family name not real name

[Stella77]

Hi 

I have been researching the family on my great grandfather, Benjamin Mundell on the West Yorkshire board.  Not that I had much to go on with him in the beginning. With the help and hard work of Lizdb, she gave my ggrandfather possibilities of parents, which was great, thank you Liz.

Since then, I have been going slowly through some boxes of papers and letters belonging to my grandmother and found an old birthday book which had my ggrandfather's DOB in it 25/10/1862... fantastic    I thought...

However, I emailed the Leeds register to see if I could get a copy of his birth certificate, and bang I walked straight into another brick wall...    there is no one by his name on that date.  The person helping me said he checked a 10 year period around 1862, and there was no one by that name, on that date in the whole of England. 

The only person found was a George Mundell, on the exact date I told him, but not Benjamin and he suggested that Benjamin may be a 'family name'.  Has anyone have any suggestions of where I go next, with the possibility that it is a 'family name'?

FreeBMD & YorkshireBMD have a George Hughes Mundell. And Liz found a Sarah Hughes in her research, would there be a connection there? and his name was changed?

I'm very confused.  I would like to add this info to my West Yorkshire thread, but wanted to know where I should look for more info first.

Many thanks for you time and help.
Stella

[nanny jan]

Hi Stella,

There is a possibility that Benjamin's birth was not registered. I think it was in mid 1870s that the regulations became more strictly enforced.

Have you looked for a baptism for him?

Have you found Benjamin on any census or is he down as George?

The 1881 census has this:

Benjamin Mundell, aged 18 born Leeds, a coal dealer living with his uncle and aunt;
Henry and Rebecca Borthwick (Greengrocer), in Hull.

RG11    4767/64       23


Have you got the birth certifcates of any of Benjamin's children?  What name does he give?



Nanny Jan

[sarahsean]

It could be possible that he used a middle name as his first  name. In my family both my father and grandfather did not use their first names. My grandfather used his middle name and my father his second middle name.

Have you found your grandparents marriage cert yet? You could try searching using your grandmothers name and see what name he is listed by.

Or is it possible he was illegitimate? My great grandmother used her step fathers name but  her birth was registered using her mothers maiden name as her mother had not yet met her step father. When she gets married she used her step fathers name on the marriage cert.

Regards
Sarah

[Little Nell]

It is possible that it is a family name.  It is also possible that he was born that day, but his birth date when it came to registering him as amended because his parents were late registering him i.e. beyond 42 days, so they changed his birth date to make it fit.  But soeone put his correct birthday down in the book.

I have an entry in a birthday book which was actually for a death and it gave the lady's name as Millicent.  I hadn't a clue who she was except that she had the right surname for the family.  When I got to see the memorial inscription on the headstone, the entry turned out to be for the wife of my gt gt grandfather - and everywhere in life, she was recorded as Amelia!  Her death certificate had her as Millicent, but she was described as the wife of John, so I knew I was on the right track.

In other words, don't despair just yet!

Nell

[janan]

As Nell says don't despair My father in law had an adjusted birth date on his cert (there was a fine to pay for late registration) and my mother in law will cause problems in years to come as she is known by a name which is neither her real first or middle-name, but I doubt this name is used on any official document.

Jan

[janan]

Having read your other thread

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,362197.15.html

I would think George Hughes Mundell was worth following up - if only to rule him out.

Jan

[Stella77]

Hi Nanny Jan, Sarah, Little Nell and Jan 

Thank you for your replies to my query, it is much appreciated.

The only name of any relation on his side is on his marriage & death cert. giving Ben's father's name as Henry - an engine driver.  There is nothing about his mother at all.

The 1881 census  is the correct one. In 1871 it was written Mundill instead of Mundell.

I meant to paste the address link to my other threads to help give a back ground into my family, that Liz has helped me with and also two genealogist here in NZ.

Ben's family
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,362197.0.html

Ben's wife's family
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,376351.0.html

I can't find any baptism records.  I have found his name in the Hull City Archives (on line) as to the lease of a farm they lived in, in Keyingham.  The name Benjamin Mundell was on the lease, the name he seems to have used in everything, relating to himself and family...

He is not a helpful chap at all!!  Apparently he never spoke of his family, only the love he had for his aunt who raised him like a mother.

Birthday's seem to cause a lot of confusion some times!  I can see why they always say 'about' in a census transcription.

I wont give up, I just have to keep digging.. if necessary I will go under the brick walls instead of trying to knock them down.  So many things can complicate history, our  ancesters weren't going to make it easy for us... 'make them work'  

Thank you again for your help.
Stella
 

[Stella77]

Hi Jan

Just saw you last post.  Do you think it would be worth while getting the birth cert. for George?

I've been debating it since I saw the middle name of Hughes.

Very confusing 

Stella
 

[janan]

Hi Stella

Well as the registration is the right quarter for the birth date you have and Kirkstall district covers areas of Leeds and I can't see a George Mundell born Yorks c1862 on censuses, nor can I see an early death for him - lets say I would order the certificate, it does look promising and worth a gamble  

Jan