As
an Online Parish
Clerk
(OPC) for four Devon, England parishes, I have occasionally been asked about
the data I have collected and used and how to go about searching for ancestors.
Of course, experience in family history studies helps as we all learn things
over time through reading and asking questions ourselves.
Just
this week I was asked by a family researcher, Ron, about how to distinguish
between two individuals named Richard Hillson, both born in Cornwood parish,
Devon, in 1812. One of them was his 2nd great-grandfather but he was
not able to tell from the information he had who, Richard’s parents, his 3rd
great-grandparents were. Ron’s 2nd great-grandmother was Eliza (nee
Horton).
The
couple and their family had been found on various censuses and on indexed lists
on FamilySearch, but telling which
one came from which family was confusing. Ron contacted the Churchwarden for Cornwood
parish who looked up the baptisms and basically confirmed what was on the indexes.
She then directed him on to me. It appears he had not yet found my own OPC
webpages.
One
thought Ron had was that perhaps one was baptized as Hilson and the other
Hillson and the spelling might be a way to tell them apart. FamilySearch showed the two different versions
of the surname for the two Richards, information apparently taken from
transcriptions of the England, Devon,
Parish Registers, 1538-1912.
But
when I looked at the images of the parish register pages, I found that both
were baptized as Hillson. One Richard was baptized on 1 August 1812 to James
and Elizabeth Hillson; the other was baptized on 11 October to George and Elizabeth
Hillson.
All
the censuses for the two Richards show Cornwood as their birth place, so that
narrowed down the searching somewhat. But, as we all know, census records
frequently have problems with spelling of names, both surnames and forenames.
Indexing in general among most databases is replete with errors, so care must
be taken in identifying individuals. It is the main reason why I decided to
obtain copies of all the parish registers in my OPC areas and transcribe them
and the censuses myself, with the help of several volunteers it should be noted.
Richard
and Eliza married in 1837 and are shown on all censuses from 1841 to 1901
living in Cornwood. The family consistently was shown as Hillson. Their nine
children were all baptized in Cornwood although two of them were recorded by
the Vicar as Hilson.
Richard
Hillson and Mary Jane Lumley married in 1838. They were shown living in
Cornwood in 1841 (as Hillson) and in Plymouth Saint Andrew in 1851 (as Hilson).
Ancestry shows the family as Helson on the 1851 census, further complicating
the search. The couple had four children in Devon, one born in Cornwood and
three in Plymouth. By the mid-1850s the family had moved to Ontario, Canada where
they had one last child in 1856. Mary Jane died before 1861.
Back
to the problem of which family Ron’s 2nd great-grandfather had come
from: I told him how I thought he might find the right connections, even with
the indexing problems, by looking at certain family data and records:
1.
First,
he should be careful with indexed spelling. Both Richards were baptized as
Hillson, so FamilySearch was wrong on that count. Both married as Hillson as
well, so some of the census information was not recorded correctly.
2.
Naming
patterns in Europe and the British Isles in past centuries often resulted in
children being given the names of grandparents. Thus, he might expect one
Richard to have a son named George and one with a James, after their respective
fathers. The bride's father might also be there, along with her maiden name as
a second name of some children. The Richard who married Eliza did have a son
named James, born 1853 but no George. They also had a daughter names Fanny
Northmore, born 1841, and a son named Philip Horton, born 1858, probably after their
maternal grandparents. The other Richard did not have sons with either name of
James or George, so that was not much help.
3.
Marriage
records in England and Wales after September 1837 show the fathers' names of
both groom and bride. If Ron was to obtain the 1838 marriage record for Richard
and Mary Jane it should likely demonstrate who Richard’s father was.
With
this information I believed that Ron would be able to identify his 3rd
great-grandparents and hopefully move on to finding ancestors even further
back. What is important is to look at copies of the actual records, especially
those from parish registers and not necessarily accept information that is
second-hand from indexed sources.
