I agree wholeheartedly with Sandra's statement regarding research. So many times now I have been contacted by people who say they are related but when I ask about documentation I am told well it's on the census! The census is a wonderful tool but Birth and Marriage certificates prove the link and help a researcher go forward (or backwards) with a family line. Carole....... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra J Smith" <[email protected]> To: "ENG-HAMPSHIRE-L" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 7:17 AM Subject: [ENG-HANTS] Birth Certificates v Census > Hi List, > This email is triggered by a number of emails recently asking for help > with identifying parents of individuals. > > The appearance of indexed census returns on the web in recent years > appears to be encouraging new researchers to take short cuts with their > family history - in short - anything but pay for a certified birth or > marriage certificate. > > I come from the "old school" of researchers, whereby you found and > purchased certificates and then confirmed or enhanced your findings with > census information. Whilst in many cases it can now be done the other > way round, I still believe that the original method of researching is > robust and can save time and grief in the long run. The certificates > are legal documents - the census is not. What is reported on a birth > certificate is usually fact - what is reported to a census enumerator > could be a long stretch of the imagination. I have come across a number > of people recently who have researched an incorrect line of ascent, > because they failed to purchase a certificate of birth to verify correct > parentage. For example, on the census someone could be listed as a > child of the head of household, whereas in reality they were the > illegitimate child of the mother and not necessarily a child of the head > of household. > > There is no need to buy certificates for everyone on your tree - few of > us could afford that. However, it is essential to purchase the > appropriate certificates for your direct line, and then use the census > to confirm and add siblings and other relatives to the tree. > Regards > Sandra > > > ............................................. > Want to contact the local community? > Please visit Hampshire Parish Jottings > http://hants.parishjottings.org.uk > ............................................. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Re the subject of purchasing certificates vs. depending only on the census Purchasing birth and marriage certificates has been invaluable for me, especially when one finds two or even three people with the same name and birth place etc. as one's ancestor! Verifying a parental connection has eliminated a lot of wasted time tracking down the wrong person!! Certificates are not cheap, but provides exactly what I need to know and often brings surprises - like another place of residence, a different father, and so on. Margot, USA --- http://USFamily.Net/dialup.html - $8.25/mo! -- http://www.usfamily.net/dsl.html - $19.99/mo! ---

Carole Cumber wrote: > I agree wholeheartedly with Sandra's statement regarding research. > So many times now I have been contacted by people who say they are related > but when I ask about documentation I am told well it's on the census! > The census is a wonderful tool but Birth and Marriage certificates prove the > link and help a researcher go forward (or backwards) with a family line. You can't rely on certificates either. According to my great grandfather in law's marriage certificate he was a widower with a father named John and his name was William James. He wasn't a widower. He didn't have a father named John and his name wasn't William James. He isn't the only one to have invented a father on a marriage certificate. My 4x great grandfather claimed his father was William. It wasn't. He was illegitimate. Same applies to birth certificates. The information is only as good as the informant, just as it is with the census. It's very much a case of verifying every step and not accepting any single document as gospel. -- Charani (UK)

Hi Chirani, Yes, I have to agree that even "legal" documents are sometimes misleading, but generally the lies are told on the marriage certificates, usually to hide an illegitimacy, although sometimes the inventiveness is that the information was just not known. Birth certificates tend to be far more reliable, although even these could hide a few secrets - perhaps only discernable with DNS testing! Didn't someone, somewhere say "It's a wise man who knows his own father"? I suspect a few of mine were not very wise!!! But I agree that all available documentation should be used to construct a tree with the Legal Documentation providing the foundation stone and other documentation the bricks. Regards Sandra Charani wrote: >Carole Cumber wrote: > > > >>I agree wholeheartedly with Sandra's statement regarding research. >>So many times now I have been contacted by people who say they are related >>but when I ask about documentation I am told well it's on the census! >>The census is a wonderful tool but Birth and Marriage certificates prove the >>link and help a researcher go forward (or backwards) with a family line. >> >> > >You can't rely on certificates either. > >According to my great grandfather in law's marriage certificate he >was a widower with a father named John and his name was William James. > >He wasn't a widower. He didn't have a father named John and his name >wasn't William James. > >He isn't the only one to have invented a father on a marriage certificate. > >My 4x great grandfather claimed his father was William. It wasn't. >He was illegitimate. > >Same applies to birth certificates. The information is only as good >as the informant, just as it is with the census. > >It's very much a case of verifying every step and not accepting any >single document as gospel. > > >