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Technical Help / Differences in GEDCOM files
« on: Wednesday 11 May 16 16:56 BST (UK) »
Is there any software out there that can look at 2 GEDCOM files and generate a third one that contains all the people who are NOT common to both?
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Essex Completed Lookup Requests / Re: John Semmens & Rebecca Gouch in Goldhanger
« on: Wednesday 10 September 08 14:10 BST (UK) »
For anyone who is interested in the Semmens family from Goldhanger and I have not already contacted, I have concatenated most of the research from this site and others into a web site at
http://www.pjajennings.co.uk/index.html
http://www.pjajennings.co.uk/index.html
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Armed Forces / Re: C P O William Samuel Semmens b 1862
« on: Saturday 24 May 08 17:59 BST (UK) »
I'm looking into the probable miss-identification of William in the census records. However the probable reasons were that the family was a very good fit with other known facts. I'm contacting other researchers in this topic.
1) Both parents came from Little Totham in Essex, the area where all the other Semmens families lived (Goldhanger, Gt Totham, etc.)
2) They lived in Southwark, again where many of the families from this part of Essex ended up when they moved to London. in the 1850-70s.
3) William's age, strange we have two different DoB on the same day 4 years apart. I think there has been some further confusion here.
1) Both parents came from Little Totham in Essex, the area where all the other Semmens families lived (Goldhanger, Gt Totham, etc.)
2) They lived in Southwark, again where many of the families from this part of Essex ended up when they moved to London. in the 1850-70s.
3) William's age, strange we have two different DoB on the same day 4 years apart. I think there has been some further confusion here.
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Armed Forces / Re: C P O William Samuel Semmens b 1862
« on: Thursday 22 May 08 13:25 BST (UK) »
I think I've got him. I've ordered and downloaded the naval record casalguidi found and it fits - sort of.
"Semmens, William, 116984, 1865" PIC No 396791
DoB 3rd Jan 1866 right day, right month, wrong year, but, as you say, it fits with age 35 in 1901 census.
Birth place Strood, Kent - NOT Southwark, Surrey
The earliest entry is 23rd Dec 1881, just before his 16th birthday (not 13th)
He wasn't demobilised till 9th July 1919, so no civilian dockyard employment before then, my late grandmother (his wife's niece) thought he had left the navy by the early 1900s)
He made CPO in April 1899 - check
On board HMS Andromeda 1/3/04 to 16/7/06 - coincides with Russo-Japanese war and relief of Port Arthur.
No mention of Royal Oak, but was on Royal Arthur
He served on several other ships including Excellent, Resolution, Wallaroo (?!!), Duke of Wellington, Fire Queen (Special service vessel, onetime tender to DoW) etc.
"Joined Royal Fleet Reserve Portsmouth 25 May 09"
Thereafter he was on Victory 1 (Nelson's ship, still afloat till 1914 used as a barracks) Halcyon, Cyclops, MFA Barca(?)(Lock Royal), back to Victory 1 and finally Vernon.
RFR - does that mean he was mostly shore based? At least in peace time and could have been in charge of part of dock yard.
From the 3rd Jan to 30th June1893 he was on Excellent and from 1st July to 18th November 1893 he was on Vernon (isn't this a shore base?) I have him getting married in the middle of this period, June 1893.
There doesn't seem to be an entry for him for 1Q86 in FreeBMD
"Semmens, William, 116984, 1865" PIC No 396791
DoB 3rd Jan 1866 right day, right month, wrong year, but, as you say, it fits with age 35 in 1901 census.
Birth place Strood, Kent - NOT Southwark, Surrey
The earliest entry is 23rd Dec 1881, just before his 16th birthday (not 13th)
He wasn't demobilised till 9th July 1919, so no civilian dockyard employment before then, my late grandmother (his wife's niece) thought he had left the navy by the early 1900s)
He made CPO in April 1899 - check
On board HMS Andromeda 1/3/04 to 16/7/06 - coincides with Russo-Japanese war and relief of Port Arthur.
No mention of Royal Oak, but was on Royal Arthur
He served on several other ships including Excellent, Resolution, Wallaroo (?!!), Duke of Wellington, Fire Queen (Special service vessel, onetime tender to DoW) etc.
"Joined Royal Fleet Reserve Portsmouth 25 May 09"
Thereafter he was on Victory 1 (Nelson's ship, still afloat till 1914 used as a barracks) Halcyon, Cyclops, MFA Barca(?)(Lock Royal), back to Victory 1 and finally Vernon.
