Genealogy Chat

I have an Edward Still who is shown on the 1841 census as born about 1796 in Sussex. The 1851 census has him as born about 1794 in Bolney, Susses. The IGI has an extracted record of a christening of Edward Still on 22/4/1792 in Bolney, Sussex. Can anyone advise me here, am I safe in assuming this is my man, or is that risky? Duncan

In the 1841 ages were very suspect. They rounded down [or was it up] but only sometimes! The extracted entry sounds reasonable, but if it was me I would like to see the actual entry before I accepted it. In this way the IGI is an excellent tool for guiding you in the right direction. But check the source to be absolutely sure.

Bearing in mind thay the 1841 census is just a 5 year approximation I would say it seems very likely that it is your man. I would want to see the actual parish record myself, though, It might contain further information. Anne

Hi Duncan ages for adult on the 1841 census were only given to the nearest 5 years, if your ancestor was 22 his age would have been recorded as 20 and if he was 23 his age would have been recorded as 25. The 1851 census recorded the actual age (well the age the person gave anyway) this was done on the night of March 31st so depending on when he was born tha age given could be at least a year out. Hope this helps a little Carol

You could see if you can delve into that a bit further by looking at all the parish records for sussex. Also it might be that the age was put down wrong and the person that was there writing all the census information down misheard, or it could of been wrongly transcribed. Did you look at the original image to see if the age is the same as the transcribed one. Nicola

Thanks to all of you. I am planning an excursion to look at the Parish Records one of these days, but from the IGI I have found Edward's parents and a few other relations from over 200 years ago, so I am not sure whether to get excited about it or not! It would be a real downer to find this is a different Edward Still. Duncan

Don't get too excited until you have proved one step at a time! Tempting as it is, keep the other info on hand for now and pursue the family slowly. It's all too easy to climb the wrong tree.

You really have to see how many men you can find with that name in the Parish Records. It would not be the first time that there was more than one man born with the same name at the same time in the same place. OC

With the IGI always make sure it is an extracted record and not a members submission. Over 25 years ago some goldanged Mormon put a lot of my early research onto the IGI, and much of it I proved by later research to be wrong! I always gnash my teeth when I come across it because all the way through he has misspelled CODDENHAM as GODDENHAM!!