Genealogy Chat

I had a quick look at Documents Online: http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk There are 37 WW1 campaign medals and 17 Wills in the name of Tatam. The Wills include: Will of Arthure Tatam of Leicester, Leicestershire 24 February 1606 Will of Catherine Tatam, Widow of Stamford , Lincolnshire 19 February 1830 Will of Rebecca Tatam, Spinster of Boston , Lincolnshire 10 October 1843 and a couple of others for whom their residence isn't specified. Christine

I'd think you should allow for spelling variations, especially as you go backwards in time. Maybe TATTUM - a valid name, and not enormously different in spelling, for instance. Safest to note them as possibles, but not formally include them until you have something definite. Rutland's bordering counties are: Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire. Stamford (mainly Lincs, part Northants) takes a bite out of the Eastern edge of the county. Christine

Perhaps there is a family will that would help? You say that he returned to UK to collect his inheritance so if you found a will relating to this, it might mention family relationships. Hopefully there would be enough detail for you to locate a parish and thereby parish records.

Christine I'm not sure how the Lincs census for 1851 fares compared to the rest of them but I do know that a lot of the 1851 census have no actual name index. Therefore to search for someone without an address would mean going thru 1000's of pages on all the discs till you find them. It might be an idea to post this message on the Records Board so someone who has the 1851 Lincs on disc can better advise you about how searchable it is Lou xx

Hi Veronica, Like I said, I have little info on this guy except he was born about 1833. It was said that he came from Rutland. We know that he came to New Zealand in 1852 and married here. He returned to the UK about 1876 to "collect his inheritance" and was away for 2 years, returning in 1878. I have had a look on the 1871 and 1881 census, and it seems to me that the most likely family was that of Henry Tatam who was in Stamford in 1871 at age 71 and was gone by the 1881, so that would fit with the dates that I have. He has several children on the IGI that match the names of some of Charles Henry's children. Looking at the Tatam families of Stamford on the census and on the IGI there is a link with Rutland, with a George Tatam marrying in Teigh Rutland and child christened in Stamford. All a bit vague but I have no idea how else I can find his family. Any help would be much appreciated. Christine

I am looking for some info from the 1851 census but am unsure what area. Charles Henry Tatam was said to come from Rutland, but a helpful person on this site told me there were no Tatam's in Rutland in 1851. Charles came to NZ in 1852 so further census are of no use to me when looking for him. I have his marriage cert but at that time in NZ they did not have to give parents names, I have the death cert where every question after his name and age, was answered "not known". SOOOOO helpful! A waste of money that was! If I was to search the 1871 census for some likely families, using family stories and names to try and narrow it down, how difficult is it for some one to search the 1851 for me using that information? I don't want to involve other good hearted people in fruitless searching if it is too time consuming or difficult, but I don't know what else to try. The family were said to be land owners so hopefully did not move around much. Christine in NZ