Revisiting brickwalls and "backburners".

[hepburn]

Mine's a great grandfather who is in the census as born in Montreal.I can't find over there and I can't find him when he first came over here.

[Knight-Sunderland]

The WORST type of brick wall is where you know the answer exists... but it's impossible to piece together.

My ancestor James Parker was baptised in Ryton, Co Durham on 26 July 1789, the only info recorded is "son of John Parker"... no occupation, no mothers name, nothing. There were at least THREE John Parkers married and having children simultaneously in that time period at that location and the parish records give such minimal information it is likely to be impossible to pin point exactly which John is the right one.

Frustrating!!!

[Lewis21]

I fully agree with Knight-Sunderland. I have a number I can think of but the main one that sticks out to me is my ancestor Thomas Elliott, who started in the merchant service and went on to become a master mariner. Naturally I assumed at the outset he'd be a very easy one to find as he literally provided his date of birth, 25 July 1825, and the place, Marylebone, Middlesex. His marriage certificate in 1851 says his father was James, a mariner (deceased). And yet, with all this, I haven't had a shred of luck in finding any record of his baptism, but I am certain it must be out there. He moved to Sunderland at some point prior to getting married, and he is on the 1851 census there. There are a bunch of potential Thomas Elliotts in London in 1841, but none seem right, and his mariner's tickets give the impression he may have already gone to sea by then. Hoping one day that elusive baptism will show up.

Another is an ancestor who was born illegitimately in 1874, his birth certificate just giving his mother's name. It means that such a huge chunk of the family tree is missing on that side, but with any luck, one day it can be pieced together and his father's family can be found.

[J.R.Ellam]

Hi

I have several brick walls, I keep going back to they & I have just managed to make a break through in the Limb branch.
I noticed I had another Limb family linked to another branch & I followed it back & noticed a separate family that was linked too the Limb's branch.
But I am still working on the connexion. Keeps my quiet.

John

[coombs]

The WORST type of brick wall is where you know the answer exists... but it's impossible to piece together.

My ancestor James Parker was baptised in Ryton, Co Durham on 26 July 1789, the only info recorded is "son of John Parker"... no occupation, no mothers name, nothing. There were at least THREE John Parkers married and having children simultaneously in that time period at that location and the parish records give such minimal information it is likely to be impossible to pin point exactly which John is the right one.

Frustrating!!!

I have an ancestor called Patience Brown of Bishop Auckland, Co Durham. Born 1759, baptism just says "Daughter of John Brown of Bishop Auckland". I think she had a brother Robert as Patience Stewart witnessed a marriage of Robert Brown in 1797 in BA. Patrice Brown wed my Scottish ancestor John Stewart in 1789 in Bishop Auckland. The 1798-1812 Barrington registers for their later children gave John Stewart's place of birth as Selkirk, and patience a native of Bishop Auckland.

Co Durham does seem to have many many instances of the same surnames, similar to Wales, thus making it harder. Many, many Robson's, Coepland's, Browns, Hodgson's, Wilson's etc.

[coombs]

One ancestor of interest is Joseph Stillington/Stinnington (c1700-1751) a brickmaker of Romford in Essex who wed twice, at the Fleet prison in London. He was later a collier in Langdon Hills, Essex. He had children Robert, James, Martha and Mary. I descend from Mary. In 1746, Joseph Stillington and John Alsop were allowed to fell wood in Hadleigh, Benfleet and Leigh in Essex. The surname Stillington is mainly a Leicestershire/Rutland and Yorkshire surname. A Michael Stenning wed Joane Alsop in 1705 in Benfleet. They had no known children Joseph but a Son Richard in 1706. Possibly coincidence. A Susan Stilleman wed John Kilby in Langdon Hills in 1730 and Joseph Stillington's 2nd wife was the widow of Robert Kilby, John's brother. Susan was the daughter of Henry Stilleman of Laindon, Essex. Again no Joseph in the family. Stilleman/Stillman/Stillington/Stinnington/Stileman etc. If you add all variants of the surname there were several in Essex, Kent and London but usually Joseph said he was Stinnington or Stillington.

