Find Ancestors

The earliest of my ancestors I have been able to find are on the 1841 census - father mother, 2 sons 3 daughters living in Cheltenham.

In the 1851 census I have traced the eldest son (now married with a child) and one of his sisters who is sharing his home - still in Cheltenham. The rest of the family seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I have found several possible marriages for two of the girls and have tried all possible partnerships without success.

Eventually I have located what I am pretty sure is the other son in the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses, now living in London. So one obvious question is 'where was he in the intervening years?'

Where might I start looking to find the missing relatives? And which web site provides the best census look-up? Ancestry's matches seem to go way off mark, presenting me with people who names are nothing like the one I'm searching for.

If anyone can offer any advice I would be extremely grateful.

thanks

Roy

Have you tried looking for them on the census using only first name and year and place of birth? Some of the mistranscriptions on Ancestry are horrendous.

I agree Margaret sometimes its time consuming but eventually you get there in the end. My family of Struthers has been known on Ancestry as Strilthiers, Struggles, Shuthers amongst many others.

Roy can you post who you are looking for to see if a few more eyes can see anything different.

Thanks Margaret and Tracey,

I have tried what you suggest Margaret. The father's occupation in 1841 was 'currier' which I take to be courrier. After a long search using christian name only I think I've discovered the mother and youngest daughter Miriam living in Dudley with 2 more children - the older born in Cheltenham, the younger in Dudley and no mention of the father. So it looks as though the family moved around a bit, and the father died sometime after the birth of the youngest son, all of which makes searching dificult..

To answer Tracey's comment - the family are John and Mary Taylor with children John, Elizabeth, Matthew, Hannah and Miriam. The later children are James and Edward. The whole family, apart from James and Edward, were born in Lewes, Sussex. James possibly went to sea aged 14. Edward I haven't traced yet.

I have a fair amount of info on John because he stayed in Cheltenham. Matthew moved to London but don't know when.

If only I had a less common surname ..... sigh

thanks

Roy

Currier
1) Dressed the coat of a horse with a curry comb
2) Tanned leather by incorporating oil or grease


http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/c2.html
Always worth a look if you find an old occupation you are not sure of

Hi Roy can you give the details of what you found on the 1841 census, what was the circa date for John and Mary being born, I too found oldest son John with his wife Mary Ann and his sister Hannah, just to make sure I'm finding the correct ones as there are lots of em.

Hi Tracey

John's age 45, Mary's 40. With the limitations of the 1841 census this means that John's year of birth 1791-1796 and Mary's 1796-1801.

Sounds like you got the correct ones

cheers

Roy

Thanks for that reference Glitter Baby. I've bookmarked the website so now I can keep my ignorance under wraps :D

Roy