General - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: recording place names in Englnd

ABiyT13 — 2013-05-17 17:33:30Z

Reading this nearly a year after originally posted and wanted to say thank you for such helpful information :)

Re: Tingsboro

Sueast4 — 2013-05-13 21:14:20Z

This website for Tingrith may also be of further interest with more history and several names mentioned.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42461

Hope it helps.

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-13 12:24:54Z

Thanks for the link. I went there. They have no data online, only CDs & fiches for sale.

Re: Tingsboro

Sueast4 — 2013-05-12 10:20:32Z

You're right. Treborough can't really be corrupted to Tyngsborough. They are obviously two separate places, with a similar name pattern. As you say, most websites on the subject, give Tyngsborough as being named after a person, John Tyng.

Interestingly, there is a place called Tingrith, near Dunstable, Bedfordshire UK.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/BDF/Tingrith/
Regards.

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-11 20:40:17Z

Thanks for the reply. I have looked at Treborough, there may be a familial connection. But that Treborough could be corrupted into Tyngsboro or Tingsboro, is far more of a stretch than Timsbury.
I have looked into Tyngsborough, Middlesex, MA, & it appears, from what I found, likely that there was never a Tyngsboro, Somerset, England.
Two sources, tyngsborough.gov & ray's place, say that Tyngsborough, MA, (settled 1661) was part of Dunstable Twp., named after Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England, home of the previously named Edward Tyng, & that Tyngsborough (made a separate parish in 1789 & incorporated in 1809) was named for early settler, Col. Jonathan Tyng, or in honor of Sarah (Tyng) Winslow, dau. of Eleazer Tyng.

Re: Tingsboro

Sueast4 — 2013-05-11 11:47:45Z

Out of interest it would seem that the place you are looking for is TREBOROUGH, SOMERSET

http://www.leavesonatree.org/surnames.php
This website states Dorothy Wheatley was born 1582 Maiden Newton, Dorset, daughter of Frank/John Wheatley of TREBOROUGH, Somerset, England.
Mother: Mary Fienes

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Treborough/
(Parish information for Treborough, Somerset)

http://www.uk-genealogy.org.uk/genuki/DOR/MaidenNewton/
(Parish information for Maiden Newton, Dorset, including an Online Parish Clerk for help)

The main Record Office for Somerset is
http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/
Good luck.

Re: Tingsboro

halpark — 2013-05-09 18:30:21Z

If you get an answer to this you deserve a prize! I think the only way you will get to the bottom of this is by lateral thinking (I think the modern jargon is "thinking outside the box"). There seem to be several Tyngs around the settlement of New England and although it is neccsary to be very wary with Wikipedia, sometimes one can pick up a thread. Amongst the Tyngs mentioned there it says that Tyngsboro (Mass.!) was part of Dunstable and named after the home town of one Tyng. Could be an idea to contact Dunstable Local Studies and ask if they could throw any light on the puzzle. Another thought comes - could these folk have said they were going to live in some place they called Tyngsboro, even if it did not officially exist on a map and someone thought she said she was born there? Don't know how you could prove anything though. I have a gut feeling it is not Timsbury anyway. Good luck, if you think I could help further do ask.

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-05-09 18:12:38Z

I really appreciate your input Bryan.

I can only surmise that GRO sent a certificate for the female closest to the birth date who had a father John. I will still stick with the John as Ellen's husband would have been well-acquainted with her father.

Yes, the certificate received was for Kingswinford, Stafford, Stourbridge; however, the child was born 5 December 1839 and registered 10 December 1839. Ellen was pretty consistent in census records with a birth date of 1837/1838 - it could well have been the latter.

I've gone through the 1841 censuses and compared with the 1851 to see who was still in England at the time. And, because my Ellen may have left after the 1851 census I have also looked at the 1861 to see who was still there and thus eliminating them from my search since she was married in 1854 in the Pittsburgh area. Another problem is that I cannot locate any of the actual possibilities in the Pennsylvania area.

This line had a propensity for naming offspring after parents, brothers, and sisters, and so I also look at this. Her first daughter was Harriet Luella, and her second daughter was Mary after her mother-in-law. Ellen's mother may have been Harriet. She also named her youngest son Charles Sumner Stoddard - Sumner may be a family name on her side.

