Genealogy Chat

Other "shortenings", as Sylvia mentioned can include "Wm." (William), "Chas." (Charles), "Jos." (Joseph, Joshua, Josiah), "Cathne" (Catherine), "Jas." (James). "Mary Ann" can easily become "Marian" or "Marion" if misheard - or they can even start calling themselves "Polly" for no good reason. Annes can start calling themselves Annie, Catherines become Kates, Margarets become Maggies. Never underestimate the chances that your ancestors will do this.

That baby you find who is three months old and called "Lizzie" may well have become Charlotte Elizabeth (or even just Charlotte) by the next census, just to be awkward.

Bear in mind that if someone came from a tiny village outside York, for instance, (as someone in my tree did - a place called Wheldrake), if they move to another area, their birthplace may become "York" or "Yorkshire" over time.

Similiarly, if a person was born in Wales but moved to Manchester as a very small child, by adulthood they may be giving their birthplace as "Manchester" because that's where they thought they were born.

The letter "S" can also sometimes be misinterpreted as "L".

If you have a really weird name coming up in your tree, like "Ursula", it can easily become mangled by the transcribers - I have seen two that certainly read "Ursula" on the page but they had being interpreted as "Wenta" and "Mirala".

Good luck and don't give up!

David

Some tips to help you.

Remember that your ancestors were probably illiterate, and the census takers were not much better.

Remember that what we use on ancestry or any other site is modern day transcriptions of old handwriting.

THUS ............. names can be mis-spelled every which way you can imagine!

Plus, spelling of names has changed over the centuries.


Try entering the name as you think it is spelled.

Then use what is called the wild card ........ *. This can often find the mis-spelled name(s)

For example, if you have Louisa Schofield, try Lou* Schof* ........... that will bring up Louisa, Louise, and Lousia (which is actually a very common misspelling). Schof* can bring up Schofeild, Schofiel, Schofeld, etc etc

Remember Ellen may be mis-spelled Helen, and vice versa. Elizabeth can become Eliza, etc etc.

Try searching on surname only, or christian name only.

Use birth year +/- 5 years .... the census takers asked people's ages, the modern transcribers have changed that to birth year. The age of a person may actually vary by as much as 2 years from census to census depending on when the census was taken vs their birth date.

Try using only the county of birth, not the place name ................. our ancestors have this wonderful habit of forgetting where they were born

Try not using the county ............. they can even change the county!


If all else fails, try leaving name and surname blank, enter year of birth +/- 5 years, and enter county and place of birth OR place where you think they might be living. Either of these will bring up quite a long list of names .... but as you scroll through you might spot your ancestor under a weird mis-transcription.


If even that fails .............. come on to the boards and ask for help!


Good Luck!


sylvia

margaret & glen
thank you both for your info

It depends what you are looking for, the events nearest to the present day should be searched for on the FULL index, the freebmd bit is only a part index.

Census searches can be a bit tricky, just because there is an option to put lots of search criteria doesn't mean you will get a match, often a "more is less" approach works best. And NEVER assume relationships in the census are correct until you prove they are as shown.

A useful illustrated census search guide can be found at;

http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/index.php/Census_Search

Glen

I find the best way is to trace your family through the censuses, starting at 1901 and working backwards to 1841.

lindsey
thank you

Yes you are right its a bit confusing to start with its almost a case of too much information, best try to find the advice/help section along the top and take it from there.

ive just joined ancestory ,com
please advise best way to search for ancestors
thank you