36
The letter j originated as a "swash" (florish) character at the end of Roman numerals, and only later became useful as a separate character.
A j was used for the final i, to make it clear the number had ended.
Until quite recent times it was still the recommended practice to use a final j in medical prescriptions, to avoid misunderstandings. See these ...
20
I note that Charles Thomas Gigg was baptised on 13 Feb 1887 at St James Norlands, Kensington. His mother is given as Hannah Sarah Gigg, of 5 Mary's Place, single:
Source: Ancestry.co.uk, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
Whenever I have a case of a mother and illegitimate child vanishing without trace, my first thought is ...
19
That does not list the beneficiaries, it lists the people to whom probate was granted, which is the executors of the will. If there had been no will, or if they were not the named executors, then it would say that letters of administration had been granted instead. In either case that is the people in charge of administering the estate not the people that ...
19
The obvious thing to check is whether the other children had died prior to the will being drawn up.
Transcription
To help you in this case, I have transcribed the will below:
Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of York
This is the Last Will and Testament of me Robert Fowler of Thorganby in the county of York farmer made this ...
16
As Tom says in his answer, the people mentioned are the executors of the estate. The record you are looking at is the National Probate Calendar, which is basically a detailed index of probate and administration records each year.
You can order a copy of the actual will, which will usually give much more detailed information on legacies and beneficiaries. A ...
16
Two common reasons for lying about age at marriage were:
Pretending to be over 21 (and so not needing parental consent)
Adjusting your age to be closer to your partners.
Possibly you have examples of both.
14
Understanding precisely how the GRO indexes are organized can give us key information about individual entries. The marriage index is a whole other kettle of fish, so this answer pertains only to births and deaths. The key pieces of information to consider are:
The GRO indexes were compiled quarterly (that is, at the end of March, June, September, and ...
13
It says "Doth Ordayne" as in "I doeth Ordain this my Last Will and Testament"
example - William Shakespeare's Will of 1616 - "I, William Shackspeare of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwick, gent., in perfect health and memory, God be praised, do make and ordain this my last will and testament"
12
I think (having looked at the full page on FindMyPast) that it probably actually says "were" so that it reads:
John Smith Captains Clarke of his Majestys Ship Firm and Sarah Osment
of St Andrews Plymouth a minor with consent of parents were
married in this church by licence this thirteenth Day of July in the
Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty ...
12
Very simply, an illegitimate child whose father did not consent to being included on the certificate (from 1875, if the child was illegitimate the father had to be present at the birth registration to be named; before that the mother could name a father but it wasn't verified), or an illegitimate child whose father was 'unknown' would not have a father's ...
11
I suspect that your Martha and Pattie are the same people.
It is known for nicknames / pet names to be used on the British census - not as a matter of course, but it's not unknown.
The "What's In a Name" web-site has an entry for Pattie indicating that it can be used as a pet-name for Martha. It suggests that "areas of the southern United States, pre-1776, ...
11
Imprimis is Latin for "firstly". The word commonly appears in lists in parish registers and wills, preceding the first item.
10
I was intrigued by your problem and the answer given, which is correct. I took a few minutes (<10) to look up the record. The FamilySearch entry came from film# 1469720, which is Archbishop of York's marriage bonds and allegations. There are actually 4 documents - the bond, the allegation, the license, and a supporting baptismal certificate for the bride. ...
10
Annoying...!
I think the word is "Indep", meaning "Independent", as in "Of Independent means".
"I" and "J" do seem to be very similar in many hands and I'm not sure what to say the difference is. I've just looked through this census book and can't see any other use of a capital "I", and of course found several "J" for "Jane", etc., that look very similar.
...
10
The note reads: "According to the Cert[ifica]te of the Rev[eren]d G. Morland transmitted to me 30th August."
An Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England (Stat. 52 Geo. 3, c. 146) describes the reason why this was written in the margin:
IV. And be it further enacted, ...
10
I decided to perform a little experiment with some data from the relatively small parish of Caunton, Nottinghamshire. The baptism register from 1785 to 1812 reliably recorded the date of birth. During this period there were 354 baptisms, of which 341 had a plausible birth date recorded (a small number were illegible or impossible [i.e. baptised before born])....
10
Yes, it is fair to infer that Mary and Sarah were twins.
The indexes were compiled quarterly, meaning that children born over nine months apart should appear in different quarters. If one was registered late then they often are entered in the index in the correct quarter as well, with a reference in the margin such as "see Dec '37".
The fact that both of ...
10
The "B" page of "Find your boxing ancestors" on boxinghistory.org.uk lists several Butlers but only three with the first initial "G" (as his shorts appear to be monogrammed "GB").
The first of these, George Butler from Blidworth, Nottinghamshire, can be found on a "Local Sporting Legends" page on the Blidworth Historical Society site. There's a photo on ...
10
This format of this date is called a Regnal year. It was commonly used in England, and is simply the number of years into the reign of the named monarch. A list of regnal years of English monarchs is available on Wikipedia.
Thus:
15 Rich. II = 1392
14 Hen. V is an error, since Henry V only reigned 10 years
36 Hen. VI = 1458
My favourite resource for ...
10
First I feel obligated to say that there is no such thing as a UK death certificate. There are death certificates for England & Wales, then there are death certificates from Scotland, and there are death certificates from Northern Ireland. Three sets of rules and regulations that cannot be amalgamated into one.
You seem to be referring to the new GRO ...
10
The workhouse in England (or Wales) was not somewhere anybody wanted to linger, but it was often the only choice for a single pregnant woman about to have her baby who could not "lie-in" (give birth) where she was living (e.g. as a domestic servant) and did not have any family to go to (or did not want them to know her 'shame'). If the child was healthy and ...
9
"Know all men by these presents, that we George Dutton of Coddington in the County and Diocese of Chester, farmer, and Robert Ruscoe of Aldersey in the same county, farmer, are holden and firmly bound unto the Right Reverend Father in God Henry William Bishop of Chester in the sum of five hundred pounds... Sealed with our seals, and dated the thirteenth day ...
9
Newspapers are the obvious source but thin out as one gets further back.
One resource that is clearly a labour of love, records Historical Weather Events in the UK, collected (it looks like) from a variety of sources.
However, note the warning on that screen that the site will disappear at some point. All is not lost, however, as it is one of those ...
9
Professor Rebecca Probert ("a leading authority on the history of marriage law and practice in England and Wales" to quote the blurb on her book) has written a useful book:
Divorced, Bigamist, bereaved? the family historians guide.
She writes:
"... a void marriage needed no decree of annulment..."
"Bigamy is, essentially, the crime of going through a ...
9
Interestingly, James and Annie's headstone seems to hold some key information about Annie's ancestry and therefore her marriage. It can be found on FindAGrave:
As you can see, the Wards were buried with the Parry family. There must be some relationship or association between the two families. The marriage identified by Tom which shows Annie's maiden name as ...
9
It would have been very uncommon, if it ever happened, in the 1600s. And if it did happen, I imagine it would have only have been for a person of significant wealth or importance.
The journey across the Atlantic took many weeks if not months. Most people would not want a body around for that period of time, when there were not many ways to keep a body well ...
9
'In attendance' means someone who was tending to the deceased during their final illness, but was not present when they died (hat tip to Harry Vervet at https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/a/15587/6485).
She died (recorded) at 14 Heavitree Road -- you can't infer anything from this single piece of data, other than where she died.
Her usual address (based ...
9
The UK and Ireland censuses are available from multiple places: Ancestry, FindMyPast, and MyHeritage to name a few. FamilySearch has transcripts, but it links to FindMyPast for the images.
I can access the image at Ancestry and MyHeritage through my library. In both of these, the image is not very clear. However, on MyHeritage, I was able to zoom large ...
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