My Top 10 Fee-Based Genealogy Sites

We all have genealogy sites that are our go-to places when doing any of our research. It has been a long time since I've listed mine so I figured I'd take a stab at it today. There will be two separate posts. The first, that of my top ten fee-based sites, and the second, to be published later, will be the list of my top free genealogy sites that I use often.

As with any top ten list there will be disagreements as to the order or why a site is included or missing. These are my top ten sites that I turn to regularly in my research. Your favourite site might not have made the cut due to various factors such as it was number 11 (or 12 or 13...) or I haven't had a subscription to it in the past year. A two sites that I make use of periodically that didn't make the top ten cut for me are Fold3¹ and MyHeritage³.Yes, they are useful but not vitally so over this past year.

Counting down from number ten...

10. The New York Times TimesMachine

In my research of a branch of my extended family that originally settled in New York City in the late 1800s the ability to read the death notices and even a few marriage announcements has answered a quite of few questions when trying to locate the next generation. As long as I've had the death date from a death index or registration more often than not I've been able to find a notice in The New York Times fairly quickly.

9. American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society

I don't have a current subscription but when they have had their free access periods their databases have shed light on a number of my early European settlers in the United States. Even their free databases have been useful to point me to documents I need to find and read at a later time.

8. Genealogy Quebec²

If you have ancestors that resided in Quebec then this site needs to be in your genealogy toolkit. They are constantly adding new images from various parishes in Quebec that you probably won't find any where else. They are also the home of the Drouin Collection Records. Yes, the Drouin Collection is available on other sites but Genealogy Quebec I consider the master source and all others will be behind the times when it comes to new additions. The site also has The LAFRANCE collection with early Quebec parish records starting from 1621. There is also a large obituary collection and a notarized documents collection. If that's not enough they have a collection of marriage and deaths records recorded in Quebec between 1926 and 1997 collected by the provincial health services.

7. The National Archives at Kew, England

The National Archives (TNA) in England (not to be confused with the other national archives around the world) has both free and fee based access to records. With the restrictions in place due to COVID-19 The National Archives has opened up their digital record downloads for free when normally some of these records could only be retrieved for free at their site or by paying a nominal fee. That is why they are in this list and not in my top ten free list. That said, this site is an important one for my British Isles and early Canadian research. Why Canadian? Prior to Confederation, many of the records headed back to England for government use and storage and thus ended in TNA. If you have come across WO or AO record mentions in your Loyalist research, those are collections originally held by The National Archives. Some of those collections are also held by Library and Archives Canada but it is always good to check the TNA site too.

6. General Register Office of England and Wales

We are all probably familiar with the various England and Wales birth, marriage, and death (BMD) indexes available on many genealogy sites. However, in order to make sure you have the right person you really need to order the certificate and, for England and Wales, this is the place to do it. It isn't inexpensive, £11 for a BMD certificate sent by post, but they do offer £7 for a PDF of a birth (1837-1919) or death certificate (1837-1957) sent by e-mail. One new feature is when you search the birth index on the GRO site the mother's maiden surname is now provided in the results. This can save you money or even provide a clue that helps you in your research without paying a penny.

5. GenealogyBank

This newspaper site is invaluable if you have branches of your tree that lived in the United States of America. This site has digitized newspapers that can't be found on other sites. In addition to digitized newspapers, some going back to the early 1700s, the site has a searchable copy of the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), an obituary collection from modern newspapers, some digitized books, and census records. All searchable by name, keywords, date ranges, and location (where applicable).

4. Newspapers.com¹ Publisher Extra subscription

Edging out GenealogyBank for newspaper collections is Newspapers.com with the additional Publisher Extra add-on. Much like GenealogyBank, the primary focus is on US newspapers but with the addition of the Publisher Extra add-on one has access to a number of Canadian newspapers too. The Canadian newspapers are heavy on the western side of Canada especially British Columbia but any indexed and searchable Canadian newspaper collection is a good thing in my books. Newspapers.com also has newspapers from Australia, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Panama, Scotland, and Wales in their collection. 

3. ScotlandsPeople

If you have any Scottish roots this is the one site you need to visit to locate the images of birth, marriage, and death statutory (civil) registrations, census returns, and parish registers that can't be found elsewhere online from home. Many sites will have the indexes of those records but not the images. Unlike many other fee-based genealogy sites that are subscription based ScotlandsPeople is credit based. For £7.50 you get a 30 credit voucher. The price for viewing and downloading, if you so chose to do so, is 6 credits for statutory BMD registrations, census returns, and church registers. Other records can be had for between 2 credits and 40 credits, depending on the collection.

