Genealogy Chat

I seem to have hit a brick wall with all my direct ancestors, SEE BELOW

What about joining the relevant area family history society and then paying for a blanket search of the area? Good luck Anna

I started chasing the families of siblings and their families - quite interesting but now I have probably gone beyond what is meaningful or of relevance to my tree. So .. What can I do now? You are all no doubt fed up with hearing about James Cox of Thetford and James Allison of goodness knows where! No one seems to have the info on the site - I have looked at the relevant parish records - or it is impractical for me to get to records office and they are not on the IGI so can't send for records. Is it time to call it a day - even though I don't even know who my gGrandparents were on my father's side? Guess I must sort of know what I'm doing as I am back to 1700's with lots of the others. Alice

Alice - sometimes when I think I have reached a dead end everywhere I just start from the beginning again, going through all the names in my list in alphabetical order looking up each one which has any loose ends left everywhere I can think of, and I always find something new somewhere!! Kate.

Alice, Im sure people know my Edward Horstead and Liz Selby as well as they know your lot! Ive had a brick wall for two years on them now since I got back to 1770 and the baptism of their daughter. However day before yesterday thanks to encouragement of Marjorie, I emailed Norfolk Records Office to ask if they had any settlement papers for Horsteads. Back came the reply - yes - so I have moved on a bit. And can now find them moving from Ketteringham to East Carleton in 1763. I am sure I will eventually trace their marriage and parents. Dont give up.

I agree I shouldn't really give up not till I lose them in Parish records at least! But I have plughed through all the Thetford parishes and surronding ones in Norfolk for a birth that is not there (yet) and I don't kow wherer to start with other one as I have only one clue which needs mr e to go to London - in the summer holidays probably! n(I think he spent most of his time at sea Nana, so need to see if i can find him at kew don't know wheree he came from, never found him for sure on a census). Thanks Kate, will start all over - must be something staring me in the face somewhere! Guess we'll just have to go on boring GR members 'til we find them then Heather! Think I'll have to take up another hobby for a couple of months! Alice

What is it with this Norfolk ancestors, why dont they appear in the records??? I had wondered if my two had decided to marry in a non conformist church or some such but then all the kids are baptised in most definite c of e parish churches. I do belong to Norfolk Family History Soceity but have had no luck with them either! One distant cousin came up from Devon and sat in NRO for almost solidly 3 days without turning them up! WE WILL find them Alice!

Thanks Heather, The trouble is all my family seem to move on - i am expecting to find Romany blood somewhere! I have turned up ancestors all over the South of England - but there is only one case of me being able to take the family straight back through parish records. James Cox my Norfolk rellie for instance, I have him on the 1861 census in Greenwich and i have his marriage cert. Census says born Thetford Norfolk 1835. He is not on the 1841 for Norfolk or Suffolk and that's it! Managed to establish he had a sister who was a witness at his wedding. Can't find him otr sister or father again anywhere. Really frustrating as he is my one and only Norfolk ancestor! Alice

I have Norfolk relatives. I was chuffed to bits when I found one of the relevant parishes was on the IGI. I found my gt gt grandfather's birth (but none of his siblings) and my grt grandfather's siblings, but not him!!!! It didn't help that the year of birth on his gravestone was out by one year either. Plus, although he lived in the same village for well over 40 years, he toddled off to London to die and therefore wasn't registered where I expected him to be. As he was called John Gray you can imagine how difficult that was - but the NRO came up trumps. I found the burial plan of the Norfolk churchyard was at the NRO and asked them to check for me - back came the reply that he had been buried there, but had died in Finchley, N. London, so that's where his death was registered. Didn't help that his wife has Langley as her place of birth on the census - since Langley is a village v. near where they were living. No sign of her. Then I tracked her down in Langham, in North Norfolk! Perhaps this is all just 'normal for Norfolk' haha! nell

You were lucky Nell as most of the norfolk churches refused to hand info over to the Mormons! I am sure anyone with Norfolk ancestors know that you can access quite a lot of the parishes (though by no means all) on the norfolk transcription archive site.

I'm sooooooo relieved I'm not the only person having difficulty with Norfolk! I have two brickwalls on different branches in Norfolk...and another one in Lincolnshire. It doesn't help that these are fairly common names and one of them didn't even seem to know how old he was (even though I'm sure it was the same person :-( ) I would be really grateful for the address of the Norfolk transcription site. On a more optimistic note, I managed to trace somebody a couple of weeks ago after looking for three years. He was Arthur CUNNINGTON b. 1856 in Laverstoke, Hants. I had traced him on all the censuses from 1861 to 1901. He consistently gave his birthplace as Laverstoke Hants (there is no such place!) and an age which would indicate he was born in 1853 (I think he possibly did this to cover up the fact he was a minor when he married). I knew his father was called Thomas and born in Rutland and that Arthur was married and died in Nottingham, so I've concentrated on those areas. Eventually I tracked him down born 1856 in Whitchurch (a reg district in Hampshire). This had been mistranscribed as Whitechapel on records I had, so I had always rejected it. When I ordered the certificate, it gave me his parents' full names, so I've been able to trace their marriage (in Sussex) and also Thomas' death...also in Sussex. In the meantime, the father had remarried, so it wasn't obvious from later censuses that this was the same family. Now I can go back a stage further. It's amazing what one little find can open up! On a gloomier note...I have a permanent brick wall in London circa 1765...and this has stood for at least 55 years, as I have a copy of a letter my gt grandfather wrote...the brick wall was standing then and for goodness knows how many years before that!

Oooops! I meant he gave his birthplace as LaverstoCK Hants...there is no such place!

My Norfolk ancestors are a pain as well. They all had the same name. Used different surnames depending on which direction the wind blew. Married their cousins just for fun (cousins not using the surname handed down through the male line as you would expect), kept moving between Norfolk and Suffolk with the boundary changes and to top it all were always at sea! Anyway on a serious note perhaps if you wait long enough the answer will just appear? Pippa

Hi there Pippa and everyone else. thank you for the replies and sympathy - it makes me feel better not to be the only one! I am hoping I will solve my James Cox brick wall when the 1851and later the 1841 go online. i think the family may have lived in Deptford or Lewisham or Greenwich and without a searchable index or knowing for sure where they lived I am too likely to find them. i didn't find James Cox until the 1861 went online. Hope when it does they will give more than just the county they were born in! Have to wait and see I suppose...... Alice