* IGI record - some advice?

[davidm_uk]

Searching the IGI on familysearch website for the birth of an Elizabeth Raymond. I have her marriage to Henry Hicks on 12 Sept 1723 in Ardeley, Hertfordshire.

IGI shows 'two' possible entries (both extracted from source records rather than member submitted):

ELIZABETA RAYMENT, b 9/4/1701, c 16/4/1701 Benington Hertford, parents GUL RAYMENT and MA;

and

ELIZABETA RAYMENT, b 4/6/1702, c 24/6/1702 Benington, Hertford, parents GUIL RAYMENT and MAR

I thought the first might have died and the parents gave the next daughter the same name, but no death/burial anywhere that I can find. Surely it's the same family?

Can anyone suggest any other possible interpretations for these two so similar entries?

Thanks, David


ID:3244

[jmurphy]

This is a case where it might help to see the entire register pages, or even the whole register, to get the context for these entries.

Could you find some way to check the records, either by:

1) borrowing or accessing microfiche at an LDS center

2) looking at the registers at a local record center (or getting someone to visit on your behalf)

That would allow you to check for the dates of a birth/christening being copied by mistake from the entry above/below, etc.

Talking to other people who are researching in the same village may alert you to other records which might clarify the situation -- or show that there actually were two families, two similarly-named villages, etc.

In census records I've found members of the same household many pages apart due to clerical errors in copying. People who have been studying the entire area will be more familiar with any problems that might exist with the integrity of the entire record set than casual viewers who simply look at one entry at a time.

Jan

[ChrisBowyer]

I thought at first one might be a mistake in a transcribed copy of the parish register (Bishop's transcripts and the like) but both appear to be from the same source. They look like one family to me (7 baptisms between 1685 and 1707 in Bennington), although Gulielmi being a Latinised form of William is not of course as uncommon as you might think. My guess would be an infant death... Couldn't find a burial record either, but it may be very difficult to read from that time. I guess you'll need to look at the film (it's always easier when you know what you're looking for).

[aragorn]

It could be as you say the first entry refers to a child who died and the second to a living child named after the first.I have found this in my research a few times but have not found burial records for the first child.In some instances the same name is used up to 4 times before being given to a child that reaches adulthood.

[gerrynuk]

David,

You do realise that there are no deaths on IGI so you would have to see the burial register for the parish (or a transcript) to check if the first child died.

Gerry

[davidm_uk]

Yup, after a while I did come to realise that about IGI. Funny that familysearch's IGI allows you to specify a search on death/burial though!

I did try the burial index on findmy past and came up with a blank, but it seems their records are far from complete.

Think I'm going to have to add this one to my 'to do' list for when I next visit the family history centre at Herts County Library.

Thanks to all for your thoughts on this one.

Happy New Year.
David

[mikegscoles]

Gerry,

You say there are no Deaths in IGI.

I have found several to add to my tree.

Mike

[ChrisBowyer]

It depends where they are recorded in the parish registers. They haven't usually transcribed burial registers, but infant deaths are often recorded with the baptisms. There are also 'submitted' entries of course, if someone in the church believes this to be their ancestor.

When I said I couldn't find the burial record, I was looking in the National Burial Index I acquired on CD some years ago.

[mezentia]

You could try a posting on RootsChat. I've often had help from there, and there's places specifically to post look-up requests.

David