Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Beginning Research To Extend Family Lines


Starting with the above chart we first turn to the Scotland Census records as often parents are living with their children as a family. As stated in the previous blog, we are only working with transcriptions provided through Ancestry.com and FindMyPast.com as the originals are only available on ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk which is a paid site unless you wish to locate them on microfilm at a local Family History Center.

The 1841 England Census doesn't state where an individual was born, however, all the censuses from that point on do and so with Janet having died the latest, we should be able to locate her place of birth in both the 1851 and 1861 England Censuses. 

It's valuable to establish and confirm what we have to begin the research, here is the 1841 Scotland Census for this family:

(1)

There are two children missing from this listing, William and Jessie. William is old enough to either be married or working as a servant, while Jessie is too young for either of those situations and could be staying with friends and/or other family members. The listing shows who was in the home on one specific night.

The 1851 Scotland Census provides additional family information:
(2)

At this time, Janet is a Widow as her husband died in 1849. She is here with 3 of her 5 children. James and Elizabeth are not with her and most likely married. Unfortunately she is listed as a "Pauper St. Cuthberts" which happened often when a spouse has passed away and circumstances were not the best for those left behind. Note that her daughter Jessie is a 'house servant' and her other son, Charles, is an 'errand boy' while her older son William is a 'day labourer'. 

At this point, we know that Janet is stated as passing away in 1867 so she should be in the 1861 Scotland Census, we did locate her living with one son, James who is a labourer. It was thought he might have been married as he was not living with his mother in the 1851 Census so most likely he was away working.

(3)

Janet dies in 1867, unfortunately as a pauper, but here she is with her son James.

In the next blog, we'll take a look at the US Census records to show the differences between countries.



(1)Ancestry.com. 1841 Scotland Census [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Parish Edinburgh St. Cuthberts;  ED: 24A; Page 6; Line: 1310, Year 1841. <http://goo.gl/Z9FMPj>.
(2)FindMyPast.com 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-27. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Parish: Edinburgh St. Cuthberts; ED: 29A; Page 21' Line 11; Roll: CSSCT1851_183; Year: 1851,<http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1851%2f0018799499>.
(3)FindMyPast.com 1861 Scotland Census [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Parish Edinburgh St. Cuthberts; ED: 15; Page: 11; Line: 19; Roll: CSSCT1861_124 <http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1861%2f0024206633>
  
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