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I've been trying to find the father of Spencer Bew b 1869, found him in 1871 census living with widowed mom at 2 Burtholsmew Terrace, Hornsey. I found a likeley candidate in 1841 and1861 by luck living at the same address, but when I found this Robert Bew in 1871 census, he was still living at the same address as above and still with his elderly parents. I'm so confused JUST WHO IS LIVING at Burtholsmew Terrace in 1871?

Please Heeeeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Angela -- does one assume that you have the birth certificate and it doesn't give a father's name?


Name: Spencer George Bew
Year of Registration: 1869
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Edmonton
County: Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex
Volume: 3a
Page: 163


If not, that's the best help there is!

But meanwhile -- this death record would be my bet for his father:


Name: George Bew
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834
Year of Registration: 1869
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Age at Death: 35
District: Edmonton
County: Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex
Volume: 3a
Page: 113

On 1871 Mary, mother of Spencer is widow

Spencer George born
BEW Spencer George Edmonton.3a 163 1 1869

Death
BEW George 35 Edmonton.3a 113 1 1869

?marriage
BEW George Marylebone.1a 978 3 1868
GREEN Mary Marylebone.1a 978 3 1868


I think on 1871 census the house is multi occupied, lots of different families. Both Bew families are in Bartholomew Terrace but on different pages

the entry in 1871 census for Spencer states he is 2 yrs and lives with his brother and mother who is a widow, but in the same census Robert bew also lives at the same address (who I thought might be his dad) with his elderly parents.

His brother:


Name: Frank Harry Bew
Year of Registration: 1867
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Edmonton
County: Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex
Volume: 3a
Page: 162


And possibly his parents' marriage:


Name: George Bew
Year of Registration: 1861
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Islington
County: Greater London, London, Middlesex
Volume: 1b
Page: 289

-- a bride on the page is Mary Ann Nash.

Or:

Name: George Henry Bew
Year of Registration: 1862
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: West London
County: London
Volume: 1c
Page: 112

-- a bride on the page is Mary Ann Etheridge ...


Spencer's birth cert will tell you for sure, though!

you are a star, I've just thought the place may be a pub, thanks so much for your help.

You may not have been talking to me, but I'll talk back. ;)

In the 1871, on the census image, Mary Ann Bew is identified as "Publican Bull Inn".

There ya go!

Hannah Vines is barmaid, and William Seaton is potman.

The Robert Bew on the previous page is shown as unmarried and a "traveller", with what would be his older brother William, a labourer, and their parents George, retired farmer, and Lydia. (George was born in Yorkshire, and Lydia in Suffolk.) George and Lydia would undoubtedly be the parents of Spencer's father as well.

George and Lydia's household is identical in 1861.


And in 1861, here seems to be your confirmation of Spencer's parents:


Name: George Bew
Age: 27
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Mary A
Gender: Male
Where born: Highgate, Middlesex, England

Name: Mary A Bew
Age: 20
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1841
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: George
Gender: Female
Where born: Kentish Town, Middlesex, England

Civil Parish: Hornsey
Ecclesiastical parish: St Michael
County/Island: Middlesex
Country: England

Registration district: Edmonton
Sub-registration district: Hornsey
ED, institution, or vessel: 7
Household schedule number: 124

Household Members:
Name Age
George Bew 27
Mary A Bew 20


George is a farmer, and they live at Pine Cottage, North Road.

In 1871, I don't think all the households are living at the same address; they just don't have separate house numbers/names.

Kathryn thank you so much! How do you get your info so quick and where from?

Again thanks so much I've been looking all day and puzzling over this, thanks

Angie

A subscription to the dreaded Ancestry, and two years of practice at it (with several years of intensive use of search engines for work and play before that), and a kind of obsessive need to solve puzzles. ;)

All that stuff is in the censuses and BMDs on line. You have to form a hypothesis and go backward to see how it works out.

For instance, I shouldn't have left the hypothesis that George's parents were George and Lydia just hanging like that!

If you can search the censuses, go look in 1851 for George Bew with wife Lydia -- you're lucky that you have uncommon names (and that the surname actually hasn't been mistranscribed by Ancestry, so far), so don't bother with dates and places of birth.

Oops. No son George in their household in 1851.

So try for him on his own: George Bew, born 1834 in Highgate, Middlesex. There he is.

Now we try 1841 -- looking for George Bew born 1834, *in* Highgate Middlesex, at a guess.

And here I suspect we have hit the mistranscription wall. Can't see him. I do see Mikilolu Bew in Northamptonshire though ... which someone has corrected to Matilda.

And the problem you have is that you can only search with wildcards at Ancestry if you have the first three letters.

For example, you can search for Hil*, which will catch Hill and Hile. You can search for Hil* Hel* (both together like that), which will catch Hill, Hile, Hell and Hele (the last three being common mistranscriptions of Hill, believe it or not).

You only have a 3-letter name -- and most likely it's the first letter that's mistranscribed.

So you just have to be creative and patient. Try for just George born 1834 +/- 2 years, in Highgate. No (not as transcribed by Ancestry, anyhow) ... aha, in 1851 his parents were in Hornsey. Try that. I think you'll see a likely candidate. Good lord, those are quite the names in that household. If you're not subscribed at Ancestry and you'd like those names corrected (if you're not seeing them, I'll copy them for you), PM me an email address I can put in the notes, so you can be contacted, and I'll make the corrections.

Thus endeth today's lesson. ;)

Of course, you *still* have to order Spencer's birth certificate to start to confirm all this!

Okay, I can't resist!

In 1841 (per Ancestry's transcription):


Name: George Bern
Age: 6
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1835
Gender: Male
Where born: Middlesex, England

Civil Parish: Hornsey
Hundred: Ossulstone (Finsbury Division)
County/Island: Middlesex
Country: England

Registration district: Edmonton
Sub-registration district: Hornsey and Highgate

Household Members:
Name Age
Gen Ben 44 (Geo Bew)
Ledia Ben 43 (Lidia Bew)
Carolin Bern 12
Emily Bern 14
George Bern 6
Rubt Bern 1 (Robt Bew)
Shett Bern 10 (anybody want to take a shot at this one?? Ruth, maybe. ... No, looking at 1851: it's Elizth)
We Bern 16 (Wm Bew)


We do have the benefit of hindsight, knowing what most of the names are from later censuses.


Here's another trick -- use Firefox (or Netscape has the same feature, I think), and have one window with multiple tabs open -- one for each of the censuses, so you can refer back and forth easily. If you must use IE, keep a series of windows open, for each of the censuses, in order.

Do the same for birth, marriage and death records, if you're using a source that has them separately: one window with separate tabs, or separate windows. If you're using FreeBMD, have separate windows/tabs and use one for searching for births, one for marriages and one for deaths.

It's a whole lot easier to keep track of what you find and compare year to year if you do that! And that's part of how I manage to do it so fast. ;)

Like I said before, you're a star Kathryn, I did start by hypothesising, thats how I found Robert, because I only had his wifes married name, but when I could not seperate him from the two addresses I was totally confused, it also helps if you know where to look, thanks a lot for your lesson, I've printed it off and shall keep it as my bible, thanks again,

Angie