I think I am at a dead end - how do I find records of this person?

Toby422

I have been researching a specific line of my family tree for a while, and I think I might be at a dead end. I am going up the male line of the tree, and I have got to someone about which I only know his name (Henry Atkinson - not exactly an unusual one), his son's name (William James Atkinson), his son's approximate year of birth (c. 1865 - from which I can infer his own approximate year of birth (probably around 1840 or so)) and the place his son was born (Sculcoates, Kingston Upon Hull - where his name is especially common). As it is, I only know his name from his son's Marriage record - there are no Similar Records, and when I search for him, knowing what I know, there are obviously 1000s of results. What should I do from here? I want, at the very least, to know his parents' names. I would think that I should be able to look his son up in census records from 1871 or 1881, and go from there, but I can't find him (the son) in either - the only censuses he seems to show up on are 1901 and 1911. Where would you go from here, if you were me?

Kathleen Ackerman

There is a William James Atkinson born in the 3rd Quarter of 1865, registered at Sculcoates, listed on the GRO website. His mother's maiden name is Fossell. You can look for a marriage between Henry Atkinson and ? Fossell. Try looking on

http://freebmd.org.uk.

Hope this helps.

Kathleen Ackerman

Graham Buckell

To add to Kathleen's comment, I suggest you purchase a copy of his birth certificate from the GRO.

Paul W

@Toby422

Are you aware of the Family Tree profile for Henry Atkinson GF3F-3J2 ? He married an Eliza TOSSELL in 1850 (recorded, as shown above, as FOSSELL at William James Atkinson's 1865 birth registration), and William had siblings Jane, Edward, Eliza and Harry. William's own ID in Family Tree is LKTW-DSD. It has census records for 1871 and 1881(two versions) attached, but confusingly he is listed with a Leeds birthplace in 1871. As you will see, his aunt (in 1871 census) appears to be Jane Buckley and his grandmother Mary Atkinson, 75 (though those should be their married names, of course). If accurate, Henry is shown as being born at Hull around 1823. His profile shows Eliza as his second wife, though I have not checked the accuracy of records / relationships attached that are dated prior to his second marriage.

I think these details should help in your further research, but please return here if you still require any other advice.

Paul W

@Toby422

Perhaps you would kindly acknowledge whether you have returned here since your original post and whether you have found the responses provided (over three weeks ago) to be useful. I personally took quite some time looking into your query and it would be nice to know that I (and others) have not wasted their time, if you haven't picked-up on the advice provided.

David A Wilson

Have you tried FindMyPast? That is a site hosted in the UK that has a lot of records. I have a similar situation on my male line as well. One thing I found was to go down the female line and see if it provides you information that you could not find going down the other line.

Please let us know what you find.