Finding the correct birth record seems to be an exercise in futility at this point.

Thanks for the suggestion to add a postem to the BMD site - will do.

Thanks,
Kay

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-09 15:25:41Z

Thanks for the reply. I have checked with the Somerset county government archives. They report not finding a Tingsboro/Tyngsboro in their archives going back to 1591. They suggested Timsbury, but I fail to see how Timsbury could be a corruption of Tyngsboro or Tingsboro. I found a "William Tyng, yoman, ... of Stanford Ryvers, co. Essex" in the records for the year 1450, in the reign of Henry VI. & a Col. Edward Tyng, of the "province of Massachusett Bay", who was captured by the French at St. Johns, Nova Scotia in 1691. (NEHGS Register, Vol. 52, p. 163) I suppose this is just another of the innumerable places swallowed by adjoining communities & lost to the advance of civilization.

Re: Tingsboro

halpark — 2013-05-09 11:59:40Z

Apologies about mixing up Maine and Massachusetts! However, in case it is of any help the Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names has nothing even near Tingsborough/Tyngsboro. Neither does the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Brewers' Dictionary of Britain and Ireland which has 7,500 place-names and neither does the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia of 1837. The only reference to anything like Tings/Tyngsboro always seems to go full circle to Massachusetts. There is something odd here. Just thought these facts might eliminate some dead-ends. Good luck anyway.

Re: Tingsboro

mi2early — 2013-05-08 15:53:44Z

You will probably find additional help if you post what you know about your ancestors' connection to Somerset on the Somerset message board: United Kingdom and Ireland > England > Somerset

If you haven't already, explore GENUKI. Somerset pages start at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/.

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-08 14:42:41Z

Thanks for the link. I moved on to my Alden line & found (NEHGS Register, Vol. 52, p. 163) the following:

In August or September, 1691, Capt. Alden was sent to convey Col. Edward Tyng to Annapolis, N. S., in the Province sloop, and was taken prisoner with his vessel at St. John. Sewell says: "Boston, Oct 19, 1691. 'This day comes news of Captain Alden's being taken [prisoner] by a French Frigate at St. Johns. Mr. Nelson carried to Quebec. Col. Tyng and Mr. John Alden, Jr. kept prisoners till Articles made for Capt. John Alden's coming here be fulfilled.'" & "March 23, 1692. 'Capt. Alden sails for redemption of prisoners, and fetching home Col. Tyng and Mr. Alden, the son.'"
So, Tyngsboro/Tingsboro would be the boro of Tyng, progenitor of the Tyng family?
I'll look further at the Somerset website. It seems to have a bunch of hoops through which to jump, but maybe a simple email will do.

Re: English BMD Records

BryanHoggarth — 2013-05-08 09:33:49Z

Thanks for letting us know the progress Kay,
As people generally know someones birth day accurately, but not necessarly the age in years, then maybe she was born 1st Oct in 1836 or 1838. Or maybe she was registered as Helen, Eleanor, Nelly.

One thing has me puzzled. Was the birth certificate you recieved for the Stourbridge district? There are no records of a birth of a "female DAVIS" born there in that qtr as you can see on the attached.

It was possible to register a child before deciding on a name. Then later the name could be added or changed by inserting it in the right hand column.

Even in that case though what it says in the index should reflect what is actually on the birth certificate.

So it seems to me that they have picked the best match they could find and probably did not send you the certificate for Ellen born in Stourbridge as her father was not called John.

To help others searching with similar problems as yours I suggest you add a postem to the relevant entry in Freebmd giving the information as you see it on the birth certificate. That will perhaps save someone else paying for the certifcate when the info on it shows it is not who they are after. I've done that for every certificate I've purchased.

Bryan

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-05-07 21:15:11Z

Well, apparently it was NOT the Ellen in Stourbridge. I requested a record for Ellen Davis with father John born 1 October 1837 - possibly in Stourbridge. What I got was one for a female Davis born 5 December 1839. Think I will forget about trying to locate a birth cert.

Kay

Re: Tingsboro

BelleRinger — 2013-05-07 11:50:20Z

Apologies, I misread your earlier post regarding the source of the reference to Tingsboro, although it's very interesting to see the orginal copy of the marriage entry.