2. Findmypast

Findmypast continues to be one of my primary research sites especially for the UK branches of my family. It isn't just because of their wonderful census, parish collections, immigration, and military collections that covers the British Isles and select parts of the world but also for their newspaper collections. With Findmypast I have access to English, Irish, and US newspapers from various other sites. There are also a number of Canadian newspapers buried in their collection.

1. Ancestry¹

There is probably no surprise that Ancestry is at the top of my list of fee-based genealogy sites. Combined with their record collections and DNA testing they have been my go-to site for many years. My primary cousin-bait tree is hosted on that site and I make use of the good...and not so good...user created trees to provide me with clues as to where to possibly look next for records in my research when I hit a stumbling block.

 

These are my top ten fee-based sites and they probably differ from yours. I'd be interested in hearing from you as to your favourites (and why) that I didn't include.

Stay tuned in the coming week or so for a list of my favourite free genealogy sites.

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Full disclosure

1. As a member of the Ancestry Canada Advisory Board this year I have been provided a free subscription to Ancestry, Newspapers.com with Publisher Extra, and Fold3. However, prior to this year I either held my own subscriptions or made use of those sites via other venues such as at my local Family History Center or a genealogy conference.

2. I was provided with a one year subscription to Genealogy Quebec last year. The subscription has since lapsed but my to-do list for that site is growing for the day when I can access those records at my local library.

3. In July this year I won a subscription to MyHeritage when I attended a Facebook presentation hosted by MyHeritage. I had a subscription in previous years but had let it lapse.

"An Unexpected Hint Unveils...What?" Continued

In my post "An Unexpected Hint Unveils...What?" I looked at the curious circumstance of William John Gunnee and his second family in Australia while back in England it appeared that he had left his first family. So what happened to his first wife Maud Louisa Mansfield?

But first a quick recap concerning William and Maud.

On 8 May 1904 William John Gunnee married Maud Louisa Mansfield, the daughter of Harry Mansfield, a lighterman.

"London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921," database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), William John Gunnee and Maud Louisa Mansfield, married 8 May 1904; citing London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Michael And All Angels, Bromley, Register of marriages, P88/MIC, Item 024.

On 6 Jan 1906, Maud gave birth to a son, Harold Sheil Gunnee, at 19 Lake Street, Ratcliff in London.

England and Wales, birth certificate for Harold Shiel Gunnee, born 6 Jan 1906; citing 1c/375/201, Mar quarter 1906, Stepney registration district, Shadwell and Ratchiff sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

Sometime between early 1905 and early 1907 he departed England and arrived in Australia where he met and wed Ethel May Millen on 17 Feb 1907.

What about his wife Maud Louisa (nee Mansfield) and his son Harold Sheil Gunnee back in England? What happened to them? This is where it continues to stay interesting. At least from a genealogy and family history perspective.

After 1905 in the record searches I first came across her and her son living in the household of Henry George Pocock in the 1911 census of England that took place on 2 Apr 1911. In that enumeration a Blanche Maud Pocock was also included and it looked like she was the daughter of Henry George Pocock but the relationship column was a bit confusing with pencil and ink notations.

1911 census of England, London, 8 Woollett Street, Poplar, Household of Henry George Pocock; digital images, Ancestry,com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012); citing RG 78 PN 60, RG 14 PN 1718, registration district (RD) 22, sub district (SD) 3, enumeration district (ED) 2, schedule number (SN) 66.

Possibly Blanche was the daughter of Henry's first wife since his marital status was "widower". So a few pounds and days later I had a PDF of her birth registration from the General Register Office of England and Wales.

England and Wales, birth certificate for Blanche Maude Pocock, born 22 Sep 1909; citing 1c/540/428, Dec quarter 1909, Poplar registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

Hmmm, it seems that Maud Louisa has taken the "Pocock" name as her own when she registered the 22 Sep 1909 birth of her daughter Blanche. That means I should be looking for a marriage of Maud Louisa Mansfield/Gunnee sometime between 1905 and 1909. I did find several possible marriages using the FreeBMD indexes but none to a Popock or variation of that name. I reversed the search to find any marriages for a Henry George Pocock in the same time frame. Still no good matches found. So I expanded the time frame to include up to 1912. Lo and behold a marriage for Henry G Pocock and Maud L Gunner appeared in the index for marriages registered in the fourth quarter of 1911.

