RootsChat.Com

I am descended from this couple through their grand-daughter Elizabeth Graham Swan, father William Swan, who married Edward Spencer., my grandfather being their son Richard Eglesfield Spencer, born in Croydon, Surrey in 1893 and died in 1972 in Scotland. I tried to contact Ellen Cadman several years ago who posted she knew a relative in Ryhall but received no reply. I see this message is quite old now but would be pleased to hear from any of the Spencer,  Swan or Eglesfield descendents.

Spotted this older posting and wanted to add my family experience to it.  My aunt (born 1924) was named Mina and it wasn’t short for Mary as that was my mother’s name. With a grandfather called William, it was assumed to be short for Williamina. NOT SO!  She was called after his sister great-aunt Minnie, great-grandmother was named Minna, the generations before it was recorded as Mannie, Menie and Marie - adhering to the Scottish naming pattern,  it was easy to trace back. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, they were of German extraction, likely had an accent and perhaps illiterate - officials would have recorded the name as it sounded. My aunt Mina’s name has now been handed down as a middle name, no more Minnie’s etc.

Children were ages 3 months or 6 months or 6 or 8 years old -  even in early 19th century surely there had to be an adult or even an older sibling. Who provided the information? I have many census records with “no head” but none with only young children.

Blasted hints! According to FindMyPast, my gtgrandfather was alive in the 1901 census when he died in 1889 (verified with an actual death certificate), death transcribed correctly in FindMyPast too.Even though l checked ‘reject’, this hint keeps popping up. Another site insists in notifying me of potential connections to new entries when they are my own entries. They sure don’t recruit Silicon Valley graduates to write their algorithms, even l (an elderly non-geek) could write an “if this, then that or if not, then this” or  a simple “<this or >this” formula into a spreadsheet. One fee-paying site has my grandfather as dead and another brother with my grandfather’s middle name but, as a non-member (fees are extortionate), l can’t contact the ‘owner’ that l have all the relevant documents to prove otherwise. Is this why not many real cousins have contacted me? Garbage in, garbage out!

What an amazing link, thank you so much for that.