What are some key indicators that a record in ancestry belongs to a specific person?
Hello readers! I'm trying to find a record for an ancestor so she can be sealed to her parents. In family search, it doesn't show who her parents are. Anyways, I've been searching for a record of her christening. I found one for a person with a similar name, that was slightly different. It was also 2 years after the year that family search says this ancestor was born. But the place where the christening took place is only a 12 minute drive (in a modern car) from the place where my ancestor was born, whereas many of the other christening records in ancestry of people with similar names took place much farther away. So I'm hoping that this could be the correct record, but I'm still unsure.
So I'm wondering, what are some key indicators that a record in ancestry belongs to a specific person in family search? It's hard sometimes to feel confident in choosing a record, especially when the christening record is from two years after family search records that my ancestor was born.
What are your thoughts?
Answers
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Can you share the specifics - names, places, dates, religion? It would be easier to help with specifics rather than in the abstract.
A 12-minute drive today could be a very long walk in 1850. And, if we're talking Roman Catholic baptism, infants were baptized as quickly as possible - sometimes the same day - to avoid the tragedy of limbo. Mothers were not permitted to attend the baptism, and a nursing infant could not be far from the mother.
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Hi Daniel,
You do not mention where you are researching, or in what time period.
After reading your question, without knowing where or in what time period you are researching it is difficult to give you a specific answer to your question.
If you are researching in England or Wales in the early Church records before civil registration which began in 1837, then it is a challenge to find the correct person, as in some cases the birth/baptismal record only lists the father with last name and mothers first name and no last name. Although I have come across a childs birth and it only has Mary Daughter of John Brown and his wife. In case of a baptismal record, dont assume this is a birth date as sometimes it can be a few years after birth and in some cases the family had more than one child baptised on the same day.
In Scotland there are two main records the OPR (Old Parochial Records) these records begin as early as 1500 and go to 1854. Then there are the Civil registration from 1855 to modern.
In my experience, when trying to find a person in the early records, it is tricky, so I try and find a marriage, then I search for any children around that time in the same area for the same parents.
Sometimes, with luck or divine intervention, you might find the family in a census. Also in some instances a death record may shed some light on the family, although be careful as the information given is only as good as what the informant knew.
So you seem to be on the right track, as for indicators, the records are provided, but up to you to figure out if it is the correct one for your family.
All the best
Miriam
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