Screen capture of Marriages Dec 1911 results for a search for Henry Pocock in the FreeBMD index.

I've seen "Gunner" as a transcription error before and the registration district, Poplar, is the same as their daughter Blanche. Even looking at the image of the index page it said "Gunner" but I took a gamble, paid even more pounds, and waited three weeks to get the marriage registration send to me by postal mail.

England and Wales, marriage certificate for Henry Pocock and Maud Louisa Gunnee, married 17 Oct 1911; citing 1c/1108/85, Dec quarter 1911, Poplar registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

This definitely appears to be "Gunnee" on the registration and her maiden surname is Mansfield. All the information I know about her matches what is on this document. The address for both Henry George Pocock and Maud Louisa Gunnee matches that recorded for their daughter Blanche's birth. From the document Henry and Maud were married 17 Oct 1911, several months after the 1911 census, and it took place at the Register Office (not included in the image posted) and not in a church. Maud again states that she was a widow and Henry is recorded as a bachelor (not a widower!). That 1911 census enumeration really is an interesting mishmash of confusing details.

They had at least one other child, Gladys Ellen Rose Pocock¹ born on 6 Jun 1913 in Barking, Essex, England. Henry, Maud, and Gladys could even be found in the 1939 Register of England and Wales in Barking, Essex. The red stroke through Maud's entry referred to a heavily redacted page providing the exact same information.

1939 Register, Essex, England, RG 101, piece 1057A, image 15, 82 Wedderburn Road, Barking, Essex, household of Henry G Pocock.

What about William John Gunnee and Maud Louisa Manfields' son Harold Shiel Gunnee? From the various records it appears that Harold kept the Gunnee name in his name but used the "Pocock" surname from his step-father. This can be seen in the Principal Probate Registry for the Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England.

Ancestry.com, "National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995," database on-line, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Jul 2019), entry for Harold Shiel Gunnee Pocock, died 23 Jan 1978.

Based on the marriage index and also the 1939 Register of England and Wales it appears that Harold married Rosalind Ellen Tyler in 1929 and they had at least four children.

I think a few lessons can be taken from this little bit of exploration into this branch of my family:

• Census enumerations and other documents can't be taken as gospel, people don't necessarily tell the truth.
• Always try to corroborate the facts found in the records you find.
• If there have been corrections or edits to document then following up on the changes can sometimes highlight something "interesting".
• Always expand your search if you can't find the event in the expected time frame. You might be surprised at what you come across.

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1. England and Wales, birth certificate for Gladys Ellen Rose Pocock, born 6 Jun 1913; citing 4a/1168/267, Sep quarter 1913, Romford registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

An Unexpected Hint Unveils...What?

How many of you have come across a set of record hints from Ancestry for someone in your tree and they just don't make any sense? This was the case for me with a second cousin twice removed by the name of William John Gunnee.

But first I need to set the stage and lay out what I thought I knew about him.

I originally came across him in the 1891 census of England living with his father Samuel I Gunnee, his mother Rosa, and sister Florence R in London.

1891 census of England, London, Civil Parish of St John Zachary, Cripplegate Ward, folio 77, page 5, William J Gunnee; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012); citing PRO RG 12/239.

From various other records I had learned that his father was Samuel Ingmire Gunnee (1850-1897), a carpenter, and his mother was Rosa Cleaver. It appears he was taken on by Robert James Snell according to the transcription from Findmypast in the "Thames Watermen & Lightermen 1688-2010" record set from their "Binding Records 1692-1949"¹. It was from those records that I learned that he was most likely born on 28 Jan 1882 in Hammersmith².

I also learned that on 8 May 1904 he married Maud Louisa Mansfield, the daughter of Harry Mansfield, a lighterman.

"London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921," database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), William John Gunnee and Maud Louisa Mansfield, married 8 May 1904; citing London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Michael And All Angels, Bromley, Register of marriages, P88/MIC, Item 024.

He had a son, Harold Shiel Gunnee, on 6 Jan 1906⁴. At that time William John Gunnee was no longer a lighterman but was a member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

However, in the 1911 census he is no longer with the family and his wife, "Maude Louise Gunnee" is recorded as a widow and living in the household of Henry George Pocock. Unfortunate there are a number of corrections made in pencil to this page that are very hard to decipher, especially when it comes to the relationships to the head of the household.