RFR - does that mean he was mostly shore based? At least in peace time and could have been in charge of part of dock yard.
From the 3rd Jan to 30th June1893 he was on Excellent and from 1st July to 18th November 1893 he was on Vernon (isn't this a shore base?) I have him getting married in the middle of this period, June 1893.
There doesn't seem to be an entry for him for 1Q86 in FreeBMD
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Armed Forces / Re: C P O William Samuel Semmens b 1862
« on: Thursday 22 May 08 11:17 BST (UK) »
Thank you both for your quick replies.
Part of the problem is that the surname is variously recorded as Simmens, Simmons, Simmonds, and other variations.
I've looked on the site casalguidi suggested using these variations, but no obvious candidate stands out.
His age (35) in the 1901 census record would suggest that his DoB was 1866 rather than 1862, but maybe this got confused with his wife's Dob 04 Nov 1865 or it's a miss-transcription of 38 or even 39? I don't have a copy of the image, so I'll take a look.
The information has been gleaned from various on-line sources and other researchers, but we are all stuck at finding his navy records.
I'll order my own copies of his birth and marriage certs.
Part of the problem is that the surname is variously recorded as Simmens, Simmons, Simmonds, and other variations.
I've looked on the site casalguidi suggested using these variations, but no obvious candidate stands out.
His age (35) in the 1901 census record would suggest that his DoB was 1866 rather than 1862, but maybe this got confused with his wife's Dob 04 Nov 1865 or it's a miss-transcription of 38 or even 39? I don't have a copy of the image, so I'll take a look.
The information has been gleaned from various on-line sources and other researchers, but we are all stuck at finding his navy records.
I'll order my own copies of his birth and marriage certs.
6
Armed Forces / C P O William Samuel Semmens b 1862
« on: Thursday 22 May 08 09:37 BST (UK) »
I am trying to trace the naval career of William Samuel Semmens.
He was born on 3rd January 1862 in Southwark, Surrey. His parents were William Semmens and Maria although there is some question about this and tracing them is also of considerable interest.
He enlisted in the navy at Portsmouth aged 13 rising to the rank of CPO.
He was on board HMS Andromeda at the relief of Port Arthur and also on the Royal Oak. He may also have been in charge of a mine sweeper.
On leaving the navy he lived with his wife Mary Jane Semmens (a possible cousin) and their 3 children in Portsmouth where he is believed to have worked (as a foreman?) in the dockyard.
The above information is based on two completely independent sets of family recollections.
My main problem is that he does not show up in any of the on-line resources. I can't find him in the National Archives nor on any of the Navy Lists I've found to date.
Can anyone please suggest other sources of information?
He was born on 3rd January 1862 in Southwark, Surrey. His parents were William Semmens and Maria although there is some question about this and tracing them is also of considerable interest.
He enlisted in the navy at Portsmouth aged 13 rising to the rank of CPO.
He was on board HMS Andromeda at the relief of Port Arthur and also on the Royal Oak. He may also have been in charge of a mine sweeper.
On leaving the navy he lived with his wife Mary Jane Semmens (a possible cousin) and their 3 children in Portsmouth where he is believed to have worked (as a foreman?) in the dockyard.
The above information is based on two completely independent sets of family recollections.
My main problem is that he does not show up in any of the on-line resources. I can't find him in the National Archives nor on any of the Navy Lists I've found to date.
Can anyone please suggest other sources of information?
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Census and Resource Discussion / Re: Big Problem - signing in to Ancestry free access sites
« on: Monday 06 August 07 11:24 BST (UK) »
I got my free 6 months subscription to Ancestry.co.uk through the purchase of the latest version of Family Tree Maker, and they work together pretty well. However I doubt that I will be renewing when it runs out - too expensive. The slight downside to the subscription is that it is only for the UK records, many of the US records are not included, but still shown, as locked, in the FTM search results. Fortunately for me I'm not interested in them.
Now, as the devil's advocate I will make a small defense of Ancestry.co.uk. If you go to the individual census year search pages (Ancestrry.co.uk/census > select a year) you can do wild card searches, even to the extent of getting EVERYONE (don't enter a name) in a parish / town or even county! (about 300,000 people in Essex in 1841 is a bit of overkill). I don't think this is possible on any other census site I've come across, but then I don't subscribe to any others.
Now, as the devil's advocate I will make a small defense of Ancestry.co.uk. If you go to the individual census year search pages (Ancestrry.co.uk/census > select a year) you can do wild card searches, even to the extent of getting EVERYONE (don't enter a name) in a parish / town or even county! (about 300,000 people in Essex in 1841 is a bit of overkill). I don't think this is possible on any other census site I've come across, but then I don't subscribe to any others.
