Eliminating candidates

[Phoenix]

I have at least four candidates for a cousin's ancestor - assuming they were born before 1841 - and a very common name. This is also assuming that they were still in their birth area at the time of the census!

I will acquire the marriage certificate, but have already noted that some candidates appear to be illegitimate.

How do you set about eliminating the wrong people? Pen and paper? Quick and dirty Ancestry trees? I cannot hold the information in my head, once it has disappeared from the screen.

So far, I cannot find them before marriage, but they are consistent in pob thereafter.

[kiterunner]

Father's name and occupation from the marriage cert will be the most important thing. Also witnesses' names and names of the "right" person's children can be good clues. But if you mean making a list and noting down who you have eliminated, I would write them down on a piece of paper.

[Phoenix]

This chap is born in Cumberland, of which I have zero knowledge, marries in Dorset, but then lives and dies in London. He's a porter on the railways by the time his children are born. Even so, there's nobody of his name further south than Liverpool in 1861.

He uses a middle name at marriage, but at no other time, which I suspect is a flag of illegitimacy. I will acquire the marriage certificate, but am not hopeful of clues, as the bride's family seem to be those providing the support network.

[Olde Crone]

This is what scrap paper was made for! I have to write it down otherwise it's gone. Sometimes it becomes blindingly clear - Aunt Jemima was living with them in 1851. Other times it's impossible to create even a sketch tree - I have two candidates born within a few months of each other, both have parents with the same names and even though there are two distinct marriages for each pair of parents, that doesn't help because the births are all before registration.

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

Scrap paper is no good for me these day as it's so hard to find when you need it!

I type everything in a Word document and if I need to find it I can do a keyword search of my files.

[kiterunner]

Of course, you could post up the details that you have and we could have a go.

[Phoenix]

Lol!

It's a Thomas Brown, born in Cumberland. His dob per census is anything between 1838 and 1842. I have over twenty candidates, and very few have the same pob on consecutive censuses.

Taking a slightly wider range, I have 29 candidates in 1871.

I have taken the methodology of putting the indexes from four censuses on a spreadsheet, and trying to match them up. Not doing very well so far.

Have printed off 1841, and am attempting to discover what areas like St cuthberts actually are, and if there seem to be parents around.

In 1871, Thomas G[ibson] Brown says he is 29, born Cockermouth. So in theory, not on 1841 at all. But at least, if I can match the small children with 1851, I may be able to eliminate them.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7619/images/LNDRG10_55_59-0255?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=45d656b13d507f271eaeb81223eb04df&pId=12242042


He only had one child that I know about, which doesn't help with naming patterns.

[kiterunner]

So is the son William George Brown born 1868 Kensington with MMN Bridle? And the marriage Thomas Brown / Amelia Bridle 1865 Wareham district? In which case the marriage index doesn't have his middle initial or name. There is an Annie Brown born 1870 and a Minnie Dora Brown born 1871 (died 1871) also with MMN Bridle. Of course there are too many Annie Browns to be sure whether she died before the 1871 census.

[Phoenix]

That's the man. The banns mangle her surname and the marriage register has not been digitised. He might be the son of Harriet Little and Thomas Brown, actually born in Liverpool RD in 1840

[kiterunner]

It seems that Thomas Brown and Amelia Bridle married in Affpuddle and the PR's of the actual marriages from that time don't seem to have survived, or did the clerk not fill them in? So it does look as though you will need the marriage cert from the GRO. There is a tree on Ancestry which says they had a daughter Louisa born 1866 Briantspuddle, and she is with Bridle grandparents on the 1881 census:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/DORRG11_2101_2105-0050?pId=3705577

On the 1871 census Louisa is down as Louisa Bridle age 5, with the same grandparents. The Ancestry tree has a comment saying that this census page is not on Ancestry but it is on FMP:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC%2F1871%2F1997%2F0016&parentid=GBC%2F1871%2F0005185089

I can't find a birth record for Louisa but I don't suppose it would help anyway.

[kiterunner]

Oh, it's on his son's marriage cert that he has the middle name Gibson.

[kiterunner]

I think it will be best to wait until you get Thomas's marriage cert.

[Phoenix]

Ooh, I have got the right family:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/15987641:7619?tid=&pid=&queryId=81f34bb21955aa438c0df677ed3fe934&_phsrc=nUX6397&_phstart=successSource

[kiterunner]

Well done!

[Phoenix]

Considering that he got his county of birth wrong, and the entire family are missing in 1861, I do feel quite pleased!

As icing on the cake, he had an uncle Gibson Little, who sadly died as a baby.

But as for his father, in 1871 he is saying he came from the Isle of Man... If only Thomas and Harriet had waited another couple of months before marrying!