1911 census of England, London, 8 Woollett Street, Poplar, Household of Henry George Pocock; digital images, Ancestry,com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012); citing  RG 78 PN 60, RG 14 PN 1718, registration district (RD) 22, sub district (SD) 3, enumeration district (ED) 2, schedule number (SN) 66.

I had assumed that William John Gunnee had died between 1901 and 1911 but I couldn't find any records of him in the civil registration death index. So I left him in 2012 and continued on working on other family members and branches of my tree. That was until I recently started reviewing the 1939 Register of England and Wales. I was looking for his son Harold in that registration and figured I'd also see if anything had popped up on Ancestry for his father William John.

A hint for a "William J Gunnee" marrying Ethel M Millen in 1907 in New South Wales showed up in the list of possible hints on Ancestry. I really do try to avoid only using indexes since often, as in this case, there just isn't enough information to make an informed decision. Fortunately, with very little effort, I found the marriage registration in the "Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011" collection on Ancestry.

What do I find but a William John Gunnee, a bachelor, born in London, England about 1882 working as fireman with the Castlereagh Fire Brigade, and his parents are Samuel Gunnee (deceased), a carpenter, and Rosa Cleaver. This really does look like this is the William John Gunnee that married Maud Louisa Mansfield. So it appears that he left his wife and son in England, moved to Australia, and remarried. I'd hazard a guess that the odds of two distinct William John Gunnees with the exact same parents and other identifying details are pretty darn slim!
 
As I carried on in my research into William John Gunnee I see that he appears to have settled down in New South Wales and had a family of at least five children, three of which survived to adulthood. He outlived his first Australian wife, Ethel May Millen (~1887-1938), and married the widow Caroline Edith (nee Jackson) Ireland in 1939⁵. He and his second (or is that third) wife, Caroline, sailed from Sydney in early 1953 and arrived in Tilbury, Essex, England on 13 Apr 1953 on board the Strathmore⁶. However, he never made it back to Australia. On 20 May 1953 he died while in England⁷.

From a family history point of view, this make for one "interesting" story to follow⁸. As we all should know, there is always more than one perspective on a story. With these events taking place over a century ago, most likely only the immediate family members might actually know what occurred.

The story isn't quite over yet. I'm still researching what happened to his first wife, Maud Louisa Mansfield. Maybe I'll have a follow up post about her.

This just goes to show that you need to follow up on each and every hint that Ancestry provides by viewing the record and not just the transcription or index. Sometimes those unexpected and unusual hints can make the story of your family even more interesting.

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1. "Thames watermen and lightermen 1688-2010," database, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), William John Gunnee, bound 8 Mar 1898; citing Binding Records 1692-1949, Thames watermen and lightermen.

2. Yes, I have a to-do item to order his birth registration³ but there is only so much money in the budget for genealogy research.

3. FreeBMD, "England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), entry for William John Gunnee, volume 1a, page 245, Mar quarter 1882, Fulham district; citing the General Register Office's England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes.

4. England and Wales, birth certificate for Harold Shiel Gunnee, born 6 Jan 1906; citing 1c/375/201, Mar quarter 1906, Stepney registration district, Shadwell and Ratchiff sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

5. St. John (Rockdale, New South Wales, Australia), Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011, "Rockdale St John 1938-1942,"  marriage of William John Gunnee and Caroline Edith Ireland (nee Jackson), 12 Oct 1939; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Jul 2019).

6. Ancestry.com, "UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Jul 2019), entry for William Gunnee, arriving Tilbury, 13 Apr 1953; citing The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: BT26; Piece: 1297; Original data: Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Series BT26, 1,472 pieces.

7. "Death notice for William John Gunnee," The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 1953, p. 14, col. 2; digital images, Trove (trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 7 Jul 2019).

8. Come on, who among you don't like to have a black sheep or two in the family to keep things interesting?

Re-examining Assumptions

One thing we need to do on a periodic basis when doing our genealogy and family history research is to re-examine our assumptions when it comes the "hmmm, is this the same person?" situation.

For over 10 years I had a note associated with my 2nd great-grandfather George Warrener of Cayton, Yorkshire, England. This note was concerning a possible second marriage after his first wife, Mary Ann Kay, died in 1876 in Stockton, County Durham, England. This possible second marriage was to Jemima Halliman (nee Jordan) in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England in 1899:

England and Wales, marriage certificate for George Warrener and Jemima Halliman (nee Jordon), married 26 Dec 1899; citing 10a/155/131, Dec quarter 1899, Stockton registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

There were a few details in the marriage registration that just didn't fit at the time when I was first looking at the record:

1. He was listed as age 64 years (born about 1835) when I have him recorded as being baptized in 1829.
2. His occupation was a coal dealer yet I'd only seen him recorded in his later years as working as a foreman in a brick yard.
3. The occupation of his deceased father, William Warrener, was listed as "farm bailiff". In all the records I had for William he was always an AgLab.

