Genealogy Chat

I am trying to locate the Olliver family and when i was looking on the LDS website there was an Oliver family who had Harry Olliver born the same year as my great grandad, does anyone think this would be the same family and the surname could of been entered incorrectly, or do you think its a different family?

My mother is a Payne and going back about 6 generations John Pain had 4 children. He gave 2 of them his surname spelling of Pain and 2 my mothers spelling of Payne. You can imagine how confusing that has become! Especially as a Pain married a distant Payne cousin!!!!

Hayley The enumerators seemed to be either bad at spelling or just didn't listen! Also there could have been a transcription error. I found my Greenley relatives under Greenlaw. If things seem to fit with what you know there's a reasonable chance they could be yours Jeanette

Excellent, i cant believe i have got so much family and the strangest thing is they lived in 1881 just round the corner from where i am now!!

Hayley I think it would certainly be worth investigating further, judging by the wide variety of spellings I've come across in my personal research! But - a word of warning - don't take anything for granted, because you could end up travelling up the wrong branch. It could be that it is a wrongly transcribed record, or it may be that it has actually been entered wrongly in the register. Hope this helps Janet

Janet, do you have any ideas how i can find out for sure?

Hayley I think Janet has given you some very sound advice there. Try finding out as much as possible about Harry jnr and work you way back from there. Jeanette

I dont want to just assume its the same Harry, but it does seem strange that it his the same date of birth, but im not sure how to find out exactly.

Hayley Remember that most people couldn't read or write and wouldn't be able to see if there names had been entered correctly anyway. I was up to whoever entered the info, census, parish register etc as to how it was spelt. You will find in parish registers the name can be spelled differently if there is a change of vicar. I know of one who always spelt Frederic without the usual K on the end. When a new vicar started, or a temporary relacement, Frederick's started to have a K. Always look at spellings with an open mind and don't dismiss anything because it isn't spelt how you think it should be. Margaret

Hayley What was your grandfather's date and place of birth and full name? What information/certificates do you already have? If you give some more information, perhaps we can make some more suggestions. Janet

My Grandfathers name is George Earnest Olliver who was born in 1906 at East Preston, then my gear grandad father was Harry Olliver who was born in 1869 also in East Preston, then i think my great grandfather was Edwin Olliver born 1829 who lived at 49 Clifton Road(this is the one im not sure of, cos it says he had a son, Harry born 1869). thanks for anything you can recommend