Need help deciphering handwriting

ceemjay

Hi all - I am new to this group and so may not have posted this in the right place - if so my apologies

I am trying to find the place where my 2GGF was born in Germany from the 1871 England Census. The transcription of Meleshore is I believe wrong

The document is https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VFDH-9P3

And this is the offending text!

Looking at the doc as a whole the first letter is most likely and M and the writer normally dots i's so it looks like it starts Mele..... possibly Meleth but I cannot find any German towns/villages starting thus

Are there any experts here are reading old English scrawl??

Many thanks

Jim Hawker

I have done a lot of indexing of British records. The transcription appears to me to be correct. The only variation I could come up with is "Melethore", but the person recording the info is pretty good about crossing his "t" 's, so I don't think that is "Melethore".

Since Norman is from the area in or around Germany and would be speaking with an accent to an English person, you can't assume the person that recorded the information got the spelling of the place name correctly. The English person could have heard Meleshore, but that isn't really what Nathan said to the census taker.

I found Nathan in the 1881 England Census, as well, and the birth place is listed as Prussia. Maybe that will give you another clue. Here is the link:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/LNDRG11_20_24-0349?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=hzY1&_phstart=successSource&pId=13111099

And in the 1861 England Census, he appears to be single and living with a brother, George Norman in Cambridge, not Sussex. But the age is 6 years different from the 1871 census, putting his birth in 1825, so it might not be the correct Nathan. But his place of birth agrees with the 1881 census.

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8767/images/CAMRG9_1025_1027-0727?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=50b93b3ccc1cffd13a784497fde222bd&usePUB=true&_phsrc=vmE9&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.9910325.1092549887.1619129264-272368899.1619129264&pId=16528656

And this might be him in 1841, which lists his profession as a shoe maker in Surrey, which agrees with the 1871 census:

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8978/images/SRYHO107_1048_1050-0289?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=vmE12&_phstart=successSource&pId=10068018

FamilySearch has these as well, but when I post the link it fails. It appears FamilySearch won't allow the link to the image to be posted.

This indicates Nathan's oldest son, Jacob, was born in Sussex. So this is another place you could look for documents (marriage maybe). You might also look at immigration records to see if you can find when he came to England, prior to 1863, when Jacob was born. You could also try and see if you can find other relatives or children that would have information.

Hope this helps.

Paul W

@Jim Hawker

I just found this website - German Cities In Alphabetical Order - Letter M (mygermancity.com), which you might wish to browse for possible matches to your handwritten place name.

Alternatively, perhaps join the Germany Genealogy Research group at Germany Genealogy Research — FamilySearch Community ( you have to "join" to ask questions) and see if you might get help there.

FackrellRoseBoyce

Hi ceemgay

When I am indexing places I often have trouble deciphering the spelling. I often use google and type in what I think is written. If a place comes up that makes sense I use it, if not I look closer, and try again. So you may have to get familiar with places in Germany.

ceemjay

Thanks for the response - I have tried doing that plus also the equally useful

https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/gazetteer/gazetteer.php which has good searching options plus

https://s.meyersgaz.org/ - Meyers Gazette good search option plus original German names for Polish towns - that part where lots of my ancestors came from (but not necessarily the one above!).

I know there are some people who are very experienced reading old script and I was hoping I might find one here!

ceemjay

Paul W thanks for those suggestions.

Jim - thanks for such a lengthy reply. The birthdates are strange but George's birthdates are (more) consistent so on the balance of probability I think they are the same person. In any case I haven't found any other census matches with those names let alone born in Prussia.

I had found all those references beforehand and others too and none shed any more light on this but thanks for all the suggestions - I have already tried most but expect there are one or two I haven't.

Strangely there is not one other Nathan Norman on any tree that I can find on Ancestry, MyHeritage, Geni or FTDNA who is a serious contender if that one is wrong!

The hunt continues - thanks again to everyone who replied