Duplicate names

[Chris Lisle]

My great grandfather (or at least supposed) is a very hard man to track down. His name is Summerbell Bartram. He was born in 1874 in a little town called Quebec (in County Durham NOT Canada). However, my concern is that his name is mentioned twice in the 1901 census.

He appears living at an address in Whickham. His name is written as Sombell. He lives with his cousin Thomas and his family. His status is married.

Also he appears to be living with his wife Isabella and the Donkin family. The address is Wallsend.
Both state that he was born in Quebec and they were both same age.

What's even strange is that there is one record of a marriage certificate for Summerbell back in 1895, and his wife's name is Elizabeth, not Isabella.

I considered the possibility of two Summerbell's living in the same area in the same year, but I can't find any evidence of such. Is it possible that the census is counting the same person in two different areas? Anyone got any theories, or suggestions?

[rosie99]

Maybe he was just out overnight and put down at both addresses,  it happened quite a bit. 

Rosie

[Wharfrat]

I've also had several instances of people at more than one abode. Reasons include people actually filling out their schedules on not-necessarily-the-correct-night or just filling in people who are normally living there.

I recently had a 1911 return where a father had listed all his married children on his schedule; in several cases they were actually living on the other side of the country, but it was an excellent way of tracking down the daughters' married surnames!

[stanmapstone]

The census forms were distributed in the week before the census day, and could have been filled in at anytime assuming who would be in the house at mid-night on the Sunday. Therefore you sometimes get people enumerated twice, at their usual home and at a house they happened to be visiting.
This is a fairly common event and has been mentioned before on RootsChat.

Stan

[GR2]

I have come across several women, admittedly at an earlier period, who are called Isobel or Isabella at one time and Elizabeth at another. Isabella is the Spanish for Elizabeth, so the names are cognate.

[Chris Lisle]

Actually, I've just checked his wife's name on the marriage certificate. It's Elizabeth Waistell. Which makes me wonder whether he was living a double life. I have to find out what happened to his wives, since it turns out he married again in Barnsley in 1903, lived with my great grandmother in 1911, and married another in 1913. 

[iolaus]

My great grandmother was Isabella and on one census is down as Elizabeth (others either Isabella or Bella) - I assume it was down to either mishearing or misreading of bad writing