15 votes
Accepted

What is this place in County of York on UK War Office Marriage Record?

It says "Leeds in the County of York"
AntonyM's user avatar
  • 1,416
10 votes
Accepted

What is written over some of these Irish birth records?

I can't read the script yet. But we can say what it meant - if you look at the vertical annotation to the right, it explains that the registrations were cancelled because the qualification of the ...
AdrianB38's user avatar
  • 11.6k
9 votes

Lunacy - what does it mean?

While the exact diagnosis is almost certainly impossible without data from elsewhere that probably doesn't exist, we should at least attempt to see how the words were used at that time. Anyone ...
AdrianB38's user avatar
  • 11.6k
9 votes
Accepted

Identifying cause of death on Scottish record

Paralysis. Determining the underlying cause is pure speculation, but suffice it to say that the person had some sort of neurologic disorder. Causes could range from trauma to infectious or ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
  • 18.9k
9 votes
Accepted

What newspapers/magazines would people have used in Solloghodmore Ireland around 1850?

Most countries have what was called a "Union List of Newspapers", published by their National Library. These are now being migrated to online catalogues and databases. As SOLLOGHODMORE is in ...
Maureen West's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Was it common for parents to baptise a baby/child if they knew he was sickly and likely going to die soon?

To answer the question about baptising sickly children - yes, absolutely. The Church of England has an abbreviated form of the Order (i.e service) of Baptism to be used in homes etc. in such ...
AdrianB38's user avatar
  • 11.6k
8 votes

Providing evidence of Consent of Parents for Marriage by minor in England in early 1800s?

The rules had been set out in Hardwicke's Marriage Act 1753. The Act required that, for a marriage to be valid, it had to be performed in a church and either after the publication of banns or the ...
sempaiscuba's user avatar
  • 5,230
8 votes
Accepted

What does house number "Bk" mean? (19th century UK rate books)

Bk will be an abbreviation of "Back" likely meaning that it's the rear part of a back-to-back house. In some areas (particularly Birmingham) such houses were commonly built around courtyards ...
TomH's user avatar
  • 4,523
7 votes

Original Spelling(s) of Polish surname anglicized as Shemynski?

It could be 'Szemiński' (that's male form, female would be 'Szemińska') but that's quite an approximate guess. Things to consider is that 19th Century Warsaw had at different times, Prussian, Polish, ...
skolima's user avatar
  • 743
7 votes
Accepted

What is German translation of this Marriage record written in Kurrent?

Header in Gothic typeface & German language; some words use archaic spelling: [Seite] 114, Trauungs=Buch Jahr Monath und Tag der Trauung. Bräutigam -Wohnort -Haus Nro. -Taufnahme [sic], Familien=...
bgwiehle's user avatar
  • 8,001
7 votes

Was this common usage of "mother-in-law" in late 19th century in US census?

Consider that the "mother-in-law" could actually be a stepmother. It would not be unusual for those two terms to be used interchangeably. Also consider that mistakes happen, and it may not ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
  • 18.9k
6 votes

Reading given name of German great-grandaunt?

I also found it useful to have this PDF around for comparing the letters. The benefit being you can zoom it in quite a bit: https://feefhs.org/sites/default/files/guide/german-gothic.pdf Once you get ...
Luke Quinane's user avatar
6 votes

What records of smallpox vaccination exist?

The Dyfed Family History Society has an extensive collection of transcribed vaccination records of several parishes in the Carmarthen area and the Welsh counties of Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), ...
Eric Davies's user avatar
6 votes

Locating records of a man employed by Rufford Abbey for 70 years?

Regrettably such records could be almost anywhere or nowhere. The County Record Office is the obvious place to start. Then any other archives in the area. Depending on the history of the place, it's ...
AdrianB38's user avatar
  • 11.6k
6 votes

Resources for researching family from Greene County, Tennessee?

Try to look on this problem as an opportunity for learning something new instead of a roadblock to overcome. You can't find your person in the 1840 Census because it doesn't list him by name. What ...
Jan Murphy's user avatar
  • 25.6k
6 votes
Accepted

Reading words on old document relating to share of Will?

...the said share and an insurance of Two pounds and Sixteen shillings... ...(and the receipt of which Alfred born... ...for their own respective use the said share... I agree with the ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
  • 18.9k
6 votes

Ostrow, Ostrowez, or Ostroweic Russia before 1907- where now?

"Ostroweic" doesn't seem like a plausible name in Polish language, very likely it is "Ostrówiec" or "Ostrowice". There is dozens of villages all over Poland with that name, including one relatively ...
Bregalad's user avatar
  • 1,407
6 votes

Records of miners in the California Gold Rush?

When we can't find a person in a collection of historical records, or don't have enough information to know if it is our ancestor or not, it helps to widen the search -- and the same is true for ...
Jan Murphy's user avatar
  • 25.6k
6 votes

Death of an American in Paris

If you are only looking for the date, you can search online the City of Paris civil registry reconstituted books. Select Acte de décès (Death record) for Type d'acte, enter the last name of your ...
jlliagre's user avatar
  • 161
6 votes

Correlating military and civil records for one or two individuals

We probably can't prove that "Soldier Matthew" is the same as "Family Matthew", but we can seek to demonstrate that they are not the same person. If, for example, the military records show that ...
AndyW's user avatar
  • 4,427
6 votes

What circumstances could lead to these birth registrations?

The crux of this question is what does the "-" in the Mother's Maiden Surname column on the new GRO indexes mean? The fact that there is a dash in the index does not mean there is a dash in the birth ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
  • 18.9k
6 votes

What happened to the 1896 London census records?

In a presentation at USCIS, historian Marian Smith answered a similar question by going through the correspondence for the agencies involved in order to trace what happened to the records. Just as ...
Jan Murphy's user avatar
  • 25.6k
6 votes
Accepted

An explanation for unusual birth record

Chatham Dockyard was one of the main Royal Navy Dockyards. As a rope-maker, it's certainly possible that he was working there. You might want to look at Records of Royal Naval dockyard staff to see ...
sempaiscuba's user avatar
  • 5,230
6 votes
Accepted

What are the names in this Status Animarum from Slovenia?

The page is written in German, in the Kurrent handwriting style 12. Joseph Gregorzhizh Klein=Zirnik 13. März '802 Weib [=wife], Maria Jurglizh 8. Dec. '805 Sohn [=son], Franz ...
bgwiehle's user avatar
  • 8,001
6 votes
Accepted

What is the meaning of the cross symbol I see added to individuals in Status Animarium records?

Generally, a cross preceeding or following a name indicates "deceased". If there is a date, it is "died on" (that date). Both styles were used over centuries of records, although my subjective ...
bgwiehle's user avatar
  • 8,001
6 votes

Finding British militia records?

The answers, such as they are, are probably available only at Kew with the Muster Books and Pay Lists (that's one document produced every quarter, usually). See TNA Guide on Militia The problem is ...
AdrianB38's user avatar
  • 11.6k

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