Linking people in families together.

[gilbertlouise]

I have been tracking my family back with documents, but have now come to a point in time with parish records. I have just received a copy of a baptism page which has the information I needed...Thomas Dancer is the son of Robert and Alice Dancer. Thomas was baptised in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire... I need to link Thomas Dancer with his son. I am of the opinion that James Dancer is Thomas Dancer's son, but James was born in Hertfordshire. Even if there is a copy in the parish records in St Stephens, Waterdale, Hertfordshire, that say that James Dancer was baptised there in 1802 and that his parents were Thomas and Mary Dancer...how do I know that it is thee Thomas Dancer who was baptised in Aylesbury? How does this link the two of them together? Should I be trying to find another document that links the two of them together? What reason did Thomas have to leave Buckinghamshire to begin his family in Hertfordshire? How do I know that it is the same Thomas Dancer?  Please help. Thank you for your time.
Gill.

[GrahamSimons]

This gets very hard to prove one way or the other. It's not helped at all by the Christian names - Thomas and Mary are very common indeed, although fortunately Dancer is quite rare. The two places are about 40 miles apart, so it's not a matter of the next-door parish being across the county boundary. Yes, you'd need other documents to be sure; and as not all records from that time have survived, just establishing that this is the only James Dancer born to Thomas and Mary Dancer that you can find isn't sufficient. Wills? Manorial records? Is James alive in 1841 for the census and does he have elderly parents with him? Family Bible?

[gilbertlouise]

Thank you.
There are census results for James Dancer, but none with Thomas on. James was married to Martha Neary who was from Buckinghamshire. I have a document to prove the marriage. James and Martha raised their family in Hertfordshire. Thomas just seems to disappear. There are references on the LDS site for Thomas being James's father, but again, how do I know it is thee Thomas? I have noticed that Thomas, if it is the same one, was very young when James was born. Could this be the reason for the move? But also, James was living in the militia area, so could this be a reason? I do know that Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire are two known areas for the Dancer family, but there are so many of the Dancer families with the same names. Even in one family.

[lizdb]

Can you find siblings of James also chr in Hertfordshire? From that can you find the eldest , and then a marriage of the parents?  Is there a marriage of the Thomas in Buckinghamshire? If a marriage in both, then you are looking at two different Thomases.
Or if two different Thomas couples are having children chr in both Hertfordshire and Bucks at the same time, then that rules out the Bucks one.
But if between the two places there only appears to be one Thomas (either moving to Herts before his marriage and marrying in Herts, or moving later and maybe having older children in Bucks and later ones in Herts), then this may not categorically prove it is the same person, but will probably be as good as you get.
Often when you get back to pre census and preCivil registration it can become a case of ruling out as many scenarios as you can, and the one left if probably the right one, rather than actually be able to prove a particular scenario is correct.

[gilbertlouise]

Thankyou...I have found through the LDS site that William Dancer was baptised in 1806 in the same church with parents Thomas and Mary Dancer, so I am assuming that William is James's brother. Unfortunately, using the service of ancestry, I have not found anything of Thomas, marriage wise in Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire, though there is a Thomas who married in London. I don't think this is the same Thomas. I can't find anything of James and William in their youth, before having their own households.

[gilbertlouise]

Also, On the record of James and Martha's marriage, one of the witnesses is William Dancer. His brother? Perhaps Thomas has died previously? But, I can't find any death records that would appear to match up either.

Would a parish record of a baptism of the year 1802 say where the parents are from?

[lizdb]

Sorry, no.

[SmallTownGirl]

Would a parish record of a baptism of the year 1802 say where the parents are from?

If they weren't from the parish where the baptism took place, the cleric might have recorded the parish that they were from, but oftentimes, not. 

[gilbertlouise]

Thank you for that.

I have just found, also on LDS that there is a Thomas Dancer from the same parish as recorded with James and William's births, St Stephens, who died and was buried in 1829. It is possible that this could be the same Thomas Dancer. The record did not come up on previous searches.