I have been asked how you know that you have the right people when you are researching a family tree.
This has been brought to my notice these last two weeks since I found on the web some of my ancesors. However, after one ancestor the facts differed. I had his parents as one set of people, and the web family had his parents as another set of people. I do not yet know which is right. I am still searching for the evidence as it was not apparent on the tree I was looking at. However I contacted the person whose tree it is and have been told how she came to the conclusion she did. However I still need to do the research myself to prove without a doubt which is correct.
Since then I have been going through my ged-file to make sure that I have evidence for all the people in my tree!
I was asked of one person in my tree "How do you know he is called William when he was known as Ben?"
The answer: I started with a known person and looked up her birth.
The birth showed the name of her mother's surname.
I then searched for the marriage registration, starting from the mother's surname (ie. we know the surname of the father) and matching the person married with the mother's maiden name.
I then crossed checked starting with the mother's maiden name and matching it with the grooms name.
Now I know the Christian and Surname of the mother and the father of the person I started with.
Once you have the person, check the census to see if you can find evidence of their family. This is not always easy to do, as there might be several in the same area. Check the ages of the people involved to see if they tally with the evidence you already have.
Check another census of a different year to see if you can find the same family which will give you more clues as to who was in it, siblings, mother-in- laws, etc.
In this census I was looking for a "Daisy Ellen Smith" who I knew was born in 1884:
1901 England Census Record
Name: Daisy Ellen Smith
Age: 16
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1885
Relation: Daughter
Father's name: Frederick
Gender: Female
Where born: Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England
Civil parish: Kidderminster
Ecclesiastical parish: St George
County/Island: Worcestershire
Country: England
Registration district: Kidderminster
Daisy Ellen Smith 16
Frederick Smith 63
Janet Smith 24
Minnie Smith 14Samuel Grey Smith 19
The next census I checked was the 1881 census for "Frederick Smith of Kidderminster":
Household Record 1881 British Census
Frederic SMITH Head M Male 43 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Tailor
Eliza SMITH Wife M Female 37 Kidderminster, Worcester, England
Caroline SMITH Daur Female 15 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Spinner
Francis SMITH Son Male 13 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Errand Boy
William SMITH Son Male 11 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Scholar
Edwin SMITH Son Male 9 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Scholar
Albert E. SMITH Son Male 7 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Scholar
Janet SMITH Daur Female 4 Kidderminster, Worcester, England Scholar
Hugh SMITH Son Male 2 Kidderminster, Worcester, England
As you will see, the 1881 census has the same daughter called "Janet", ten years younger this time.
We now know the name of both parents of Daisy Ellen Smith, and her siblings too.
Some counties have the parish records on line. In this case you can check baptisms, which show the names of the parents.
The parish marriage records can be used when you know one person but not the surname of the other. The marriage record will show this.
The baptism of Mary Upham showed me her parents:
UPHAM Mary Ann 14 Mar 1819 George Elizabeth 117 labourer
(Transcription from Lydeard St Lawrence " St Lawrence with Brompton" Parish Registers, Somerset 16 May 1573 - 8 October 1903)
I know the father is George Upham.
The banns shows: UPHAM George 16 Apr 1817 Elizabeth REED 11 banns labourer Mary Dibble Betsy Reed
(Transcription from Lydeard St Lawrence " St Lawrence with Brompton" Parish Registers, Somerset 16 May 1573 - 23 Jul 1837)
I now know the Christian and Surname of the mother .