Common Surnames

[Old_Geezer]

Hi. Thought I'd try my luck here at a couple of genealogy questions in case anyone can help.

First off I have a request for general hints & tips & suchlike for when one's investigation suddenly finds an individual with a fairly common surname. It happened to me and suddenly that part of the tree ground to a halt. Apologies to those who have a common surname but you may well be the folk who have the best advice ?

Also, although it is a long shot, I thought I'd give specific details of where I'm stuck to see if anyone recognises or finds anything.

It concerns my one of my great grandmothers, Eliza Ellen Davies ~1866-1926. I know she married George Frederick Devey in 1886 because I have the certificate, and it is from the marriage certificate, and the stated age of Eliza on that, that I believe she was born around 1866.

But looking for a particular Davies in mid-Wales has proved difficult.

I did find in the 1871 Wales census a reference to a family that includes an Eliza Davies, but it is just faith that allows me to think this is the same individual.

And a while ago I spend a fair amount of money with the GRO having sent them a long list of possible Eliza Ellen Davies births, but the certificate they returned as being most likely didn't "feel" right at all. Eliza's second name was not even shown.

Any ideas of how to progress from there ?

Thanks

[craft1948]

dot can you check Eliza's wedding address.....I don't know how to do that.....

[Old_Geezer]

Christmas day apparently ?!? One would have thought everyone was off on holiday that day.

[craft1948]

OG most of my ancestors were Shetlanders and they often got married on Xmas Day...maybe it's the only day they got off work lol....

[dothawkes31]

it was that exact reason craft, it was a very common wedding day.

I'll check the address.

[dothawkes31]

Others are easter and michalemas

[dothawkes31]

1881 30 cabot St Bristol was the Osborne familt which is interesting as they turned up when i was looking for the devey name a while ago

[dothawkes31]

17 hereford St Bedminster Bristol was not there in 1881 but in 1891 it was occupied by the batten family and the clarke family

[dothawkes31]

Ohhhh, there are two cabot st, one is cabot st bedminster and at number 30 there is a mary E Devey mother to Sarah A Wring, bith born London and there is a Eliza devey age 12 boirn brostol there too.

[dothawkes31]

Went back to the 1881 and hereford st is there but listed as bedminster, been through all houses on that street in 1881, no davies family.

[dothawkes31]

OG after it gives John Davies's occuption does it say he is deceased?

[Old_Geezer]

Sorry for the delay, was dragged :-) out for a work colleagues' meal out. Rare enough event for me.

No, there is no sign that he is deceased at the time of the wedding.
However I haven't found a reference to his death so far.

[Old_Geezer]

Yes I have come across the Wring family. Sarah, my great grand aunt married into the family, as far as I can ascertain.

[Old_Geezer]

Eliza Matilda, daughter of Mary Ann Wheeler is, I believe, a different Eliza. That Eliza is sister to George who married the other Eliza whom I've been unable to trace further back with any certainty. Unless I've an error in my information that is.

[Old_Geezer]

Oh ! Just realised, my great grand aunt Emily married into the Clarke family in 1891. So there's a link with them.

(And interestingly I have one reference to a Batten too. But I think that might be coincidence since it is a different part of the family tree. Unless it's suggesting folk meeting up for the first time.)

[puzzlenut24]

When ordering any certs from GRO, if you know one parent add on the form
'only issue if mother/father is ????.' that way you save a lot of money. I'm right by
National Archives in Wales, i'll have a dig for you if you want, but I need more info.

[munchie63]

few bits I found on bmd site, which you probably already know...but....

Eliza Ellen Davies..born 1865 Church Stretton Reg: Q3 Vol 6A P535

marriage - Dec 1886 Bedminster Q4 V5C P1191

[munchie63]

scrap my church stretton birth...just double-checked on ancestry...and that Eliza sadly died age 1 in church stretton

[Old_Geezer]

Thanks for the replies. I'd assumed I'd heard all I was likely too. Unusually for me, I didn't get on the Net over the weekend. Too busy with other chores.

Thanks for trying munchie, I do need to schedule an evening checking further with the information dot & craft found. Although I did try a few quick BMD searches last week, and didn't turn up anything.

Hi puzzlenut, thanks for the offer. In the past when I ordered from the GRO I did so over the Internet, from their website, I'm not sure where one would put information that doesn't go into one of the offered boxes.

To be honest, I've not ordered a certificate for quite a while. Got very annoyed when the GRO decided that the foolish PO postage charge change was a good reason to vandalise precious certificates by folding them before they sent them. (Makes one wonder why I went to the expense of buying a fancy ph neutral folder to keep them in. It seems everyone else just sees them as bits of paper with info on them, even though they are individually numbered. :-( ) So my family tree investigation had slowed down a bit, compared to what it was. This thread seems to have kicked me off on a flurry of further activity though :-)

[Old_Geezer]

OK ... <puzzled look>

DEVEY, HENRY E SON SINGLE M 21 GLOS BRISTOL
DEVEY, HENRY F SON M 3 GLOS BRISTOL

2 sons both with the name Henry, living at the same address ? Is this likely ? Should I be reading something else into this ?


The reason it caught my eye is that I was under the impression both Henrys were fairly short lived, but that is wrong if they are both around in 1911.

[annie0000]

Hi OG - just getting into all this myself, but i do know that people sometimes do call their children both the same name, but call them by their middle name - In the past, given naming patterns, I guess this is perhaps where both grandfathers have been called Henry. You may find that one son was known as Harry or something else entirely. One guy i worked beside who would only be about 40 now, was named William, but called by his middle name David, his younger brother was also called William but was known as Billy. Sadly Billy was killed in a car accident in his teens. Given your comments about your Henrys dying young, makes you wonder whether the forces of nature don't like people from the same family having the same name!