Genealogy Chat

When looking at census pages, always take the opportunity to check the names in neighbouring houses. Very often you will find members of the same family all along the street. You might not know it until you find the same names on later censuses. My gggf Stanley Fritz married in1896 and I spotted that his bride's grandmother was on the 1861 census living next door to his parents. Her name was Jones, so I would never have found her simply by trawling through the records.

Absolutely agree with you Paul - it makes me smile when I see all the shennanigans(sp) that went on with a hundred year hindsight !! I've found a few branches this way. Jen

I agree Paul, I have found many relatives living on the same street, whose children/grand children go on to marry . I also often find when I am following a family through the censuses, that children often settle in the same street as their parents, thus saving you time when looking them up! Lynn

Absolutely agree. It is worth noting that houses were often leased for 99 years or three lives so it is well worth working out if the new owner was a relative of your relation a married daughter for example.

Good tip Paul. I found when checking the electoral register, that my great-grandfather John DR Smoothy lived next door to the man who became his brother-in-law, John William Evans. Even better, when I went back to 1901 census I found John Evans with first wife Martha - went back to 1891 and there was their son Frank, who married John's niece Alice. John Evans and first wife are buried in adjacent grave to John Smoothy - so check the neighbours in a graveyard too! Also found husband's great-great grandmother Emily, who married Henry Ledger, living very near another family. Turns out gt gt grandma Emily was the niece of Letitia Bethel, who married Emily's father-in-law John Ledger when his first wife died.

I found a street full of Diapers who mainly seemed to be fishermen. I imagine them living in little cottages looking out over the sea with the wives watching for their men to return safely.

For years I was stuck in 1881, couldnt get me 2 x GGPs any further back. They had staying with them a nephew, John Jackson. It was only when I decided to investigate, without much hope of success, the Jackson family living in the same street, that I discovered Jane Jackson was my 2 x GGM's sister and armed with this information the floodgates opened and I got my 2 x GGM back a further 5 generations. Whenever I find anyone on a census now, I routinely take a walk up the street and look at the neighbours. If it's a relatively small place, I do a virtual walk round the whole place - I almost always find useful links to other families. OC OC

A grand-aunt of mine ran off from her husband in Battersea in 1914 and ended up in Sydney Australia, where she remarried, to a sailor. I found from his service records that he was also born in Battersea, England so I looked him up on the 1891 census. And there he was - living right next door to the said grand-aunt!!! Methinks that they had that one planned well in advance :) Richard

I absolutley agree Paul I had one, G G grandfather on looking there were only 2 girls he in the town he could have married if only I had gone a page back i would have found he was living in the same household as one and her family always lived on the same street even being next door on one census. Germaine x

I have found quite a few of mine in this way too Paul. Also, I have found if the family had a lodger living with them he/she very often married one of the family, not necessarily one of the immediate family they were living with. Good tip Yvonne

Makes you a think of the comings and goings across the doorsteps doesn't it. Who was in the know?Who was kept in the dark?Who suddenly dressed in their Sunday best to pop down the street?Did the curtains twitch across the road? Glen

Three other points about why you should have a good walk round the census pages before and after your entry 1. I've found examples of a family continued on the next page, where the children on the next page have been left as 'orphans' and not put in the family group on Ancestry 2. It gives you a 'feel' for the area in which your ancestors lived. Sometimes, useful pointers, like the name of a pub, or a grand house, enable you to find the modern site, even if the house no longer exists. 3. Plus, if your ancestor has an undecipherable occupation, you may find everyone else in the street is employed doing the same thing, but better recorded! nell

That's true Nell,re the occupation. My home town swelled from about 450 inhabitants in 1871 to 3500+ by 1881. The railways arrived,but the main impetus was the engineering factory,built by a local man and employing the majority of the men in the town,although most were working in some fashion as a blacksmith/foundry job,the job titles can be impossible to make out,then three doors away another one can be easily identified. The houses built to accomodate the families still stand,all back to back terraces within a five minute walk of the factory (now partly demolished and emerging as a retail park). The town changed forever back then,and with a little thought the census shows some of the who,where and when,if not the why. Glen

I'll agree with this! In 1851 in Donyatt, Somerset, there were at least 14 households with 'Trott' as a surname (my MIL's Dad's family name). It was a great surprise to keep clicking to the next page and finding more of them! I just wish that my Mum's family had stayed in the same village for years and that I could work on her tree a lot easier than I am finding it at the moment! Also found one Trott visiting a household, where his future wife was lodging and the household head was another surname of a family that a later Trott married, which was my MIL's mum's name! claire

I always knew my Dad's grandfather was born in Poole as I started researching when several great aunts were still alive. In those pre Ancestry days it took me a long time to find the family on the census in 1861 and 1871 as the vicar had got the address wrong when g-grandfather married in Portsmouth in 1873. This meant that I had to trawl painstakingly through films. Great was my joy when I finally found the family. They were surrounded by families also from Poole. As they clearly must all have known each other, I noted the surnames. To help my research, I joined the Hampshire Genealogical Society and in the first journal I received there was an article by the descendant of one of these neighbours. He was my father's generation, and HIS grandfather had lived to be 100 AND liked telling stories. He sent me a copy of his own research, which included photographs of where the family had lived, facsimile signatures, even a description of how the family made that move from Poole to Portsmouth. Not my family, of course, but it gave a vivid picture of what life would have been like. Then, when I joined GR, I read the Trying to Find messages and discovered someone researching that family. I have been able to repay my correspondent's kindness by passing on the notes to his far flung family, none of whom had realised that so much research had been undertaken over twenty years ago.