Common themes in your bloodline?

[quest40]

Hello stevew101,
I've just noticed that you are interested in the name Warwick and the village of Little Hadham.  This caught my eye as my husband's great grandparents William Prior and Elizabeth Parker were married in Little Hadham on 31 December 1859, and one of the witnesses was Samuel Warwick.  Just wondered if he was a connection of yours?
Ann

[Stanwix England]

One thing I've found a lot of in my family which gave me pause for thought was double barreled names, where only one child was given the double barrel. Usually the mothers maiden name. It surprised me because I only found this out after I decided to double barrel my name after marriage.

Another thing I've noticed is slightly unusual first names. It makes me smile because a lot of the siblings have very normal names. It's almost as though they ran out of nice normal biblical type names and went "oh stuff it lets just call this one 'Leaf'" 

[Graham47]

I have found two cases of that in my paternal line where the mothers maiden name has been used but not as a double-barrelled name as such, more as a middle name as/or presumably, they would have been "passed down the line" so to speak.

Is there a distinction between the two?

Other than that, I'm not a fan of them myself especially where a hyphenated forename name such as Sarah-Jane, is paired up with a double barrelled surname and moreover, one that has been constructed rather than adopted.

[iluleah]

Ah You have reminded me, yes me too. I have maiden names used as childrens middle names and then the next generation use it as a given name adding another maiden name, two of which are now 'family' given names but really that is just reverting to origin as many surnames were once given names before people took surnames and it is very useful in finding maternal ancestry.

Also a whole line going back who used their middle names in daily use instead of their first given name, I looked for a long time to find my grandfather and siblings who I knew as one name only to eventually find their baptisms all were using 'different' names and I should have known as their children also all use their middle names in daily use, it was only when I look at census and cross reference baptisms and for earlier ones their birth certs. Even my cousins when they married I remember listening to the service and thought they were called one name that I always knew them by only to find they too use their middle names and my grandmother only gave her two children one given name in an attempt to stop this continuing

Only the other day I saw a post from a  new rootschat member asking about her great grandfather 'Benjamin' but didn't recognise the name used yesterday when I checked my database using a wild card, I found him he was baptised 'John Benjamin'  and looking at census it seemed be used Benjamin

[bykerlads]

Taking the period 1800-1900, it's a very noticable theme that the branches of the family who lived in the areas of West Yorkshire where the textile industry developed did not need to move about to get work and also thrived and had very large, heathly families- though they were ordinary working folk, they had at least a chance of earning a living wage and the older children could work in the mills.
It is striking  that those who lived higher up on the hills above the unhealthy valley bottoms were especially successful at rearing large famillies.

[bearsome]

The greatest theme in both my family's history and my husband's is definite working/labouring class. It was farming or farm labouring in my husband's family (Surrey and Norfolk), and cab driving and general dealers in my family, in London, either side of the Thames.

I also came across a double-barrelled name in my husband's tree, in that his maternal grandmother's maiden name was Mandall Hall. Knowing she came from a family of farm labourers, I couldn't understand why or how. Tracing back some way, I eventually found out that a male Mandall (very common surname in a particular area) married a female Hall, but HE was a farmer ie owned land and was eventually recorded as being of 'independent means', as was she after she was widowed. So, the double-barrelled name obviously had status indications.  Sadly, their son is recorded as being a farm labourer after the parents had died. Still haven't found out where all the money/land went!

[Rishile]

Another common theme I have in my trees.  Most of my families lived next to or in pubs 

Rishile

[bearsome]

Another common theme I have in my trees.  Most of my families lived next to or in pubs 

Rishile

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me! 

[iluleah]

Another common theme I have in my trees.  Most of my families lived next to or in pubs 

Rishile

Sounds like you have sensible ancestors Rishile