Genealogy Chat

I've been searching like many of us for more than one branch of my tree and have come across two families with the same surname from the East End of London where both heads have the same name, as do the wives and a couple of the children whose ages are similar.

Has anyone else found this? Does anyone thing they might be related some how?

Possible ways to differentiate:
Do the wives have the same place of birth on the censuses?
Have you looked at both marriages on Freebmd or Ancestry?
If on Ancestry are the father on marriage differently named?

In other words, gather all the informationayou can and see what matches and what doesn't.

(I had two Frederick Samuel Jessons to sort out, not a common name you would think, one born Poplar 1874, the other Bromley by Bow 1874: that took some time and digging). Turned out, I think, to be cousins.

Hi All,

I know which family is mine I was just wondering if anyone had come across the same thing especially since they lived in same area, they lived only a few towns from each other.

It makes it hard to garner much info on the familes since it's the early census's that they are on.

Far from unusual - our ancestors tended not to be very imaginative with regard to the names of their offspring.

Freewheel - so true. In 1855 Scotland, 47% of boys were named John, James or William.

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files/04table2.1.pdf

I have a similar situation. There are 2 families - one mine - where all the names bar one of the children are identical, and they have virtually identical birth years too!!. And lived in the same area. I have been unable to link them, though I feel there must be a connection somewhere. The only thing that saved the day was that one "pair" of children was of a different gender! Just shows how careful you have to be.
Jan

Oh yes, I've had this too. I have two lots of Edward Taylors married to Sarah Taylor with Children called Edward, George, Sarah all born in the same place, now both living in somewhere completely different but just a few doors apart. Both Edwards (senior) have the same occupation and both Edwards (Jnr) have the same occupation but different to that of their fathers. Worse still they also have a neighbour whose first name is Edward, married to Sarah and their surname is Holmwood which is the place of birth of the other two families.

I took one look at all this and headed straight to the other side of the tree for a good while!

Google
English naming pattern
Scottish naming pattern
Welsh naming pattern
Irish naming pattern

This explains why so many families had the same names. It also shows the importance of getting marriage certs to establish the fathers name and occupation so you can sort them out in the census

The Rimmer family of Southport are a good example. Even when you receive a certificate there is no knowing if you have the correct one. Perm from John, Elizabeth, Richard Thomas Margaret and Robert.