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Author Topic: Can't find my ancestors!!  (Read 14424 times)

Offline flst

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Re: Can't find my ancestors!!
« Reply #45 on: Monday 20 February 12 19:02 GMT (UK) »
Actually the spelling of a surname isn't important. Names were written down the way they sounded, which explains how siblings who moved from their home parish ended up with their surnames being spelled differently! :)
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Offline sancti

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Re: Can't find my ancestors!!
« Reply #46 on: Monday 20 February 12 22:23 GMT (UK) »
Dusto, with James coming from Ireland it is possible that he was illiterate

If you look at the death certificate for Joseph you will see that the informants (James) was present but the signature appears to be written in the same hand of the registrar so the spelling of the name is due to the registrars interpretation.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Can't find my ancestors!!
« Reply #47 on: Tuesday 21 February 12 08:41 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: sancti on Monday 20 February 12 22:23 GMT (UK)
Dusto, with James coming from Ireland it is possible that he was illiterate

If you look at the death certificate for Joseph you will see that the informants (James) was present but the signature appears to be written in the same hand of the registrar so the spelling of the name is due to the registrars interpretation.

I am not sure that is necessarily the case. My understanding is that the informant was asked to sign, and if unable to do so, to mark a cross which was then witnessed by (usually) the registrar and another person who could sign their name. The registrar then made a second copy in his own hand. One of the copies was retained by the Registrar and the other was sent to Edinburgh. So if the copy sent to Edinburgh happened to be the second one, it would not contain the original signature or witnessed cross. To be absolutely certain you would have to view both the image of the Edinburgh copy and the original book retained by the local Registrar.

To quote from G T Bisset-Smith's manual Vital Registration, which was aimed at Registrars, and to be used as a guide to their responsibilities, "From 1st January, 1855, the Local Registrars appointed under the Act have kept a set of registers in duplicate. The Registers are examined annually by the District Examiner, and one set forwarded to Edinburgh, the other set remaining with the Registrar, who carefully preserves all the Registers in his custody in fire-proof safes."

This, by the way, is one of the reasons why it is important that the locally held registers should not be destroyed, as has been proposed from time to time.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline dusto

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Re: Can't find my ancestors!!
« Reply #48 on: Tuesday 21 February 12 15:38 GMT (UK) »
with this birth it shows James McGrannathan as a son, with his fathers name James McGrannathan and mother as Jane McGrannathan? is that right? Im wondering if I'm reading the document right. if so theres Two James Mcgrannathans. father and son.

Image removed - copyright. Small portions of a certificate may be posted for handwriting recognition[/blue]

Offline sancti

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Re: Can't find my ancestors!!
« Reply #49 on: Tuesday 21 February 12 19:37 GMT (UK) »
Dusto That is the birth record for James, the son of James and Jane m.s. Brooks

Did you notice it is registered as MAC Grannathan?
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