Missing Records

[Krabbybabby]

Has anyone else been in a position where they seemed to have ancestors that disappear into thin air?

My GG grandparents were married in Scotland in 1891 and there is a record of my Great Grandfathers birth in 1892. He had a sister about a year younger than him but I cannot find a birth record for her. I cannot find them on the 1901 census anywhere but my Great Grandfather and his sister appear on the 1911 Irish census living with cousins. Family resources say their mother died and they were sent there to live but I can't find a death record for her.

My GG Grandmothers father died in 1905 and her mother made an application to the poor house for help. On the application she has to list the whereabouts of all her children and it states that at this time the family are living in England. I have them discovered they had another child and his marriage and subsequent records suggest he was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1899 but I cannot find his birth record or find him on any census. I would also assume there must have been other children between 1893 and 1899 and maybe some after but I am drawing blanks.

This third child married in Scotland in 1922 and his marriage record says both his parents are deceased. He emigrated to the US the following year and his last residence was with his mother's youngest brother so maybe when she died he went to live with his mothers family when his older siblings were sent to their fathers family in Ireland but this is not reflected on the Scottish census. I also can't find a death record for his father. Well actually I did find one that is likely to be him but it is in Ireland a decade or so after this youngest child says he is deceased on his marriage certificate.

Is it normal to draw this many blanks on people? Would records for that time be this patchy? If they were in a workhouse would births and deaths have been recorded?

Hey @Krabbybabby!

I've been researching my family for over 15 years and still get stuck, and more importantly, still get breakthroughs and find new ancestors!

So, for starters, are you searching with 'exact' selected. Ages, birth locations, spellings, use of first and middle names can be sometimes recorded incorrectly, or even guessed. So a few errors might make it hard to find! Surnames especially can be spelt incorrectly - some of my ancestors were 'Ezard' but I've seem it spelt Ethard, Izzard, Itard amongst others.

Also, do you have the maiden name of the mother? If so, you can search for births on www.gro.gov.uk and type in mothers maiden name. Some counties also have their own bmd sites which had bits and pieces not available elsewhere such as Yorkshire BMD.

Also, irish records are very patchy. And if someone has a strong accent, it could be difficult for enumeraters to understand them and again details recorded incorrectly.

Feel free to PM me and I will have a look for you :)

Also - I have a few who have been in workhouses, and I don't think records are that accurate. I think the information is copied over from the admissions documents to the census, so obviously the more hands its been through the more chances for errors. I have one that is listed as Samuel on the admission, but on the census, thanks to the beautiful but difficult to read handwriting, he was recorded on the census as Sarah. That one threw me for ages!
You can view admissions at local history centres, it obviously shows you what happens between censuses too - some of my relatives were sadly in and out. It should say when they died too if they died in the workhouse.

Also - the children might not have been in a workhouse, but lived in a children's home, called 'poor law guardians' or similar. So on censuses the girls may be in one place, boys in another, and separated from the adults who were also in single sexed units.

With the 1901 census, maybe they are on there but with surname spelt wrongly. Try putting in first names and d.o.b only. I'll often end up having several goes at it, with various bits of info and various spellings until I finally crack it. Families gave their names verbally to the enumerator so they might say 'Henderson', but it's recorded as 'Anderson', for example! Hope you find them! :)

Yes I have tried all sorts of spellings and stretching the dates and come up with nothing. I haven't tried gro.gov and didn't know about local BMD. I can't look right now as in a field camping in this glorious British weather and WiFi not great. A fresh pair of eyes is always good so more than happy for you to take a look if you are at a loose end. I did find an entry on the 1911 census that might be the 3rd child at a Catholic Industrial School in Yorkshire, but I am only matching a name and approx name. I can't get any firm information at the moment because of Covid

Feel free to send over the names and I am more than happy to have a look. All sides of my tree are pre-census so not got much to go on now. Hoping my DNA results which are due any day might yield some ideas, trying to pad things out and looking at newspapers and court records etc. to try and learn more about their lives and to find my missing inheritance!

I also can't find a death record for his father. Well actually I did find one that is likely to be him but it is in Ireland a decade or so after this youngest child says he is deceased on his marriage certificate.
Don't discount it. I spent several years trying to find my Gt Grandfather's death based on wrong dates because my nan's marriage certificate in 1927 listed her father as deceased. He wasn't and furthermore she knew he wasn't. He had, however, abandoned his wife and child and returned to his place of birth in a different area of the country. He didn't die until 1945. I only discovered it from a probate record because his sister, who had a very unusual name, was granted probate and he'd died at her address, which I recognised, too.