Genealogy Chat

i have a grt grt gran that started out mary ann buchanan born durham abt 1870 and married a peter kenny when he died she married thomas oshea born 1870 wales this has been found from people on the tips board for me the only thing is in the 1901 census her children from peter kenny the name kenny is spelt kenney she also lied about her age so find it very hard to follow her journey through the census what do i state true or fales leads with her am i get the right person every time i think i have found her please help sick of going round and round with this

Have you got her birth cert. - that will help

Also censuses weren't 100% accurate with details so ages were often wrong & surnames misspelt so it doesn't help us genealogists :-)

well the spelling on the census will be the enumerators way of spelling the name so I wouldnt let that put you off.
I have a marriage cert where the groom should be Dartnell but its spelt Dartner and the bride should be Hetterley but its spelt Etrerley . its spelling mistakes by the vicar when he compiled the cert. As both couldnt read or write they wouldnt have known,fortunately the fathers names and occupations tie up so i know its the right one

In the case of census then the enumerator probably didnt ask how to spell the name or again they didnt know !!

As for ages well people got coy about their age or again really weren't that sure A lot of people too thought census's where an invasion on their private life and so would lie

To be honest you seem to be following her the wrong way - you should be going backwards. Get the marriage cert to the last man, check out that which will give her previous name and her fathers occupation and then work backwards from that. You must have got to her backwards through your family anyway - her children/grandchildren?

The slight change in name is a very very minor point. I have had Horsteads with and without the e with and without the r I have other names that are barely recognisable. Thats very minor and could easily be verified by buying one of the kids birth certs. Id be more concerned you are following the right line.

Do you know how to buy certs? If you say people found some of the info, I dare say they gave you the references from freebmd (which you can check yourself free). You use those references and go to GRO online and buy the certificates for £7. Unless you verify info through certificates then you will continue to go round in circles.

many thanks for all your help i will go and get her birth cert and do as you say and work backwards from there once again many thanks for your help