Never give up!

[bugbear]

I was looking for an ancestor, in the post WWII era. Fortunately, he's in London so I have the Electoral Register.

I found him, but his name is common. Wasn't sure it was a proper hit.

Using continuity of address, I tracked forward and back in time, and found him earlier with a wife, whose name was a match to his wife in my DB. Sadly both names are common. Still not sure it's a hit.

I tracked forward, using continuity of address, until his wife wasn't there. I already had a death date for the wife, so I knew she hadn't died. I found multiple possible hits for her at various addresses, and tracked them all forward. And in one of the address, a daughter from the wife's previous marriage with unusual forenames appeared, with both forenames present.

So the whole evidence chain is pretty much confirmed by a single name on a single record. From first hit to confirmation was around 4 hours; I've never had so many tabs open!

   BugBear

[Rena]

I was looking for an ancestor, in the post WWII era. Fortunately, he's in London so I have the Electoral Register.

I found him, but his name is common. Wasn't sure it was a proper hit.

I've never had so many tabs open!

   BugBear

Congratulations for sticking to your objective - I often find myself being sidetracked.

[Lisajb]

Well done!

I had a Hannah Ball marrying a John Adam Smith, and living in Portsmouth. I'd pretty well dismissed ever finding Hannah's death, name too common. Until one day when I opened the census image and noticed that John Adam was born in South Africa. A quick look at familysearch found both dying there.

[Caw1]

Well done - it just goes to show how sometimes dogged research can lead you to the right folk.

I had a similar experience when looking for my Grandmother Ida Sarah Guy, I found her on electoral
rolls and followed her through the years until suddenly I found my Uncle living with her, (my mother had told me he'd died)
So once I'd found him I looked for him on FindMyPast and discovered he'd gone into the merchant Navy and the details revealed a photo of him! I could have been looking at my father.
From that I was able to trace him and wife, with unusual middle name and eventually found their daughter my cousin and we met up and swapped stories and pics.

So its always worth sticking at it.

Caroline

[bugbear]

I was looking for an ancestor, in the post WWII era. Fortunately, he's in London so I have the Electoral Register.

I found him, but his name is common. Wasn't sure it was a proper hit.

I've never had so many tabs open!

   BugBear

Congratulations for sticking to your objective - I often find myself being sidetracked.

I knew the evidence chain was solid - I just wasn't sure it was about the right people, until the daughter.

  BugBear