of information about people, places and landmarks in the Victorian era.

These pre-census records can allow you to further your research at the click of a button.

The Tithe Records are the perfect accompaniment to Census and BMD records and offer an extra piece in the genealogical jigsaw to give a valuable social and geographical insight into the lives of our Victorian ancestors.

The introduction of the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 meant records were taken, as with the Domesday Book, of the land ownership and occupancy, land use and sizes, and the rents to be paid. This affected everyone – from aristocracy to peasantry, from politicians to labourers all levels of the social hierarchy found their way into the Tithe Records to give us a fascinating snapshot of a period in English history.

This first phase at launch will reveal all tenants and landowners across England and Wales from over 11,000 parishes. This will provide the opportunity to discover whether your ancestors were landowners and how their land was put to use, or if tenants or occupiers, which plots of land they were living or working on.

The second phase of the project will link images of microfilm maps with the plot references. Launch due Spring 2014.

The third phase will digitise the large original maps in colour for each county at high resolution to enhance this unique resource. Launch due 2015.

Mark Bayley, Head of Online Content at TheGenealogist concludes: ‘This has been an exciting, major project for us. The records touch upon the lives of every family so they really are a must have for every family historian!’

 

 

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

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Jersey Marriage Records

Jersey FlagI was doing a bit of research, this week, on a person who had been part of an Army family that moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands, at the end of the 19th century from England.

From the 1891 census I could see that this young girl, aged 14, was listed as a Daughter and was living in the household of a Colour Sergeant and his wife in the Parish of St Saviour. By the time of the next census, in 1901, they had moved a few miles further east, within the island, to the Arsenal in the Parish of Grouville. The head of the household would seem to be listed as a Quarter Master Sergeant, on the permanent staff for the Royal Jersey Militia Infantry and his daughter as a Music Teacher.

Using the various online databases at The Genealogist.co.uk, Ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk, the next time that the daughter appears, in any of their records, was in the probate records for her mother back in England in the 1930s. From this we see that the daughter has married, revealing her new surname. But there seems to be no record for the marriage in any of the countries that make up the United Kingdom. Jersey and the rest of the Channel Islands are British Islands that are not, of  course, part of the U.K. and they have their own administrations and their own marriage registers.

None of the Jersey marriage records are online and so on one of my visits to the Lord Coutanche Library at La Societe Jersiaise, in St Helier, I took the time to consult their copies of the indexes to the island’s marriages. If you have read the guest post by James McLaren on this blog on Jersey BMD records after 1842 as part of the Jersey Family History Section, you will know that this is a somewhat lengthy affair as they are not kept quarterly, like in England, but are simply run until they are filled up. Indexing is alphabetical by the first letter of the surname only, being added to the list in the order that the marriages take place. Each parish runs indexes for Anglican and non-Anglican marriages and in St Helier, the town parish, each C of E church has its own index.

I was faced with the prospect of going through thirty or so indexes, looking for the chance marriage of this couple at some unknown date after the 1901 census. My best guess was to start with the Parish of Grouville, where she had been resident in 1901. Sadly, I had no luck and so I began the trawl through the different parish indexes until I hit St Helier.

There, in 1902, at the main Parish Church of St Helier, married by the Dean of Jersey, G.O.Balleine, was my research targets! It had taken me hours of persistence to find them and, with quite some satisfaction, I now noted down the details on my pad. I would need the Parish, the dates between which the index ran, the Page number and the bride and grooms names to obtain a certified extract from the Superintendent Registrar’s Office in the island, on payment of the required £20.  The time it had taken me to find them, however, meant that this office was now closed for the day. They are only open to the public on weekday mornings and then only when no civil weddings are taking place at the office.

The next day, however, I was able to request the certificate and collect it the day after. A speculative search had revealed the Jersey marriage of this couple in September 1902. A good result and another piece in the puzzle of this family’s research.

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