Relationships......I don't know where else to ask this

[IreneH]

I am sure Rod will remove this if it is in the wrong place.

I have a Thomas who has a sister called Hannah. Now Thomas had two sons. One of the sons had a daughter called Sarah
Now... if Thomas's sons are Hannah's nephews then Sarah, should be Hannah's great niece.
Right?

So how come she is listed as a sister-in-law in the 1901 census?

Irene

[Peter Goodey]

You haven't said who the head of the household was.

Whoever it was, she was shown as sister-in-law because that's the way the head of the household chose to describe her.

The term in-law was used much more loosely in the past. In fact people often tended to be very vague about any relationship outside the immediate family. I have one ot two census examples where the householder's brain seems to have gone into meltdown working it out and in desperation just wrote "relation".

A common source of confusion in censuses is, say, son-in-law being used where we would say stepson (or "son" where we might say "stepson", probably more common). There are many others as you have found. You'll find more as you drill back into the past. "Brother" for "brother-in-law" is another confusing one!

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Hi Irene,

This is my best one! :D The * are the correct relationships (all proved)

1881 Census RG11/1717 /18/16

Mary A. Austin abt 1831 Waltham, Essex, Head West Ham Essex
William E. Brook abt 1844 Mistley, Essex, Brother in Law West Ham Essex * Son-in-Law
Ellen Brook abt 1848 Kirby, Essex, Sister West Ham Essex * Daughter
Grace E. Brook abt 1871 Greenwich, Kent, Niece West Ham Essex * Grandaughter
Sophie S. Brook abt 1873 Greenwich, Kent, Niece West Ham Essex * Grandaughter
William E. Brook abt 1880 Birmingham, Warwickshire, Nephew West Ham Essex * Grandson
George S. Austin abt 1864 Colchester, Essex, Brother West Ham Essex * Son

[IreneH]

Hi Peter and Diane,

This is the first one I've struck like this. After I'd posted I wrote it up on a whiteboard and did the arrows thing with it. Sarah was Thomas's granddaughter, Hannah was Thomas's sister. Sarah, in 1901, was living with Hannah and her husband.
It had me really confused for a while because Thomas had two sisters called Sarah (one died) and married a lady called Hannah!
I kept getting her confused with Thomas's sister Sarah but the ages didn't make sense and being called a sister-in-law.. It wasn't helped by having two Hannahs two Thomass and three Sarahs in the picture. :D

Irene