Peter Goodey
23-06-2006, 11:13 AM
Not so much a success story - more of a blunder really. But you can have a good laugh at my expense. Bear with me...
Got a child’s birth certificate – parents were Sidney and Jennie.
Obtained the marriage certificate of Sidney and Jennie. Sidney’s father’s name was Samuel, a horsekeeper.
Located the family in census returns with a reasonable degree of confidence (but it was London and a common surname - Adams). The father was Samuel who was a horsekeeper; his wife was Sarah and the children were Mary, Sidney, Simeon, Arthur & Frederick.
Got Sidney’s birth certificate.
Got some data from the London Gazette confirming details of Sidney’s civil service career. Didn’t seriously pursue his earlier military life (too many called Sidney Adams for comfort!).
His parents were born in a rural area so from parish registers it was plain sailing back to the 1700s.
Some nagging doubts remained. Had I got the right birth certificate for Sidney and the right horsekeeping Samuel? It was also strange that some children were missing from some censuses (Sidney was missing from 1881 when he should have been one year old; Simeon was missing from 1891; neither Sidney nor Simeon were in the 1901 but family legend has it that at least one of them was in the Boer War).
To try to nail this on the head, I searched for Sidney’s death certificate. Family recollection is that he died in the mid 1950s in the Croydon area. Fair enough…ploughed through the GRO indexes…until…
A moment of horror! Staring out of the page at me is the death of a Simeon Adams!
Got the death certificate and the corresponding birth certificate for Simeon. The death was registered by one of Simeon’s sons, Sidney Arthur John, who the family have always known as being the son of Sidney and Jennie.
His parents were born in a rural area so from parish registers it was plain sailing back to the 1700s. Some nagging doubts remained. Had I got the right birth certificate for Sidney and the right horsekeeping Samuel? It was also strange that some children were missing from some censuses (Sidney was missing from 1881 when he should have been one year old; Simeon was missing from 1891; neither Sidney nor Simeon were in the 1901 but family legend has it that at least one of them was in the Boer War).
Now the really embarrassing bit - a search through some family papers revealed that Simeon’s birth date exactly matched family reminiscences of the birth date of the father they knew as Sidney.
“Sidney” was actually Simeon!
Why was his death registered under the name of Simeon? Presumably because his NHS records were under the name of Simeon. On the other hand, his civil service records showed Sidney and also I suspect, his military records (an assumption based on there being nothing in the WW1 medal rolls for Simeon Adams but plenty to choose from for Sidney Adams). As already mentioned, “Sidney” was the name given on his marriage certificate and his children’s birth certificates.
Why the change of name? I suspect that the real Sidney died in infancy (a possible death certificate is on order). Simeon’s father, Samuel, probably would not have tolerated a change of name (Simeon was Samuel’s father’s name). After Samuel’s death, I suspect the mother simply started calling her eldest surviving son Sidney in memory of the dead baby
There are some lessons here. Don’t jump to a conclusion even when a lot of the data seems to support it and don’t mislay family papers!
Got a child’s birth certificate – parents were Sidney and Jennie.
Obtained the marriage certificate of Sidney and Jennie. Sidney’s father’s name was Samuel, a horsekeeper.
Located the family in census returns with a reasonable degree of confidence (but it was London and a common surname - Adams). The father was Samuel who was a horsekeeper; his wife was Sarah and the children were Mary, Sidney, Simeon, Arthur & Frederick.
Got Sidney’s birth certificate.
Got some data from the London Gazette confirming details of Sidney’s civil service career. Didn’t seriously pursue his earlier military life (too many called Sidney Adams for comfort!).
His parents were born in a rural area so from parish registers it was plain sailing back to the 1700s.
Some nagging doubts remained. Had I got the right birth certificate for Sidney and the right horsekeeping Samuel? It was also strange that some children were missing from some censuses (Sidney was missing from 1881 when he should have been one year old; Simeon was missing from 1891; neither Sidney nor Simeon were in the 1901 but family legend has it that at least one of them was in the Boer War).
To try to nail this on the head, I searched for Sidney’s death certificate. Family recollection is that he died in the mid 1950s in the Croydon area. Fair enough…ploughed through the GRO indexes…until…
A moment of horror! Staring out of the page at me is the death of a Simeon Adams!
Got the death certificate and the corresponding birth certificate for Simeon. The death was registered by one of Simeon’s sons, Sidney Arthur John, who the family have always known as being the son of Sidney and Jennie.
His parents were born in a rural area so from parish registers it was plain sailing back to the 1700s. Some nagging doubts remained. Had I got the right birth certificate for Sidney and the right horsekeeping Samuel? It was also strange that some children were missing from some censuses (Sidney was missing from 1881 when he should have been one year old; Simeon was missing from 1891; neither Sidney nor Simeon were in the 1901 but family legend has it that at least one of them was in the Boer War).
Now the really embarrassing bit - a search through some family papers revealed that Simeon’s birth date exactly matched family reminiscences of the birth date of the father they knew as Sidney.
“Sidney” was actually Simeon!
Why was his death registered under the name of Simeon? Presumably because his NHS records were under the name of Simeon. On the other hand, his civil service records showed Sidney and also I suspect, his military records (an assumption based on there being nothing in the WW1 medal rolls for Simeon Adams but plenty to choose from for Sidney Adams). As already mentioned, “Sidney” was the name given on his marriage certificate and his children’s birth certificates.
Why the change of name? I suspect that the real Sidney died in infancy (a possible death certificate is on order). Simeon’s father, Samuel, probably would not have tolerated a change of name (Simeon was Samuel’s father’s name). After Samuel’s death, I suspect the mother simply started calling her eldest surviving son Sidney in memory of the dead baby
There are some lessons here. Don’t jump to a conclusion even when a lot of the data seems to support it and don’t mislay family papers!