None of these were showstoppers per se but at the time I just couldn't convince myself that the George Warrener that married Jemima Halliman was the same person as the George Warrener that married my 2nd great-grandmother May Ann Kay. 

Of course, that was before I started on my current project of reviewing family members that might be found in the 1939 England and Wales Register that was taken on September 29, 1939.

One of the names that was in the list to check was that of Elizabeth Warrener, the daughter of George Warrener and Mary Ann Kay. In her civil birth registration it was recorded that she was born on 15 May 1872. On July 24, 1899 she married John William Sadler:

England and Wales, marriage certificate for John William Sadler and Elizabeth Warrener; citing 10A/127/332, Sep quarter 1899, Stockton registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

In the registration she stated her father, George Warrener, was a coal merchant. But is this Elizabeth Warrener the daughter of my 2nd great-grandfather George Warrener?

This is where the 1939 Register comes into play. I found John W. Sadler and his wife Elizabeth recorded as living in Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, Wales:

1939 Register, Bedfordshire, England, RG 101, piece 7367I, image 012, line 29, 4 Greenfield Avenue, Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, Elizabeth Sadler.

One of the really nice details recorded in this 1939 Register is the date of birth of the person, or at least the date provided by the informant.

As you can see, Elizabeth Sadler has a date of birth of May 15, 1872. This is the same date as recorded in the civil registration for Elizabeth, the daughter of George Warrener and Mary Ann Kay. It would seem that the Elizabeth Warrener that married John William Sadler is the same Elizabeth Warrener that is the daughter of my 2nd great-grandfather George Warrener.

This also means that just a few months before George Warrener married Jemima Halliman she recorded her father as being a coal merchant. In his second marriage he states he was a coal dealer. So the occupation change seems to be valid.

This seems to have satisfied the second of my three concerns. What about the other two? Shaving a few years off your age when marrying someone almost half your age doesn't surprise me anymore. I've seen it many times by both partners in marriage registrations since I've been working on my tree since the first time I looked at this record in 2009. That's two concerns down, what about the occupation of his father?

The first time I looked at the marriage record I saw "town bailiff" but with more experience in deciphering writing I now see it as "farm bailiff". Additionally, William died in 1859. So George might have slightly inflated William's standing or William actually was a farm bailiff before he died.

One more point I need to make. I finally really looked at the record and paid attention to the participants. Not just the two being married but also the witnesses. That is when I noticed a "G. K. Warrener" as a witness. G. K. Warrener is most likely my great-grandfather George Kaye Warrener, the youngest son of George Warrener and Mary Ann Kay.

So after ten years from first ordering the marriage registration for George Warrener and Jemima Halliman (nee Jordan) I can finally add her and their son Walter Horsley Warrener, to my family tree.

There are several lessons from today's post:

• You always need to re-examine your assumptions and the associated records as you get additional facts and uncover newly found documents.
• As you improve your own knowledge in doing genealogy and family history research the records in your possession may provide additional clues. Take the time to re-read the documents.
• Don't be afraid to admit that you might be wrong in your initial conclusions. Make the corrections and document your reasons.

Would the real William Jones please stand up?

Just recently I completed a research project as a present for my brother-in-law where I explored his maternal grandmother's lines. That is also one of the reasons I haven't been posting any blog items these past months. Since my posts are based on the genealogy research I am doing I didn't want any chance of him learning about what I was finding until I presented it to him on his birthday¹.

Almost all of the research for my brother-in-law involved families residing in England and that meant I had the challenge of figuring out if I had the right records or not since some of the people included the dreaded "Smith" and "Jones" surnames. In today's post I'm going to focus on William Jones.

The first William Jones in this project that I came across was the father of Laura Jones and he was mentioned in the parish marriage registration for James Thomas Morris and Laura Jones. I was very happy to learn that via Ancestry the following digitized parish record collections, courtesy of the Library of Birmingham, have been made available:

• Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937
• Birmingham, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912
• Birmingham, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1964

This saved me time and money when it came to requesting various records as part of this project.

So here in 23 Mar 1891 William Jones, the father of Laura, is recorded as having a profession of a Boot Maker.

"Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937," database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 Jun 2018), marriage for James Thomas Morris and Laura Jones, 23 Mar 1891, Parish of Bishop Ryder; citing Reference Number: DRO 30; Archive Roll: 580; Anglican Parish Records. Birmingham, England: Library of Birmingham.

It is always a good thing when you come across someone having an occupation that is not an "Ag Lab" or just "labourer" since that provides a unique trait for the person that you can use to rule out other people of that same name. So just how many William Jones are residing in England in the 1891 census? According to Findmypast² there are 14,852 results. We need to get a bit more information first to narrow it down. Under the "Advanced options" in the Findmypast search screen I typed in different occupations that are directly related to making shoes or boots such as:

• bootmaker - 11
• cordwainer - 4
• shoemaker - 51
• shoe maker - 43
• boot maker - 28

There are only 137 William Jones in all of England recorded in the 1891 census with those occupations. Still, that is a number of records and people to look at. Let's try a different tack. How about we look at the 1881 census for households where there is a William Jones and a Laura Jones? There we find 92 households. Still quite a few. What if we look for the reverse, households with Laura Jones (including forename variations) with a William Jones in it but adding in her approximate birth year of 1869 that we gathered from her marriage registration? We now find 34 1881 census entries. Of course we are making an assumption that she is living with her father at that time so we need to keep that in mind. I still need to narrow it down to make sure I have the "right" family.

The 1901 census of the household of James T Morris states that she was born in Erdington, Warwickshire. Can I use that information to help me out?

1901 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil parish of Erdington, Ecclesiastical parish of Erdington St Barnabas, folio 33, page 24, Laura Morris; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 13/2875.

In the Findmypast advanced search I added "Erdington" to the keyword and three people were left:

Findmypast search rules for Laura Jones in 1881 census of England

That first one really looks promising since, up to this time in my research, she didn't have any other first names recorded. Looking at the record image³ and not just the transcription seems to confirm that this is the right family. But just to be sure, I looked at Mary L Jones and her father, William, is an Accountant Clerk. Emily L Jones' father is Geo[rge] and it is her brother Wm [William] that is the match in my search.

1881 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil Parish of Aston, Hamlet of Erdington, Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Barnabas, folio 125, page 33, Laura Jones; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 11/3046.

We can see that in addition to being a boot maker William is also an Insurance Agent. He is 39 years old, thus born about 1842, and was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire.

Checking the 1871 census for that same family we find that William Jones is a "Letter Carrier & Librarian". I wonder if times were tough in the boot making field in 1871?

1871 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil Parish of Aston, Hamlet of Erdington, Ecclesiastical of Erdington, folio 97, page 4, Laura Jones; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 10/3159.

From the 1881 census and 1871 census there is another clue to find more records, do you see it? A John Coton in that same household is listed as a father-in-law. Making yet another assumption, that means that Ellen, William Jones' wife, is a "Coton". With both William and Ellen born in Warwickshire and Ellen being born in Erdington (1881) or Aston (1871) there is a pretty good chance I might be able to find the marriage record on Ancestry for the two of them since those places are in the Birmingham area. However, I had no such luck using the parish collections from Ancestry so it was off to FreeBMD.

There was only one William Jones recorded as marrying an Ellen Coton in the civil marriage registrations. Even better, the marriage took place in the Birmingham registration district and recorded in the second quarter (April-June) 1865. That is just a few years before the birth of Charles, their eldest son, as recorded in the 1871 census. So I spent my money, £9.25, and waited three weeks for the document to arrive in my postal mail box. It was money well spent.

England and Wales, marriage certificate for William Jones and Ellen Coton, married 7 May 1865; citing 6d/93/462, Jun quarter 1865, Birmingham registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

There is William Jones, a boot maker, the son of...really? William Jones?? You have got to be kidding me?

Fortunately William Jones the Senior also has a relatively unique occupation, that of a wheelwright. I guess I'll just have to repeat the process all over for him.


As you can see, it just isn't a name that is needed when find anyone in the records. You need a unique combination of other details about that person. It might be where they resided, who they were living with, when they were born, where they were born, a medical condition, or occupation to help you winnow them out from all the other people with the same name.

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1. Yes, he did appreciate the gift. He then spent the next hour reading the report and asking questions.
2. Why use Findmypast in this case? I don't have any family tree recorded there so there is less bias when it comes to searching and the results that are provided.
3. I am citing the images from Ancestry since that is where I originally retrieved them. The Findmypast images, in this case, are the same.