Genealogy Chat

Thanks, good idea-will have to go to Doncaster as there are loads o things I need to find out there. Jennie

Have you tried the local BMD site for the area? And - even when a death wasnt registered, there was usually some sort of burial service, so maybe a look at the PRs for the area? OC

Will search the 60's again. Will wait until I get bored. Think I will start on another reli to give me some encouragement! Jennie

Jennie You're right, the 1860s aren't very well represented on Freebmd. But you can check ALL the index images free on ancestry. I would say its a good idea to take stories that have 'come down' in the family as Chinese whispers. My mother told me that her father's mother died in childbirth, but she actually died a year later, of heart disease. Maybe she'd heard her dad say that his mum died soon after the baby was born and she interpreted it as dying of something related to the birth. Or perhaps my grandfather thought that is what happened as he was very little at the time and probably didn't remember. My grandmother told my mum that her mother had died when she was so young she couldn't remember her. In actual fact, she was 11 when her mother died, in the family house, so it wasn't as if she was ill in a nursing home for years. Memories can be very misleading. And memories of other people's memories even more so. nell

I have searched for other births under Gellatly-mainly to see if spouse2 had any children. I have also searched all the possible 'G' variations -or so I thought, for Gellatly-hubby suggested I start on the 'D's now as it could look similar. It has gone through the family that she died in childbirth. I have searched in future census for an Emma born Doncaster and nothing comes up so it appears she didn't walk out on them-hs been known in the family!

What is your source of info for her death? Maybe there was another child after the 1861 birth that doesn't show on the birth index because the child was stillborn or just wasn't registered? Have you tried all Q's up to 1967? (might be a lot of possible spellings for her surname.) Merry

Emma Gellatly was supposed to have died in childbirth in Dec 1861. She was alive on1861 census. Father remarried 1867. Have searched deaths in that period until I know them all by name personally. It is the least transcribed date on BMD!

Emma Gellatly