Genealogy Chat

Thanks for all your replies. I guess I need to search deeper in future. Three hours on one person just isn't enough lol

Beverley

The birth certificate of any one of the younger children will give you the mother's maiden name (as Choccy has already said).

Kath. x

There are several Public Family Trees on ancestry that seem to have your John Bissenden. This is from one of them. Is he yours?


Bissenden Family Tree
Owner: brindle67

John Bissenden

Birth
03 Jun 1801
in River, Kent

Death
17 Dec 1854
in Eastry, Kent


Timeline

1801
3 Jun
Birth
River, Kent

2 source citations

1825
5 Jul
Age: 24
Marriage to Catherine Russell
Dover, England, United Kingdom

1854
17 Dec
Age: 53
Death
Eastry, Kent

Parents
John Bissenden
1768 –

Sarah Solley
1770 –

Spouse & Children

Catherine Russell
1806 – 1875

William Infant BISSENDEN
1825 – 1826

John BISSENDEN
1828 – 1875

Sarah Anne Bissenden
1829 – 1831

Thomas BISSENDEN
1831 – 1852

James BISSENDEN
1833 – 1904

George BISSENDEN
1835 – 1889

Catherine Jane Bissenden
1838 –

William BISSENDEN
1839 – 1880

Ellen BISSENDEN
1847 – 1925

Charles Bissenden
1849 – 1903




sylvia

Beverley

Two things to always bear in mind


Our ancestors were practically all illiterate. They didn't know how to spell their own names. Hence, each one in a family might spell it differently.


The enumerators for the early censuses were often only a little bit more literate ..... they would know how to write, but their spelling might not be so good .......................... and the householder wouldn't have been able to read what was written down in order to correct it!


Our ancestors were also not always sure how old they were, nor where they born! Age usually wasn't that important to them.



Add to that ......... the modern-day transcriber has to transcribe handwriting that is very different from that used today, and some of them have major difficulties


So ...................... you get mis-spelled names on the actual census forms due to illiteracy


and you get other variations on the modern-day transcripts because someone couldn't read the copper-plate handwriting.


This is one reason why you should ALWAYS look at the actual census image ...... don't just rely on the transcriber to have got it right.


If you decide that one spelling really is the correct one ....... then always make sure that you submit the changes to the record ...... this can be done on ancestry, findmypast, and on freebmd (even if you can only do it with a post'em on that site).


But never get fazed by mis-spellings and variants. Just keep a record of them, and make sure you search for all of them ........... wild card symbols like * are very useful!

eg, you can now search on ancestry for b*ssenden, or b*s?enden




sylvia

Hi all

You see the problem I am having, the spelling of the name keeps changing. I think it should be Bissenden but it appears with so many spellings I can't keep up. It's driving me crazy tonight and I just thought one of you experts may be able to see something I can't.

Thanks to you all.
Beverley

Births Sep 1839 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bisenden William Dover 5 98


Births Sep 1847 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bissenden Ellen Eastry 5 122


Births Mar 1849 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bisenden Charles Eastry 5 146

The 1851 Census records from Choccy is the one.

one of children's birth certificates would give mother's maiden name


1851 England Census
Name: John Bessenden
[John Bisenden or Bissenden]
[John Bissenden]
Age: 47
Estimated birth year: abt 1804
Relation: Head
Spouse's name: Catherine
Gender: Male
Where born: Ramsgate, Kent, England

Civil parish: Deal
Town: Deal
County/Island: Kent
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Disability: View image

Registration district: Eastry
Sub-registration district: Sandwich
ED, institution, or vessel: 8a
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 30
Household Members: Name Age
John Bessenden 47
Catherine Bessenden 43
Catherine Bessenden 13
William Bessenden 11
Ellen Bessenden 3
Charles Bessenden 2




Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1631; Folio: 639; Page: 7; GSU roll: 193532-193533.

I am trying to find the marriage details of John Bissenden (sometimes listed as Bessenden) and Catherine. Mostly I am trying to find Catherine's maiden name. John was born in 1804 in Ramsgate, Kent and Catherine was born in 1808 in River, Kent. From the dates of the births of their children I would guess they married approximately 1825.