It might be an impossible quest, being as the book was written so long ago, but can you find the original source of the reference regarding Dorothy's parents being from Tingsboro in Somerset? Perhaps an e-mail to the Somerset archives (http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/) might be the way to go.

Christine

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-04 10:54:01Z

It appears to be a photocopy of an original register. It can be found at "http://www.usgennet.org/family/bliss/features/2002/jan2002.h...".

Re: Tingsboro

BelleRinger — 2013-05-04 10:25:19Z

Hi,

Now that you've mentioned the county of Somerset, I would suspect it probably is meant to be Timsbury. Somerset is a reasonable distance from Daventry, and the spoken accents from the two places are very different. A priest or not-too-well-educated clerk putting into writing what he thought he heard in an unfamiliar accent might well result in something being spelt quite differently from how it should be spelt.

Is the original record of marriage to which you refer actually a copy of the marriage register? This is what would be most helpful for us to see, if you've got it.

Christine

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-03 20:21:01Z

Thanks for the reply.
1. Thomas was born in Northamptonshire & died in Massachusetts (MA), not Maine(ME).
2. His wife, Dorothy was born in 1591, when there was no English settlement in America. Thomas & Dorothy were married in Daventry, Northamptonshire (photocopy of original record of marriage from "The Bliss Book, C.A. Hoppin, 1913) in 1614, when there was no English settlement in New England. Dorothy's place of birth I derived from the statement on page 32 of Aaron Tyler Bliss' Genealogy of the
Bliss Family in America, that Dorothy was "daughter of Frank Wheatley and Mary Fienes of Tingsboro, Somerset, England." Dorothy may well have been born in Daventry, I haven't found a record of her birth.

Re: Tingsboro

halpark — 2013-05-03 16:33:12Z

This is a completely way-out suggestion - but then a lot of genealogy is! Your man was born in Northampton but died in Maine and apparently you have firm evidence that he married in Northampton? When did he go to Maine? If there is any record that he went to Maine before he married, consider this. For whatever reason, sentimentality, family fortunes, he decides that he wants to get married in "the old country" and show his beloved, born in Tyngsboro, Maine, his origins? I think you would find it most unusual for "borough" to be spelt "boro" in England but I understand this is quite common in the US. Anyway might be worth investigating whether she was born in Maine to eliminate the idea if nothing else. Good luck with your searches.

Re: Mass baptism in a family - why?

TerryLouiseTAZ — 2013-05-02 06:39:58Z

Another possibility is that the family was emigrating. My great-grandmother and her four siblings were all baptised on the same day, a week before the family set sail from England to Australia. Perhaps their parents felt it was a form of insurance before setting off on what may be a perilous journey.

On another branch of my family, several siblings were baptised together a week after their sister died as a result of a tragic accident. She was baptised the day prior to her death but after the accident occurred and her parents would have known they were going to lose her.

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-05-02 01:47:50Z

No. Alternate spelling is Tyngsboro.

Re: Tingsboro

Sueast4 — 2013-05-01 21:01:22Z

Could it be Kingsborough? An ancient Manor & Farm in Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Sheppey

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35995161/Kingsborough-Manor-Sheppe...
Hope it helps.

Re: Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-04-30 13:13:42Z

I found it - don't have a source citation - in my Bliss line.
It is said to be the birthplace of Dorothy Wheatlie, b. c Aug 1591, d/o Captain Francis John & Mary (Fiennes) Wheatleigh, who was m. by Thomas Marriott, Minister, in Holy Cross Church, Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, on 22 Nov 1614, to Thomas Bliss. Thomas was b. 1588 in Northamptonshire, the s/o Jonathan & unknown wife. Thomas d., Rehoboth, Bristol, MA, between 7 & 21 Oct 1647.

Re: Tingsboro

Merice46 — 2013-04-29 17:22:25Z

Hi,
Where did you find the name??

Regards

Sandra

Tingsboro

willow703 — 2013-04-29 15:24:40Z

Looking for the location of what was Tingsboro, or Tyngsboro.
Timsbury has been suggested, but the word endings differ in spelling, & share some roots, but not others. Wikipedia doesn't show either as being a variation of Timsbury.

Re: Antiquated place names

Sueast4 — 2013-04-21 10:23:50Z

You may also find these websites useful for Devon placenames.

http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/indexpars.html

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/
(gives the Ordnance Survey maps mentioned in Parish Index above)
Hope it helps.

