Genealogy Chat

I have. Many times.

With some of my Dad's family - all the time!!!!!!!!!! They seem to think they have an absolute right to lie about their whereabouts/friends/family = in fact anything they flaming well like!!! Looby

Frequently with my GT Gt grandfather he appears in the 1841 census and then doesn't reappear until the 1891 census Bren

ALL THE TIME THEIR DETAILS CHANGE ALL THE TIME DRIVING ME BROKE AN BONKERS

Give them a break, probably not literate and relied on the census taker to write down their details. Seems to me that some of the census takers were only just literate, hence odd spellings. Also I think I read somewhere that ages were rounded up or down, so that an age given as 25 could be anything between 25 and 30 and likewise age 20 could be anything between 20 and 25. Liz

If ssome of my rellies were alive today I think I would murder them lol lol. My grandfather, bless him, came from Liverpool and was very proud of it too. I have lots of wonderful memories of him like...once a week he would blacklead the range, and boy you could see your face in it when he had finished. He smoked a pipe and the tobacco he had was very hard so he used to scrape it off with a penknife. He is my first candidate for the long drop.......Because the name we now go by is not his real name, he decided, and who knows for what reason, to take his mothers maiden name when he joined the army, underage, in about 1890. He told NO ONE, (sorry for the shout) Can you imagine the trouble I have been through, sob, sob, first finding out what he had done and now trying to get him back to his fathers surname. His real name is quite a common one, John Roberts and there are 1,000s of them out there, so you can see my problem. OK officer I will come quitely....psssss, I should not have shouted so loud!!!!!! Kathlyn

Oh yes and still am l have a gran l can't find plus her daughter Oh if only they had left a decent trail to follow. l found their mother buried in surrey when spoken information pointed to her being buried in West Yorkshire l'm sure They'll turn up EVENTUALLY though Pam

Oh well I'm glad I'm not the only one, lol. I've ranted and raged about most of my dad's family going back into the 19th century, especially when they change their name between censuses, change their birthplace between censuses, change their age between censuses, have kids out of wedlock and get the names muddled up and basically just disappear for decades on end. ARGHHHHHHHHH! And another thing: when they insist on calling their children the most unoriginal of names! like Henry, William, John, Sarah...etc. etc. etc.! Or deciding to move from a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere and take up residence in the sprawling hell of 19th century London.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Mum's father was one Francis Smith, born in London. All his brothers, sisters, parents, aunts & uncles have names like Elizabeth Smith, William Smith, Albert Smith.....Not one blinking middle name or slightly unusual name amongst the lot of them. If I had a quid for every fruitless hour I've spent searching for them on Ancestry, I could buy the whole flaming site!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Oh I know the feeling Karen. No middle names drives me WILD!

Sure have. Same as Gary - found my gr-grandparents on 1901 census under different last name & his first name different. Funnily enough they registered my grandfather's birth under this ficticious name & I believe at least 3 of his sisters! Know they did this just to bug me. How did they know we would be looking for them 100 years later? Sue (confused in Canada)

Mistrust of the government started very early - many people told fibs to the census collectors because they did not want the government to know their business. Other discrepancies could be honest mistakes, like forgetting which child was born where. I love the man in my husbands family tree, who registered his fathers death (in NSW they put all children and ages on death certs), and he got the names right, but all the ages wrong, including his own!! Another ancestor, married 20 years did not know the names of his wife's parents (not even a christian name). She used two names and we have no idea which is her real one, or where she was born (we know the date, she wrote it in her Bible). Then there's my gg grandfather, who registered his father-in-law's death, and did not put any children on the form (ie his wife !!). Just yesterday, our local radio station was asking about mistakes about registered names - one man had to go to no end of trouble getting his passport because his driver's licence says Anthony, but his birth certificate says Tony. Likewise, many years ago, our neighbour had problems when he applied for a passport with the first name Corrie, he was sooo mad at his mother when he discovered he was registered with some three syllable Italian name no-one had ever told him about.

I could scream at the hours I have spent trying to locate my grt grandfather Joseph Henry Smyth/e, he was born 1873, I've got his birth and marriage certificates he married 1892. Last census I've found him on is 1891, 1901 he isn't shown with wife and children although 1910 names him as father on daughters birth cert. Eldest daughter married 1915 and he is shown deceased but I'm blessed if I can find any trace of him. I know his wife went to live with another and took his name sometime after 1915, but what did she do with Joseph Henry. Put him under the patio methinks. lol. Was young and pretty when I started this search now old and wrinkled. Frances

Not exactly lost my temper,just got really frustrated with the German side for not being open with their info!!

Why did my lot all call their sons James, at one point I have 4 cousins all born within 4 years all called James and none have middle names, it's a nighmare!!

Yes, I have been frustrating with my ggg grandfather Ambrose de Grussa. I could not find his marriage certificate who was married to Catherine Hopkins in Newington, Surrey. I believe they should be married, due to a law because Ambrose was a Naturalisation British Subject also he was bankrupted his business twice in 1859 and 1864. A government would be check with him if he allows to live in London if he was married to her.

Lost my temper?.....Damn right i have! Matilda...were you a 'Parkes' or a 'Powel'?...born Wednesbury or Wednedfield Staffs? You married three times, and had kids with all three.... My lot were from your middle marriage (Poole) ...Why the hell diddnt you register any of those kids??? You registered all the other children! from the Horton marriges!!! Matilda ?...married Horton...Married? Poole. ..Married the Horton younger brother

yes quite abit. i have a very tangled web, and have people sleeping with each others husbnads and wifes and illigitamate kids appearing and being brought up by others! think i have it sorted and another 1 comes up.

Yes for three years I am chasing a family called Hazel, as on my great grandfather's birth certificate, his mother is down as Mary Ann Hazel. Then a kind member of Essex FHS,. sent a message to me to say it was Mary Ann Layzell. Mary Ann,and her husband James Murray, came from Essex, married in London, and then lived in West Ham, where her children were all born. Was this the Registrar not understanding her Essex dialect. When I found her real name, it opened up a whole new load of Layzell ancestors. Maureen

As for the Essex accent, it still exists here on the Dengie Peninsular and only a very few olduns still have it. It is almost Norfolk in sound, and they still use Essex words, that to an outsider, mean nothing. Kathlyn