Genealogy Forum UK

I'm trying to choose the correct John Milner and I haven't got a clue how to pick the correct one! I have found 4 which are just so similar:

Name: John Milner
Gender: Male
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 20 Jan 1790
Baptism Place: St Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, England
Father: John Milner
Mother: Elizabeth Milner
Register Type: Parish Register

Name: John Milner
Gender: Male
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 17 Jan 1790
Baptism Place: St Paul, Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, Middlesex, England
Father: John Milner
Mother: Susanna Milner
Register Type: Parish Register

Name: John Milner
Gender: Male
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 7 Jun 1789
Baptism Place: St Pancras Old Church, Camden, Middlesex, England
Father: Thos Milner
Mother: Henrietta Milner
Register Type: Parish Register

Name: John Milner
Gender: Male
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 28 Nov 1785
Baptism Place: St Mary, Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, Middlesex, England
Father: John Milner
Mother: Pentecost Cleaver Milner
Register Type: Parish Register

He witnessed his son, Henry's wedding in Hackney in 1838 and was a weaver.

Does anyone know how I make this decision?

TIA. Mizz

I sometimes find myself following up all possible alternatives until they can be discounted.

SRD wrote:I sometimes find myself following up all possible alternatives until they can be discounted.

How do I discount them?

You can sometimes find that he names children after his parents.

Jimmy wrote:You can sometimes find that he names children after his parents.

I do I find who his parents are if I can't decide which John Milner is correct? His descendant was Henry Milner.

Mizztraveller wrote:

SRD wrote:I sometimes find myself following up all possible alternatives until they can be discounted.

How do I discount them?

If you map each of the possibilities you might find some of the options fall more readily into different scenarios, for instance emigration papers and foreign census records, military service records, gravestones, etc. might give dates of birth that relate directly to one or other of them. UK census records can also help as the births occur each side of census date (it's fair to assume that most christenings occur soon after birth) so if ages regularly occur a year greater or less that's a pointer. Other records within area (e.g. marriage) can add to the evidence. Trades often run in families so look at both parents' families to see if they follow similar trades.
You'll find you've ended up with quite a lot of info, and tree details, of people who aren't in your direct family but might prove useful in the future.

SRD wrote:

Mizztraveller wrote:

SRD wrote:I sometimes find myself following up all possible alternatives until they can be discounted.

How do I discount them?

If you map each of the possibilities you might find some of the options fall more readily into different scenarios, for instance emigration papers and foreign census records, military service records, gravestones, etc. might give dates of birth that relate directly to one or other of them. UK census records can also help as the births occur each side of census date (it's fair to assume that most christenings occur soon after birth) so if ages regularly occur a year greater or less that's a pointer. Other records within area (e.g. marriage) can add to the evidence. Trades often run in families so look at both parents' families to see if they follow similar trades.
You'll find you've ended up with quite a lot of info, and tree details, of people who aren't in your direct family but might prove useful in the future.

Thanks for the advice, it's very useful. However, being born in the late 1790's the census isn't helpful. If he was still alive in 1840 at the time of the first census, his son Henry had left home and was married by then so I can't find the connection that way. Unfortunately none of these parish records show images so I don't see the occupation of the father to see if John's occupation of weaver was in the family. There really is very little to go on in the 1700's!

Is this your Henry?

1841. West Street, Bethnal Green.
Henry Milner 22. weaver.
Keturah Milner 27.
Henry Milner 2.

Mizztraveller wrote:
Thanks for the advice, it's very useful. However, being born in the late 1790's the census isn't helpful. If he was still alive in 1840 at the time of the first census, his son Henry had left home and was married by then so I can't find the connection that way. Unfortunately none of these parish records show images so I don't see the occupation of the father to see if John's occupation of weaver was in the family. There really is very little to go on in the 1700's!

There may be other family members in the census who can be traced to a line, for instance grand-children can be traced back via baptisms to show a parent with a different name but the same birth year or, in a similar way, in-laws via marriage records. Any of those may be sufficient to discount a particular person. Also some local census type records, showing local ratings and occupancy, exist from before the 1840s.
You could also check death/burial records if there is a suitable infant burial in the same parish that might discount. Similarly marriages within the parish, especially if both are otp, would give evidence.
If it were me I would gather together all of the available evidence for all of the John Milner's in that period and try to reconstruct each one of their trees.

Jimmy wrote:Is this your Henry?

1841. West Street, Bethnal Green.
Henry Milner 22. weaver.
Keturah Milner 27.
Henry Milner 2.

Yes it is! It's his father, John, I'm trying to identify.

Is this still a Brickwall, or have you solved it?

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