Re: Alternative records for England BMD

Sueast4 — 2013-04-20 21:13:10Z

As your couple were considered to be nobility, these websites should help with your searches.

http://www.thepeerage.com/
Click on 'Surnames' - gives titles, places, contacts etc, for all your names -

Clifford, Russell, Clarke, Russell-Clarke, Hobart, Andrews, Hilton, Smith, Yelverton, Beard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_of_peerage
(general info)
Good luck.

Re: Antiquated place names

dogdocla — 2013-04-11 01:47:27Z

And there is a Kingswear nearby, too.

Re: Antiquated place names

dogdocla — 2013-04-11 01:44:07Z

Thanks Bryan, you make a lot of sense here!

Re: Antiquated place names

BryanHoggarth — 2013-04-10 18:09:03Z

Hi Steve,

The place names are probably just the same as now - just the spelling is more regularised these days. Back then spelling was generally phonetic and could vary within the same document. The accent the people spoke was reflected in the way words were spelt so think how a word would be said in very broad Devonshire.

They are most likley to be places on the coast.

Penton appears a few times and I'd guess at Painton.

Brixham is obvious.

Chufson appears a few time so will be a biggish port or somewhere nearby. The "fs" is the way they used to write a "ss" so that would make if Chusson - but I've not heard af any place like that. Though might be shortened version of Churston Ferrers.

There is a place called Danbury in Essex between Chelmsford and Maldon. More likely Denbury south west of Newton Abbot.

Stock could be shortened version of Stoke Gabriel just up the estuary from Dartmouth.

Gampton could be Galmpton which occurs at least twice in Devon but most likely one is SE of Stoke Gabriel.

Bryan

Antiquated place names

dogdocla — 2013-04-10 05:05:14Z

I am looking at ship muster rolls from the 1700's, port of Dartmouth, Devon, England. The crew could really be from anywhere... but I am having no luck whatsoever finding these places mentioned as abodes:

Chufson
G?mpton
Stock (there is a Stock in Essex county)
Denton (Penton?)
Demberey
Kings???e

Any ideas where to look for names of outdated places in England in the 1700's?

Where buried?

MystikNZ — 2013-04-07 13:39:58Z

Hi guys,

where would I go to look to find out where someone is buried in england? I know full names, bith & death dates, though I do not know 'where' exaclly in england they would be buried as they died in one place & apparently are buried in another :(

any help much appreciated :)

Steph
Nelson, NZ

Re: Where buried?

Merice46 — 2013-04-07 05:42:20Z

Hi,
With more info.like name and places,someone might be able to help?

Regards

Sandra

Re: boarding schools

halpark — 2013-04-04 13:14:08Z

Why don't you simply google the names of the schools and see what turns up? Even if names have changed (mine has!) there is very often a continuing interest in the history, old scholars etc., and a lot of information is archived. It will not be long before there is no one left who attended the school I went to, under its old name, but the archives from 1827 are still available. Would not cost anything and could produce something. Just tried Rastrick Grammar out of curiosity (absolutely no other interest!) and, if I needed it, there is a fair bit of information available.

Re: boarding schools

mi2early — 2013-04-01 16:24:55Z

I'm sure the RootsWeb UK-Schools mailing list would appreciate reading about the information you've collected and perhaps subscribers to that list could help you.

Information and subscription links are at http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/UK/UK-SCHOOLS....

boarding schools

ednastephens1 — 2013-04-01 14:39:47Z

Lots of us must have ancesters who were educated in, or were school teachers in boarding schools, where records are hard to come by. Does anyone have tips on finding data? I have collected a little about Highbury School in St Leonards,the Perse and Leys school in Cambridge, and would like to find infomation about Wellington,Rastrick grammer, Northhampton.

Re: Alternative records for England BMD

jillfisher23 — 2013-03-31 10:56:03Z

I think you need to give a bit more information if you need help.
You say you have US docs, what docs? If there are immigration papers what date and which name? Any port info?
Where did they settle? Post anything you know and then someone may be able to help.

