Genealogy Chat

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My brick wall is Albert Gurney (thanks to all who have helped in the past). These are the details I have so far. Born I know not where c. 1803. Married Susannah Glasscock 1831 in Lambeth (states he was 'of this Parish'). Daughter Mary born c.1835, son Richard Albert born Jan 1842, George Street, St Pancras (immediately West of Euston Station for those who know London). Died Dec 1842 aged 39 of disease of the heart. still at George St. His occupation is given on various documents as 'gentleman' or 'traveller'. I have just discovered on IGI the christening records for twins, Albert and Caroline Gurney b 22/9/1841 ch. 23/2/1842 All Souls, St Marylebone (near BBC, few minutes walk from George St). Their parents were Albert Gurney and Caroline (Burkett). Their births are not registered on 1837 site under Gurney or Burkett, neither can I trace a marriage for their parents back to 1837. No other children were baptised with these parents. I can't find death or possible marriage records for the twins, neither does Albert appear on 1881 Census. Albert did not become a popular name until 1841 when Albert Prince of Wales was born. There are less than 200 Alberts born in the UK between 1800/20 (per IGI) and many of these have European surnames or appear 'posh' with several middle names. What are the chances of two Albert Gurneys being in the same small area of London producing children around the same time? Does anyone else think this may be the same man? Could this be bigamy in my family? No wonder he died at such a young age!!!!!! I would welcome anyone's opinion on whether I should try and find out more about the twins parents

It may be , but then again you do tend to find cousins with the same first names and family names. I.g.i is not complete, nor is it entirely accurate as all records are transcribed by volunteers, I would think you need to find out a bit more as to whether they ARE the same or not. KIM

Kim, Ive found 2 William Swain's 5 years apart, the younger being my Grandfather, the former being his uncle. I've also found several Levi Andrew's who were born in and around teh same area within a few years... cousins. So conclusions perhaps shouldnt be leapt to ? Saying that, you could be right !!!

Registers vary, even after 1813, but looking at the rest of that particular IGI batch, it wasn't the normal practice at that church to record the mother's maiden surname if the parents were married. Seems more likely that they weren't, and the kids may well have been brought up as Burkets

I just can't understand why the 'other' Albert Gurney disappears at the same time as 'my' Albert died. I'm sure they were probably cousins, the obvious answer. Does anyone know if there are name indexes for the 1841/51 london Census?

Robin I noticed that too but thought the children could only be given the fathers surname at that time if the parents were married.

I would want to see the parish record entry for the baptism. It just might give an address or occupation etc. which you could check against your known family and perhaps find in 1841 census to give more clues.

trouble is, the surname of the child isn't usually given in the registers, so for IGI it's filled in automatically by the LDS in some batches they put the child's surname in angle brackets to show that it's faked. Really they should have done that in all of them