Pre 1841 Census

[aweeywiththefairies]

Managed to get as far back reliably as I can with my family tree using the censuses available online. However, beyond 1841 it all becomes a lot more hazy. There are local church baptism, marriage and burial records but they don't usually specify ages, parent's names, place of birth, occupation etc. While looking for an ancestor I found two men with the same Christian name and surname, born a few years apart in the same village. Without the extra details, how do you know which is the correct line to follow?

Hope that makes sense!

You have to turn detective and look for other sources. Newspaper articles, gravestones, guild registers, tithe maps etc etc etc. There is a good article about this on the Family Search website.

Whoops

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/img_auth.php/e/ef/England+Pre-1837+Research+Strategies.pdf

My main advice would be not to trust trees which other people have put on Ancestry, unless they are properly cited with attached documents. So many people get click-happy and the trees are just nonsense. If you are dealing with a relatively unusual name and surname - like for example Josiah Undercroft - and you have two of them, they are possibly something like cousins, both named after a grandfather. If however you are dealing with two people called John Brown, Thomas Smith or David Jones you will struggle.

Thanks @GenieGenealogy that's really helpful. Are the things you mentioned available online? Travelling around or rooting through archives isn't an option at the moment.

My main advice would be not to trust trees which other people have put on Ancestry, unless they are properly cited with attached documents.

Very wise - took me far too long to realise that and now I have to start at square one to cross reference and double check everything.

I did wonder if the two men could have been cousins. The first name is a very common one but the surname is far more unusual.

Also wondering if someone was sent to prison and all you're able to see is the name, crime and sentence length, how do you get more details to confirm they're definitely family?

Sometimes you can't - if you have two men named the same, of similar ages, in the same town then it might be that you have an interesting newspaper article or prison record and you don't know which one it is. Such is life.

Newspapers - British Newspaper Archive website, this is subscription only but you can see previews of articles without paying.

Gravestones - Findagrave. Often headstones will say John, son of William and Elizabeth, husband of Susan or similar which might help.

It's worth looking on Familysearch and Ancestry and Findmypast as they all have different record sets. If you're still stuck, look for area-specific family history groups on Facebook and ask for help, they will know what records are available for that county/town and may be able to make more specific suggestions. Or a Jewish group if it's a Jewish family, Quaker groups etc etc etc

That's brilliant advice @GenieGenealogy 😊Looking forward to getting stuck in with it again. Should have said - the criminal record one was a separate issue (got a few!).

I agree with double checking. I’ve found other people have the wrong info for my relatives on their tree, so I’ve learned not just to accept what’s on Ancestry

If you found the men in the baptismal registers, then you know the father's name and hopefully the mother's too. I'd suggest looking for life events for both men. Did they both survive to adulthood? Can you see marriages for both? Did they have children, and did they give the children family names? Did they have siblings?

Marriage registers pre 1837 don't usually show father's names, but sometimes they do if the person getting married was under 21. You can also look for marriage licences which give more info. Check out the names of the witnesses too, that can give clues.

You could also look for apprentice records, and if they had trades (rather than being ag labs), they might be featured in electoral rolls.

Can you see any age at death for either or both of them? That might also give a clue.