Genealogy Chat

.....I am always SO careful about checking and double checking and I've still gone wrong. Details below....

My ggrandfather's James's father was Thomas Hill as per his marriage certificate. I found James on the 1841 and 1861 census from disc which gave him a birth year of 1808. I found James Hill on IGI, father Thomas Hill, mother Ann Wagstaffe. Double checked it all at the local RO even though all the records have been filmed and are on IGI. Have done lots of research this family and that side of the tree was looking rather lovely. Till last night....when I found James and crew badly mistranscribed in 51 and with them is his mother MARY. Alarm bells began to ring so I was on the doorstep of the RO when they opened at 9am this morning and have gone back over the parish registers for the 2nd time. And there he is...James Hill 2 Oct 1806, father Thomas Hill, mother MARY. Baptised alongside 7 other siblings in a batch baptism. I've checked the other James again and it is definitely 2 seperate families. NONE of mine are on IGI...I am gutted cos I now have to remove over 100 well researched people from my tree. My TIP...even if the claim is that 'all' the records for that church have been filmed on IGI, please please check it yourself. I have the printout for my lot, there are 4 other baptisms on the same sheet also not on IGI so obviously a page was missed from the filming. I'm lucky in a way that I've been able to research this locally (I live 5mins away) and now just have 4 wrong certs but someone else could have spent a fortune or worse still, not know there was an error. Lou

I think I'm just doubly gutted cos Ann Wagstaffe was such an easy person to trace. Now I've got Mary SMITH................

oh Lou Mary SMITH how terrible I wish you lots of luck !!! I too was following a Tree that wasnt mine, what a waste of time and money.

For me the main reason these things are gutting (oh LOL a Fish reference, Lyla!!!!) are because once you have a name in the tree, they start to take on their own persona, as if you really knew them........I bet you already had a mental picture of Ann Wagstaffe and now you have to try and push that picture out and replace it with a mental picture of Mary Smith, who will, of course, look COMPLETELY different......... I have several Mary Smiths....you can have one of mine if you like! LOL Merry

I did this v recently, I traced the wrong Reuben Marriott (well how was I to know that two Reuben Marriott's were born in the same small town in the same year?!) and researched back to the 1700s. It is disheartening, but once you get back on track there's a whole lot more (genuine) ancestors to find. Ive kept my research on the Marriott's of Calverton in case its any use to anyone.

Never mind, Lou, just imagine if it had been pre-census!!

Merry You're absolutely right...Thomas and Ann had begun to become real people in my head and I'm mourning their loss...lol! Lou

Keep it n the back burner Lou, when you have had enough of your tree you cab do the one name study of the name Hill- dont think there are any takers for that one yet!! Jess x

Lou Did exactly the same myself on my hubbys Rushton line some years ago. Tried to skip buying a marriage cert cause I couldnt afford it at the time and picked the wrong Hannah in the village. Picked the daughter of the bricklayer instead of the blacksmith. They were similar ages and the daughter of the bricklayer seemed a better bet. When I could afford the cert, youve guessed it, she was the daughter of the blacksmith. They are not even related as the fathers originate from a completely different place. Margaret

I've made the same mistake with my Cliffe family, picked the wrong Thomas........... only realised yesterday and I had got back to the 1700's! Have ordered the marriage cert now just gotta wait till the 4th! Julie xxx

..............but Chris...............lots of Mary Smith's have a middle name................................ It's ANN !!!! LOL Merry

Bad luck, Lou. Join the club. I had to chop a whole branch off my tree when I found that I had the wrong Ann Press. I had the one born in the town where she was living at the time, but it turned out that she was one from a neighbouring small village. If only these people could have been more accurate in letting us know on the census exactly where they were born, how helpful that would have been. I

And good luck, Lou with Mary Smith. I am having such trouble with my John Smith, Eliza Smith and Sarah Smith - all from different branches of my tree!!!

Whilst looking through the baptisms again this morning, I came across a Mary Adelaide Broome Smith....wouldn't it have been lovely if that one could have been mine but no...further along, she married John Browne! HA! Wouldn't like to be the person who got that partnership!