Re: Alternative records for England BMD

jewlzmcq1 — 2013-03-24 13:43:55Z

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately the US documents I've found always just say "England" and don't list counties or towns that the relatives have originated from. I haven't found anything giving more detail except for the couple that were considered nobility.
Surnames include Andrews, Hobart, Clark, Smith, Yelverton, Beard, Russell, Hilton, Clifford

Re: Alternative records for England BMD

carobradford — 2013-03-18 13:03:49Z

It rather depends on which event you are searching for.

A post-1837 entry in a Church of England marriage register is identical to a marriage certificate, so searching through the marriage registers of likely parishes can be a good strategy, though if your ancestor was not married in the CofE you are going to have more of a problem.

The nearest alternative to a birth registration is an entry in a baptism register. This has a major drawback, though, because the standard CofE baptism register does not show the maiden name of the mother and it is this information that one is normally trying to acquire from a birth record. Nor is it sensible to assume that your ancestors baptised their infants.

Burial registers are a fairly poor substitute for death certificates, as they give little information other than the age and abode (which may just be a parish, rather than a full address) of the deceased. Finding a burial record can be a very major challenge, particularly after the middle of the 19th century when the urban churchyards were closed and burials took place in out of town cemeteries. Cemetery records are normally kept by the cemeteries themselves and many of these charge a hefty fee for a search. Death certificates themselves generally contain the least "genealogically useful" information - though they do sometimes solve the odd mystery if you get an elusive daughter or other relative as an informant.

Family history is not, and never has been, a cheap hobby. Certificate purchases have to be budgeted for and it makes sense to use other resources to try and narrow down the right index reference before we spend our hard-earned £9.25. This can be tricky when dealing with very common names but there are some strategies which can help.

For instance, if your ancestor is Jane SMITH, born somewhere in Yorkshire, you have a problem, but if you can find the names of other family members (from the census or from marriage witnesses etc) it should be easier to pin her down in earlier censuses when she is with her family. This might well help narrow down the right registration district for her birth. If you are lucky and there is a sister called Kezia or a brother called Absolom then *their* birth registration should be much easier to find.

You can get the GRO to search for a certificate based on certain criteria (such as parents' names) for a three year period. This service is free, in the sense that you get your £9.25 back if no match is found. If there genuinely are "hundreds" of possibles it is not much use, though.

Why not post some details of your elusive relative(s). It will be easier to offer more targeted advice if we know when and where you are searching.

Re: Alternative records for England BMD

mi2early — 2013-03-18 12:26:18Z

There are many parish records on line as are census records. For instance, FamilySearch.org has an incredible amount of information. What's available depends upon the county in which your ancestors lived and when they lived. If you're looking for copies of BMD certificates you're pretty much out of luck, but you will find indices.

Post some details on the appropriate county list and I'm sure someone will be able to point you in the right direction.

Alternative records for England BMD

jewlzmcq1 — 2013-03-17 23:32:25Z

Are there any alternatives or supplemental ways to research England BMD records? I cannot afford to purchase all the hundreds of possible records from the BMD index and it doesn't provide enough detail for me to narrow it down to just a few. Very frustrating. Are there any other ways to find more details online that can help me narrow things down?

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-03-14 22:29:25Z

Brian -

Believe I will order the record from Stourbridge - thanks for the push. If the father adhered to the six-week rule this may be the correct one.

Holmes & Ellen were married around Pittsburgh supposedly in 1853, but neither Pennsylvania nor Pittsburgh recorded marriages at that time. Some of their children were also born there but, again, no records required. Church records for the area from the time frame are scarce as hens teeth.

The problem here is that when the iron industry started going south around Pittsburgh, Holmes moved his family to Elmira, NY, where he was a boss roller. Had they remained in PA there likely would have been more interaction with Ellen's family and more information would be available.

Again, thanks for the motivation. I will let you know the results of the order.

Kay (in sunny Southern California)

Re: English BMD Records

BryanHoggarth — 2013-03-14 20:17:40Z

Kay,
been thinking.

In 1880 census Ellen STODDARD was said to be age 42 born in England. Date was 1st June so that would have her birth last half of 1837 or first half of 1838. So matches 1st October 1837 so her birth should be registered in Oct-Dec qtr of 1837. They were allowed 6 weeks to register the birth.

