Finding Uncle Jack?

[Bob Spiers]

Have a go at this for a bit of a Genealogical puzzle that had me baffled a year or two back. I resolved the matter in the end but it is a lovely illustration of not believing everything you read when searching BMD records. Here is what I began with.

I wanted to trace a Jack Abbott marrying a Eunice somebody or other in Derbyshire; in or around Chesterfield as a cousin recalls visiting them (her aunt and uncle) in the 1950’s with her parents. She thought Uncle Jack was a similar age to her mother born 1903, give or take 2-3 years. We had no idea on Eunice or a maiden name. I began my search for a marriage using the late 1920’s to mid-1930’s which proved to be the right period.

It is a long way off being a ‘brick wall’ but you need to be flexible in interpreting the records. See how you get on.

 

[Bob Spiers]

PS... to the puzzle, in the time interval since it gave me problems, a quick peek searching today seems to have resolved most of the data base problems I found at the time. In fact today hardly a puzzle at all.

 

[Bryman]

From a puzzle point of view, that is a pity, although it is good to know that time has resulted in better database information. Perhaps there is yet hope for some of the corrections that I have proposed.

Without going into too much detail, can you give any indication of what sort of problems you encountered? Not just for the likes of confirmed puzzle addicts but also to help others that might find themselves in a similar situation.

 

[patzy]

Yes there are a lot of new bits on sites like Ancestry and FMP but they are not always helpful.
I wanted to find out who married a couple of twin brothers in 1965.
I searched for the first one using Ancestry and found him OK, but the find spouse got me nowhere. I then tried FMP with the same result.
So, I did what we had to do before the BMDs were transcribed and look at the original lists (done with a blotchy typewriter, of course). Decided on a few alternatives for the spouse surname and found the name that way by trial and error. Yes the BMD transcription was wrong.

I then searched for the other brother's marriage. Once again I found the marriage easily, but again the find spouse did not work. And I repeated what I had done before. Again a bad transcription.

And then there was my ggrandfather who was not in the transcriptions at all. He and another man with the same name both married at the same place and were registered in the same quarter. I found him in the original lists alongside the other entry. The transcriber had just overlooked there being two of them.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Not just for the likes of confirmed puzzle addicts but also to help others that might find themselves in a similar situation.

Yes almost ready to post and should answer the points you make - see later

 

[Bob Spiers]

This is what I expected would be found but as pointed out in my PS, things have improved somewhat and my original research (2009) took place when Find my Past had only a short time previously been trading as 1837 online.

I am not even sure which data base I used - perhaps Ancestry, Free BMD, 1837 or Genes and likely all - but I could not locate either a Jack (or as he was likely baptised) a John Abbott in Derbyshire within the time frame assessed. I think I set it aside quite a few times but eventually after a fair bit of ‘jiggery pokery’ (now we would call it experience), using minimal searching, wild cards, 'soundex' and the like, I found an intriguing marriage for a Joan H Abbott in Chesterfield in 1933. She turned out to have married Enice Wass.

Even before scrutinising the original I had a very strong hunch ‘she’ should be a ‘he’ and so it proved (a mis-transcription as the original confirmed). I recall searching again in 2013 using Ancestry where she was still shown as Joan H and notified them of a mis-transcription. The Ancestry record today still shows Joan H Abbott (as the prime name), with my own identified correction showing him as John H Abbott.

I finally took out an FMP subscription during 2013 but have no memory of using it to look for Jack Abbott. But using it yesterday I did indeed find him showing him as John H Abbott and marrying an Enice (sic) Wass in Chesterfield, 1933. Hence saying it was not longer the problem I first encountered. John's birth registration (no middle name) was Birmingham 1905 and he grew up being called Jack. His middle name was Henry and he died in 1970 in Chesterfield. Eunice (how she spelled her name) died in 1957 also in Chesterfield.

In 1911 Eunice was one of 5 sisters (no boys at that time) all with lovely simple English names; Dora, Edith, Grace, Ruth & of course Eunice. I am intrigued to find the surname Wass proliferates in Derbyshire back to the 1800’s and have made a note to explore its origins.