[BushInn1746]

"I think we all have ancestors who we see as on the back burner. Brickwalls whom we keep in mind and occasionally revisit them to see if anything new crops up."

Hear hear

I've still got all the images printed off and filed for the possibles too. Plus jottings and researched Tree bits drawn in numerous notebooks, plus loose notes that we produced over the last 30 years!

We are like Detectives trying to solve the unsolvable Murder or serious crime.

I think we all have ancestors who we see as on the back burner. Brickwalls whom we keep in mind and occasionally revisit them to see if anything new crops up. As we know it is not easy and often we are no more knowledgeable than before, but we still keep them on the backburner. One day we may strike lucky. But if you focus too much on a certain brickwall it can become overwhelming so best to leave that line for a while.

For instance, using an example, my ancestor James Gater, a maltster of Burford, Oxfordshire. Born c1680, died 1737 in Burford. No instances of the surname seem to be in Burford before his 1711 marriage to Hannah Bayliss, and he did not leave a will. I have a beady eye on the James Gater born in 1679 in Lambourn, Berkshire, about 15 miles south of Burford, son of Wm and Eliz. But it is tough trying to establish if they are the same person, or even if they are not. James's son James Gater born 1714 took on a Thomas Wentworth as a baker apprentice in 1745 in Burford and there seems to be several Wentworth families in the Lambourn area and Bedwyn Wilts. James Gater Snr seemed to have work connections to Gt Rissington in Gloucestershire.

And another example is my ancestor John Lucking (c1722-1786) of Foulness, Essex, his age at death was said to be 64 in 1786. I found a website about 20 years ago (long taken down now but seemed legit) which said he was the 1722 born son of Isaiah Lucking and Hannah who moved from nearby Shoebury to Foulness in the late 1720s. But I also found a John Lucking born 1725 in Shoebury to John and Mary Lucking (seems John Snr was a Shoebury parish clerk later on). A John Lucking was buried in Shoebury in 1727, no info as to whether infant or not but not John the clerk as him and Mary had children up to about 1740.

My John (c1722-1786) wed Eliz Otley in 1752 in Foulness and did not have any known children called Isaiah. But it is likely the John born 1722 and John born 1725 were first cousins. But it seems through witnesses to marriages, my John (c1722-1876) had a sister Mary (also known as Eliz) who wed Tho Harper in 1744 in North Shoebury. A Mary Lucking was born 1723 in Shoebury to John and Mary Lucking. Isaiah never seemed to have any known children called Eliz or Mary in the 1720s. But had a Jane and Joseph, as did John Lucking and Mary. Isaiah Lucking's family has been traced back quite a long way to vicars of Bucks, Leicestershire and Yorkshire.

Above are just 2 examples of brickwalls that I occasionally revisit and try to chip away at.

[BushInn1746]

My ancestor known as George Hood of Selby with no Baptism or Birth record, rented two of his properties 1812 to 1835 from Ld Petre (per Land Tax), then along with several others in 1835-6 was involved in a Bargain & Sale with the Rt. Hon. William Henry Francis Lord Petre and Henry Charles Howard the Earl of Surrey and the Hon. Edward Robert Petre late of Stapleton Park, but now residing in Brussels, (Registered at Wakefield).

Petre and Surrey and George Hood, sign.

We went to Lancs Archives, Hull University Archives (Hist Centre) and enquired at Essex Record Office about the Petre Stourton Rental records for the Manor of Selby Township, but none found for the years wanted.
 ----------
George Hood, Cooper, took over Richard Gibson's business premises (rented from Lord Petre), but we can't use Gibson's Bankruptcy file 1807 - 1810 to check if there was a family relationship with Gibson, because not all files were preserved in the 'B 3' Series (TNA).

We are thwarted by being unable to check other records, due to their non-survival.

[BushInn1746]

I revisit brickwalls too.  Last night I revisited one and wanted to consult the wonderful Roads family tree that used to be available on Rootsweb, alas no longer.  :-(

Have you tried searching 'Wayback Machine'

"Explore more than 866 billion web pages saved over time"

https://wayback-api.archive.org/

Mark