These are the only two showing in that qtr if the name is exactly right:
Births Oct-Dec 1837
Davis Ellen Stourbridge 18 337
Davis Ellen Portsea 7 89

There is also this
Births Oct-Dec 1837
DAVIES Ellen Wigan 21 598

Postsea is unlikley since they did not make iron or steel there. (Though John may have only become a steel worker after he emigrated)
1841 census was taken in June and later ones were all about the end of March. So in 1841 Ellen should be age 3 and age 13 in 1851. But note that Ancestry always have the estimated birth date one year later than it probably is so if she was age 3 in 1841 they would say she was born in 1838.

1841 census for Princes Street, Shelton, Stoke on Trent has a possible though the age of Ellen is too high at 4 rather than 3
John DAVIS age 25+ Colliery Labourer Ireland
Ann do 25+ Ireland
Ellen do 4 Staffordshire
Mary do 2 Staffordshire

I cannot find a likely family in 1851 though they might have emigrated before the census.

Might be worth spending £9.25 to get that birth at Stourbridge.

Is their any suggestion of relatives in the witnesses of the marriage of Ellen and Homes STODDARD, or by the godparents of their children?

Bryan

Re: English BMD Records

Merice46 — 2013-03-14 19:44:30Z

Hi,
There is this one,but how will you prove it??

1851 Piece 2505 Fol 258 Page 1 denbeighshire

Regards

Sandra

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-03-14 19:32:38Z

I've tried just about everything I can think of. The problem is I get frustrated and give up.

Yes, I made an error on the census records - I know they were in the odd years.

On census records Ellen stated both she and her parents were born in England, although I believe that the family was originally from Wales.

Thank you all for your input - it is appreciated.

Kay

Re: English BMD Records

BryanHoggarth — 2013-03-14 17:58:16Z

Kay,
You might be lucky and find her baptism (and maybe birth date) using Familysearch; or possibly the family on a passenger list.

With a name like Davis her family were probably from Wales but quite a lot moved to England during the 1800s so she may have been born in England though her parents may have been from Wales. I suppose the census records in the USA will have said she was from England or Wales.

Just to make it more difficult Ellen could be a pet version of Helen or Eleanor; and DAVIS is often mixed with DAVIES.

BTW our censuses were in 1841, 1851, etc not 1840, 1850.

Best of luck.

Bryan

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-03-14 15:42:08Z

Hi Sandra,

Her father's name was on her death certificate - again the info was provided by her husband who was an iron worker and knew her father. There was no requirement for the mother's name on the document. I do not know the names of her siblings. Family tradition is that she came to the Pittsburgh area with her family when a girl of 14, which would make their entry about 1851. As stated previously I will again peruse the 1840 and 1850 English census records. Thanks for your response.

Kay

Re: English BMD Records

Merice46 — 2013-03-14 08:25:39Z

Hi,
How do you know her fathers name?It might help if you tell un what you know.Ellens dob?Brothers and sisters??There were two maid areas that I can see were iron workings,one in Monmouthsire and one in Glamorgan.

Regards

Sandra

Re: English BMD Records

kHaworth0919 — 2013-03-13 22:18:07Z

Thank you for your response. Yes Ellen Davis is very common and so is her father's name John Davis ;). Unfortunately I do not know the name of her mother or any of her siblings.

Her New York death certicate gives her age in years-months-days and this is what was used for the calculation. This information was provided by her husband who knew her father so should be fairly accurate. The family came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shortly after 1850, and she was married and out of the parental home by the 1860 census so I am unable to glean her parents' names from that record. There are many John Davis' in Pittsburgh, but most are from Wales. We are told he was an iron worker.

I've also reviewed the 1840 and 1850 English census records for clues. Perhaps I will review them again and determine which ones are feasible (not in the 1860 census) and narrow it down. Yes, I would like the instructions for specifying certain conditions - thank you.

Re: English BMD Records

carobradford — 2013-03-13 20:22:45Z

Ellen Davis is a very common name indeed, so without a more precise place of birth you are going to have a real problem. Does she not appear in any census? From what document have you calculated her date of birth?

It is possible to order a certificate from the GRO and specify that you only want it if certain conditions (such as father's name) are met. I can give you detailed instructions on how to do this if necessary, but the likelihood of success rather depends on Ellen's father having a reasonably unusual forename. If he is William, for instance, the GRO may not be able to narrow it down. You should also bear in mind that if her calculated birth is only a few months out her birth will not have been registered, as civil registration only came into force on 1 July 1837.