Genealogy Forum UK

I am wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions as to finding parents.
Ideally a marriage will give a fathers name with which to use to help locate the birth and then hopefully the mother. The process can then start again for the parents so taking the research back further.
What happens if there is no fathers name on the record ?

I have located a marriage for William & Elizabeth Audley direct ancestors found on the 1841 census. The marriage of William Audley and Elizabeth Lowe takes place at St Phillips on 17 April 1818. Unfortunately there's no fathers named for either. The witnesses George and Sarah Coldwell after further investigation appear to be Elizabeth's sister and brother in law. As the 1841 census gives ages in banks of 5 the age is only approximate. I have found 2 christenings at St Phillips a month apart, one in Sep 1792 the other in Oct same year with different parents.
Could someone enlighten me as to a way to pinpoint which William is correct, if indeed it is one of these and not another ?

Steve

It is really difficult to be sure who the parents are before the advent of registration in 1837.

I have found the only way is to see the actual copy of the baptism in the Parish Records, this may sometimes give the address or the occupation of the father, and you can try and tie it up that way.

Marriages before 1837, don't give the name of the father, only the names of witnesses, of course one of these may be the father, but there is no certainty.

Maggie

Antie Em wrote:I have found the only way is to see the actual copy of the baptism in the Parish Records, this may sometimes give the address or the occupation of the father, and you can try and tie it up that way.
Maggie

Thx Maggie, I didn't realise that you didn't get a fathers name on the parish record The record I have appears to have a possible space for a parent / guardian a " with consent of " space, but on this occasion its left blank.

If thats the case I don't see how looking at the Baptism record helps. If I don't know the fathers name / occupation I have nothing to tie to ?

A difficult game this Genealogy lol

Steve

stormswift wrote:

Antie Em wrote:I have found the only way is to see the actual copy of the baptism in the Parish Records, this may sometimes give the address or the occupation of the father, and you can try and tie it up that way.
Maggie

Thx Maggie, I didn't realise that you didn't get a fathers name on the parish record The record I have appears to have a possible space for a parent / guardian a " with consent of " space, but on this occasion its left blank.

If thats the case I don't see how looking at the Baptism record helps. If I don't know the fathers name / occupation I have nothing to tie to ?

A difficult game this Genealogy lol

Steve

It ceratinly is Steve - I managed to get back to the 1500's with my grandmothers family, but this was only because they lived in a small Cornish Village and were very involved in the church. Anyone who was born, married, or died was mentioned in the Parish Records and I did get a lot of information from the gravestones in the village church.

If you can get hold of buriel records, they usually give you precious information. If you don't live in the area, you can usually order the films in at your local LDS Centre. Could be worth a try.

Good Luck - Maggie

If there happens to be a will that sometimes helped -- I have one family where there appears to be an extra daughter mentioned in the will -- by her married name -- who I haven't found any where else --

In your case a will might mention the family plus witnesses as both being children and fix them that way

stormswift wrote:

Antie Em wrote:I have found the only way is to see the actual copy of the baptism in the Parish Records, this may sometimes give the address or the occupation of the father, and you can try and tie it up that way.
Maggie

Thx Maggie, I didn't realise that you didn't get a fathers name on the parish record The record I have appears to have a possible space for a parent / guardian a " with consent of " space, but on this occasion its left blank.

If thats the case I don't see how looking at the Baptism record helps. If I don't know the fathers name / occupation I have nothing to tie to ?

A difficult game this Genealogy lol

Steve

If you follow the family through the censuses you sometimes find that parents come to live with children or grandchildren in their old age, sometimes grandchildren are staying with grandparents on census night etc. In those cases profession can be useful in matching up families.