Sorry for the very basic question, but I’m having a hard time knowing when I’ve successfully located someone I’m researching and when I might possibly have just found someone with similar statistics.
For example, I have the full name (first, middle, surname) of an ancestor, her birthplace and the year she was born. I found someone in the 1881 British census with the same first, middle and surname, the same birth year, living in my ancestor’s birthplace. It seems like I might have found her, but how can I be sure? Is that enough information to add someone to the family tree or do I need to find something else, and if so what should I be looking for?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the newbie question.
The simple answer is never stop looking for more information about people on your tree. You would be amazed at the number of people who have researched the wrong families due to “their” relative dying early.
The basic answer is try to find three separate sources for the same information such as birth certificate, census and marriage certificate.
Don’t stop there though, keep looking for further sources baptisms, mentions in wills, electoral registers, directory listings, entries in tax lists, army lists immigration and emigration passenger lists, school registers, employment records, etc., etc.
Never look at a person and think you have discovered everything about them, more and more records are becoming easier to access every year keep looking for more.
Cheers
Guy
