Thanks for that, Debbie. It's good to be reminded that genealogy is not an exact science - anything but. It's hard work finding absolute and corroborated proof of an ancestor's existence. I've been researching since 1980, and have accumulated mountains of data. My ancestors may be in there somewhere, but even if I never find them the experience has been fascinating. Tony 9967 Petersfield Researching (principally) Holkham, Holcombe, Halcombe, Hockham, Hawkham and all known variants - see http://www.tonyholkham.co.uk/holkham_ancestry.htm On 27/06/2008, Deborah Montgomerie <ifm@whidbey.net> wrote: > Hi Simon, > > You have to realize that 1. Not all parish records are in the IGI, it is an > ongoing project. Therefore if Stephen was baptized it may just be that his > baptism isn't in the database yet. & 2. Your Stephen may have not been > baptized. 3. It is possible that he was baptized in another parish not yet > transcribed or another county entirely such as Kent. Families from Sussex > often spread to Kent to find work. 4. If the information on the IGI states > it is from a member of the LDS then you cannot be sure that it is correct. > > I have found that the earlier census information is often the nearest to the > correct age. BUT having said that people often either lied about their ages > for various reasons or simply couldn't remember their true age or if someone > else was giving the information to the emumerator they could have just > guessed. Until you have absolute proof from a source such as a birth > certificate, the actual parish record or even a newspaper announcement you > can never be sure. Kathleen's advice in an earlier e-mail to visit a LDS > center is a good one. The librarians there are extremely helpful. > > Regarding the various information that you have found. It was more common > in past times that several children in a family could have the same name. > Sometimes this was to honour a grandparent or a favourite uncle or a > relative killed in a war. There could have been any number of reasons. > Sometimes in one family there could have 2 children with the same name. The > reason for this was because if a child was sickly and it was thought that it > might die then the next child was often given the same name. However, of > course maybe the sickly child didn't die and then you ended up with 2 > children with the same name. In that case one of the children might have > been known by his 2nd christian name during later life. > > I would suggest you take a good look on the IGI to see all of the families > with the name of Sellman in Ewhurst and try to follow them through their > marriages and children in censuses. This way you can see how many Stephen's > there were for example. It is highly probable that there was a grandfather > named Stephen who had amongst other siblings a William & a Limbro and that > both of the brothers called a child Stephen. I too have the name Stephen in > one of my Sussex families and I had to start a large database in order to > keep control of which Stephen I was finding information about :-) However, > it did help me get a clearer picture. > > The best way is to take the research slowly and to double check dates and > information. > > Other sites that may help you are: www.familyhistoryonline.net, > www.historicaldirectories.org, www.genuki.org.uk, > www.nationalarchives.gov.uk > > Debbie > > -----Original Message----- > From: sfhg-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sfhg-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf > Of Simon Orchard > Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:24 AM > To: SFHG-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [SFHG] The SELLMANs of Ewhurst > > Hello all > > A huge thank you to everyone for the magnificent help you've given and in > point me in the right direction, it's helped me enormously, especially with > finding the maiden names of many of my female relatives. > > A couple of more questions if I may. > > I see that the only Stephen Sellman that turns up in the IGI database of > christenings is from 1792, however in the 1841 and 1851 census his age would > reflect a birth date of 1801 there abouts, ie. Listed as 40 and 50 years > old. The question is, are the census ages reliable? Is it likely that this > is him? > > Stephen's father I found listed elsewhere as being a William Sellman yet the > 1792 Stephen has Limbro Sellman listed. Could these be one and the same > person? > > Simon 12772 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Deborah Montgomerie [mailto:ifm@whidbey.net] > Sent: 25 June 2008 20:41 > To: 'Simon Orchard'; SFHG-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: RE: [SFHG] The SELLMANs of Ewhurst > Importance: High > > Hi Simon, > > Welcome to the list! Are you familiar with the site www.familysearch.org? > Stephen's marriages are listed on there. He married Jane Kemp 13 May 1820 > at Ewhurst and on the 10 April 1847 he married Leonora Francis Dawson and > Stephen's father is listed as William Sellman. The site has quite a bit of > information regarding Sel(l)man families in Ewhurst. If I can help further > let me know. > > Good Luck, > > Debbie > > -----Original Message----- > From: sfhg-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sfhg-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf > Of Simon Orchard > Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:02 AM > To: SFHG-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SFHG] The SELLMANs of Ewhurst > > > Dear all > > This is my first post and I'm rather new at family history so apologies in > advance for any newbie type questions. > > I'm researching the Sellman's (Selman) of Ewhurst and East Sussex and have > got about as far as I can with what's available online. I'm looking to find > the parents and any brothers or sisters of Stephen SELLMAN born ca.1801 at > Ewhurst. I'm also looking for the his wife's or wives maiden names, named as > Leonora Frances born ca.1810 in the 1851 census and Jane born ca.1801 in the > 1841 census. > > > I'm also looking for a family connection between Stephen and Samuel Sellman, > 35 years old and living at Pett in 1841. > > Many thanks in advance for any help. > > > Simon Orchard 12772 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >