Genealogy Chat

I know I may never find out, but I would like your ideas on:

My great grandmother Emma had two older sisters, called Eliza Ellen and Annie Broad. This is how they appear on 1881 census. In 1891, Eliza Ellen is calling herself Ellen Broad and stays the same in 1901. In 1891 Annie is now Elizabeth A. and she married in 1897 as Elizabeth Anne. She is also Elizabeth Anne Hawkins (married name) in 1901. Why? I've also lost their brothers George b. 1856 and James b. 1859 in Mawgan, Cornwall. If you have any bright ideas about which names they might be using I would be glad to hear them! I know George was dead before 1925, whereas James was still alive, but I can't find either on 1891 or 1901. nell

Nell, I don't have any suggestions for your family, but maybe this might help? I found an 1871 census, with my gt-grandfather and his siblings. But, the parents names were wrong. Turns out, 'James' (the father) had remarried during that year, which explains why the mother's name was Emily instead of Susanna(h). I THINK his name is written as Joseph instead of James because he went by his middle name for some reason. I've read that names were handed down in families and when the father was still alive, the son was known by his middle name. Once the father died, the son might start using his first name. Don't know how true this is. However in my case, there were a lot of James with the same surname in the family -- perhaps this was a way of identifying all of the family members. Perhaps either George or James started using another name? Just a thought, anyway. One other thing, several people on GR have mentioned their ancestors living in North America for a bit, then returning to the UK. Could they have left the UK as well?

Regarding the sisters, could there have been an error on the 1881 census? I've found several errors with my ancestors (Canadian census): ages were wrong (most likely an error on my ancestors' part), names were VERY misspelled, and date of arrival in Canada was off by 10 years.

Nell I've looked for George and James before with no luck. Could it be they were in the forces and maybe settled abroad? Debby

Hi Helen do you have birth certs for Eliza Ellen and Annie or baptism records. I noticed only two George & Kate on the IGI i have been looking on family history online as they hold lots of records for Cornwall and Mawgan. If Annie was born Elizabeth Ann then they were just using a pet name for her Annie. But already having a daughter named Eliza makes you wonder why they would call another Elizabeth. Regarding the two lads George & James i will investigate more. They were still around in 1871 as servants at 15 and 12 did you say you have them in 1881 and its 1891 and 1901 you havent. Regarding pet names my Grt Grandad's sister was called Jane on every census till her death 1900 aged 32 and on her gravestone she is called Jennie and its definalty her as the grave is a few yard away from her parents. Col xxxxxxxx

Thank you all for your thoughts. I don't have Eliza Ellen or Annie's birth certs, but I have info about their baptisms from the OPC, and Eliza Ellen's birth registration is in the GRO indexes as Broad, Eliza Ellen. James and George appear as those names in earlier censuses. James isn't on the 1881, but I found a George who might be mine as a gardener in Wales in 1881. Nell

Hi Helen Elizabeth Ann Broad birth reg St Columb 1864 Oct -Dec Quarter ref number 5c 115. So it looks like James & Honor did have an Eliza and an Elizabeth Regards Colette xxxxxxxxxx

Maggie Thanks for your input - useful to know I'm not unique and as you say my rellies are just going to stay there till they are found. Colette Brilliant! I don't know why I didn't think of that. It's just odd that Annie is Annie in 1871 and 1881. Maybe she decided Elizabeth Anne was more grown up. Eliza Ellen obviously dropped the Eliza (perhaps because there were so many of them about in the late 1800s!) I will carry on looking for George and James. nell