Is it worth the bother?

[Annie65115]

I'm not asking anyone to do any work for me, just see if people feel it would be worth while looking harder at records if they were in this position (and I'm sure many of you have been!)

One line of my tree is the BALE family from a village in Leicestershire.

Now I have started to look at PRs and to my dismay cannot sort out family lines at all. Bale, Ball, Bull, Beale, Bell, Beal, Bail - I can't tell if these were misspellings over the years or different families altogether. Therefore I really can't be sure who was whose kinsfolk. (I'm going back pre-BMD here so PRs are my only hope!)

I suspect I could drive myself mad over this puzzle if I let myself. Is it worth it? Do folks think I'd be likely to disentangle the info if I spend long enough on it?

I've been spoiled so far - v few of my names are easily confused with those of their neighbours - so haven't been in this situation before!

[Just Kia]

It really depends on how interested you are.
I have some lines where I did spend time trying to figure them out (with varying degrees of success) and others where I decided I wasn't interested enough at that time and that I may go back to them later on.

[Sikes]

I have been in a similar position with Matthews, Mathews, Mathew and Mathewe. My method of sorting them out was to write them all out on a few pieces of A3 with dates and then try and link them up, to include them or discount them. You could also look for patterns, did they name their children after themselves and / or their parents / grandparents etc

It depends how much work you want to put in. You could also possibly cross check with directories, wills etc

[jo1962]

Frustrating isn't It?  I have the same problem with Leigh - Lee, Legh, Lea  As mentioned in a previous reply I made a list of all names and dates and put them away until I felt sufficiently motivated to have a 'stab' at them. I've not yet sorted out whose who but I have made some small progress so stick at it and give it some time now and again and  see how far you get.

[Jeuel]

Only YOU can decide whether its worth the bother.

FWIW I have two families in a tiny Warks village, parents Richard & Hannah, that I'm trying toQ disentangle.  If the vicar had put both Hannahs' maiden names it would have made life simpler.

Similarly, trying to find my gt x 3 Norfolk grandmother, surname Seals.  There are a few Seals in the register but none around the right time frame to be immediate family.  But there are also Scarls, Searles, Sales etc.  I've just recorded all the instances and drawn trees where I can for the separate families in the hope that further info may help me include or eliminate them.

Quite often, even if the surname is spelt consistently, you find yourself faced with several John Massinghams who marry Marys and can't sort out which is whom!

[Greensleeves]

I have similar problems with my Sedgwicks, and was rather surprised to find that they were originally Sidgwicks, and prior to that Siggiswykes, so you can imagine the number of combinations you can get out of that lot.  For quite some years the family, for no accountable reason that I can find, was known as Sigsworth, before reverting to Sidgwick again.  All very frustrating, but quite fascinating!

[joboy]

Of course it's worth the bother ......... the thrill of the chase! ......... we've all been there (and still are).
PR's are notorious for mistranscriptions and it is important to bear in mind that there existed fierce opposition to the education of the masses even until the early to mid 1800's and people could often not spell their names resulting in number of variations that are recorded.
I instance one IGI record that I made years ago where a family who were in Holborn in thr 1820's had a name that was spelt reasonably close to my own and they had eight children four of whom had identical surnames and the other four each had differing (but similar) surnames.
I put this information on the 'back burner' for several years until my family tree pattern became more clear and then took a look at the St Andrew's Holborn parish records which were in relatively poor condition but clear enough to see the different spellings and I subsequently 'claimed' this family from 1841 onward.
I refer you to the following which covers the vicious attitude of the better off toward the poor.
Gillard D (2007) Education in England: a brief history www.educationengland.org.uk/history
Joe

[Tricia_2]

This thread reminds me of my own asking about proof ~ 'The burden of Proof':
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,488422.msg3469127.html#msg3469127

Sometimes it seems impossible to find out the truth, but one can never tell when some useful information will be discovered, so, as with the others, above, I think that it is worth keeping a note of the possible relatives, making mini-trees for them where possible, and seeing if anything fits ~ not necessarily now, but possibly in the future

[patrexjax]

HI!  Oh, yes! It's definitely worth the bother!  If I hadn't tried to sort out some of the variant spellings in my lines I would have missed entirely the fact that I have several instances of cousins marrying cousins.    Pat