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Census and Resource Discussion / Re: Big Problem - signing in to Ancestry free access sites
« on: Saturday 04 August 07 23:25 BST (UK) »
You can always go straight to FreeMBD, and bypass Ancestry.co.uk.
They are at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/
This site is completely free and has some features I've not found on Ancestry.
They are also running FreeREG (parish register transcriptions) and FreeCEN (their own transcriptions of the censuses) but it's early days yet for these two projects.
For example, you know that John Smith married Mary ?
If you find John's marriage On FreeBMD you can then see all the people on that page of the register (NOT the index), usually only 4, two men and two women.
One will be Mary Jones and the other Joan Blogs.
Now you've found Mary's maiden name and the registry entry, you can get the Marriage cert. and find their fathers, and so on.
You don't even have to know Mary's name at all. Look up the other man in the next census and find his wife's name (Joan), then by a process of elimination, the other woman is John's wife. Doesn't always work, but well worth a try.
Not so easy to do on Ancestry as it only seems to have the index, dozens of people on one page, not always with their spouse's name.
I could be wrong on this but I've not found the data in the same format as FreeBMD.
They are at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/
This site is completely free and has some features I've not found on Ancestry.
They are also running FreeREG (parish register transcriptions) and FreeCEN (their own transcriptions of the censuses) but it's early days yet for these two projects.
For example, you know that John Smith married Mary ?
If you find John's marriage On FreeBMD you can then see all the people on that page of the register (NOT the index), usually only 4, two men and two women.
One will be Mary Jones and the other Joan Blogs.
Now you've found Mary's maiden name and the registry entry, you can get the Marriage cert. and find their fathers, and so on.
You don't even have to know Mary's name at all. Look up the other man in the next census and find his wife's name (Joan), then by a process of elimination, the other woman is John's wife. Doesn't always work, but well worth a try.
Not so easy to do on Ancestry as it only seems to have the index, dozens of people on one page, not always with their spouse's name.
I could be wrong on this but I've not found the data in the same format as FreeBMD.
9
Staffordshire / Re: williams in Newcastle-Under-Lyme
« on: Saturday 04 August 07 15:04 BST (UK) »
Hi,
Thanks, it certainly looks like the most probable couple.
I'd missed them when I looked at the IGI site.
I didn't know their DoM and you get an awful lot of Josephs marrying Marys in a, say, 20 year span.
I suppose that there is no absolute guarantee that they got married in Staffordshire, particularly if Mary came from outside the county.
I've just had another go at searching for Joseph Williams marrying Mary ? in 1816 +/- 10 years (first child born in 1826) in Staffordshire, and there are 15 hits. 4 were the same marriage in 1806 which makes them too young, but the other 11 are possible.
Obviously the greater the difference between the marriage date and the DoB of their first known child reduces the likelihood. 16 years is a bit long, but older children could have left home by the 1841 census where I first found them. There is a marriage in 26/12/1810 in Newcastle-under-Lyme to Mary Worrall b. Abt. 1789, this Joseph has a DoB of Abt. 1785, but census DoB are notoriously inaccurate in 1841.
Discounting duplicate records and those prior to 1810 there are 8 possible distinct marriages, only 2 of which give the ages of the bride and groom, the 1810 marriage and the one you found.
Peter.
Thanks, it certainly looks like the most probable couple.
I'd missed them when I looked at the IGI site.
I didn't know their DoM and you get an awful lot of Josephs marrying Marys in a, say, 20 year span.
I suppose that there is no absolute guarantee that they got married in Staffordshire, particularly if Mary came from outside the county.
I've just had another go at searching for Joseph Williams marrying Mary ? in 1816 +/- 10 years (first child born in 1826) in Staffordshire, and there are 15 hits. 4 were the same marriage in 1806 which makes them too young, but the other 11 are possible.
Obviously the greater the difference between the marriage date and the DoB of their first known child reduces the likelihood. 16 years is a bit long, but older children could have left home by the 1841 census where I first found them. There is a marriage in 26/12/1810 in Newcastle-under-Lyme to Mary Worrall b. Abt. 1789, this Joseph has a DoB of Abt. 1785, but census DoB are notoriously inaccurate in 1841.
Discounting duplicate records and those prior to 1810 there are 8 possible distinct marriages, only 2 of which give the ages of the bride and groom, the 1810 marriage and the one you found.
Peter.