An update to my WorldConnect db LornaHenderson has been in train for a wee while now.
Anytime I run a check over the gedcom for potential problems I find either silly typos, outright mistakes, or gaps in the data that can be easily filled. Sidetracks always ensue.
The most recent proved a very interesting exercise.
It highlighted that I'd never found, or more accurately thought I'd never found, the family of Robert & Janet (SCOTT) WIGHT in the 1851 census. Wrong!
I'd found them years ago, but had shelved the id as I hadn't known anything about sons William and James, and the George with them was the wrong age. Nothing had led me back to review this isolated family sitting in my database.
So off I set to find the fate of the "newfound" children.
Several trees showed William as emigrating to Ohio and living in Iowa, married to a Mary SIMINS.
As his nephew William had indeed emigrated to Ohio, and been visited there by my 2*great grandmother, this seemed plausible, especially as the 1860 Ohio census age fitted.
I couldn't find a marriage to confirm the id, nor the birth of first daughter Margaret, supposedly born Edinburgh Feb 1854.
Subesquent census data, and William's death notice however all placed him as 10 years older and doubts began to creep in, so I moved William and Mary and family to show up (next update) in the WorldConnect potential rellies only (db LornaPotential) pending more info, and moved on to siblings Isabella and James.
With no sightings in the 1861 census I wondered if they might not have survived - which may never have been able to be proven if it was between 1851 and the beginning of civil registration in 1855.
Thankfully for me, not so thankfully for the poor family, there were Isabella and James, both dying of typhus in Coldstream with a few months of each other, aged 4 and 17 respectively.
On a hunch, I then also searched for William - bingo. He had been the first of the family to succumb to typhus, aged 21, in February 1855 - so whoever the chap is in Ohio/Iowa aint him.
Always interested to find trees that match mine rather exactly, and note that my rethinks/subsequent research on who links to whom that I've documented aren't reflected on what look like copied data. (The earlier WIGHTs rethink refers.)
Showing posts with label Ohio (USA). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio (USA). Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Saturday, 11 April 2009
and then I continued...
I'm in the middle of tidying up my great grandmother, Helen Sinton WIGHT's future web page entry, having realised that I've never posted her on the web.
Doing so involves quite a bit of tidy up and re-checking of years old research against data now more readily available.
I had never before found Helen/Ellen in the 1871 census as she wasn't obvious in Scotland, nor in Northumberland, which latter place she apparently emigrated from.
All is now explained, probably along with a family story from my Great Aunt Millie, who was rather found of increasing the importance of her ancestors. Dear Aunt Millie used to maintain that Helen, her mother, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. A basic date check ensures that this is simply a complete load of rubbish, let alone that a farmer's daughter from Maxton in Roxburghshire was highly unlikely to hold such a position.
As with most family stories, there was probably a grain of truth in there somewhere, should we ever recognise it when it hit us.
Tonight it hit me. I found my great grannie, Helen Sinton WIGHT in the 1871 census, with the same occupation as on her emigration papers 4 years later. She is a housemaid in Belgrave Square - to William SCOTT, Baronet. (He's Sir William SCOTT of Ancrum, the 6th Baronet, and living at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, in the 1841 and 1851 census).
Poor Aunt Millie, I don't think she would approve of my demolishing her myths.
I've decided that this branch of the family had wanderlust. Helen travelled to London for work, and later emigrated, apparently on her own, to New Zealand.
I've previously also found that her mother Helen WIGHT nee SINTON, had travelled to America, as her photo was taken in Cleveland, Ohio, where she had presumably gone to visit her son William.
Doing so involves quite a bit of tidy up and re-checking of years old research against data now more readily available.
I had never before found Helen/Ellen in the 1871 census as she wasn't obvious in Scotland, nor in Northumberland, which latter place she apparently emigrated from.
All is now explained, probably along with a family story from my Great Aunt Millie, who was rather found of increasing the importance of her ancestors. Dear Aunt Millie used to maintain that Helen, her mother, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. A basic date check ensures that this is simply a complete load of rubbish, let alone that a farmer's daughter from Maxton in Roxburghshire was highly unlikely to hold such a position.
As with most family stories, there was probably a grain of truth in there somewhere, should we ever recognise it when it hit us.
Tonight it hit me. I found my great grannie, Helen Sinton WIGHT in the 1871 census, with the same occupation as on her emigration papers 4 years later. She is a housemaid in Belgrave Square - to William SCOTT, Baronet. (He's Sir William SCOTT of Ancrum, the 6th Baronet, and living at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, in the 1841 and 1851 census).
Poor Aunt Millie, I don't think she would approve of my demolishing her myths.
I've decided that this branch of the family had wanderlust. Helen travelled to London for work, and later emigrated, apparently on her own, to New Zealand.
I've previously also found that her mother Helen WIGHT nee SINTON, had travelled to America, as her photo was taken in Cleveland, Ohio, where she had presumably gone to visit her son William.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
