Ancestor keeps changing where he was born?

[Griffl]

Hello all,

I have a troublesome great great grandfather...

1891 census he says he was born in NK, Radnorshire
1901 census he says he was born in NK, Shropshire
Last available census- all of a sudden he knows where he was from ... Gillsfield, Montgomeryshire (Guilsfield)

Does anyone else find this quite suspicious? As in he was trying to hide something?

A fellow researcher of this family has taken it that he was actually born in the village that he married, with absolutely no evidence to support this. I'd think they'd have known and he would know the he was English too..

Also, there is no "perfect fit" for the last census birth place, although there is one born right time just with different fathers name to that on the marriage certificate.

Doesn't help that he has the common name Lloyd too!

He one of the chaps in my profile image...


Any thoughts on this?

[DavidG02]

I will make comment from afar not knowing the distances and the way Parish/Civil records may have overlapped.

My first thought was that he didn't fill the forms out himself , or maybe the Collector filled them out and put in the closest Parish district rather than actual birthplace etc

You may be right that the last entry may not even be him.

I also have a few different or non-existent places of birth on census forms . While they are handy to confirm you have the right one sometimes you have to think laterally and accept that if 90% of the info is good then the birthplace info is supportive and not assertive.

Do you find it ''suspicious'' because of other information you have found?

[Jomot]

I had something similar in my husbands family and when I eventually tracked him back I found his parents had travelled around a lot, presumably looking for work, so in all likelihood he genuinely didn't know where he was born. I usually found them living in common lodging houses.

Have you traced him at all with his parents, or just from his marriage onwards?

[Rena]

I had something similar with an ancestor in Suffolk.  When I eventually had a collection of all the census I realised that when he'd left home and had to fill out the census himself he'd written down where he lived as a child (Friston) and not where he was born (Snape).  It was only after he married that he wrote down his correct place of birth on every census thereafter. 

Have you seen the wikipedia entry for Radnorshire?  It could be that he was aware of possible boundary/name changes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radnorshire

[stanmapstone]

The chief clerk of the GRO claimed that the birthplace tables were probably the most inaccurate of any of the census tables..... a great many people did not know in which county they were born. There was also a tendency to record the place of residence, or the earliest one which could be remembered, as the place of birth.
Stan

[carol8353]

My great great grandma is on 6 censuses,and not once was she born in the same place.
She was a northern girl,but one of them says London !!!
I did find it with a lot of help from a Rootschatter.

Alternately my paternal great great grandad was born about 1809 in Ashford Kent on every single census. But I have never found an actual birth for him,he doesn't seem to have been baptised.

So even when you do know ,it's still hard to progress sometimes.

Carol

[Regorian]

I had a lot of trouble with my greatgrandfather, 1861 Census, Pillowell, Glos, baptism entry Clearwell 1831, Glos. Those 30 years took a lot of searching to bridge the gap. Actually, he may have been physically born in Pillowell, but etc.

However, there's another reason, pure awkwardness to put it politely. One example from my wider family, he, head of household was a long liver, and gave different places of birth on every Census. People did and still do resent 'intrusions' into their privacy.   

[Jeuel]

After over 16 years of research, I'm more suspcious if my rellies are consistent about birthplace and date of birth!

But I do share your frustration.  I have a great-great grandfather, helpfully called William Williams!  He is on 5 censuses with 5 different but plausible places of birth and a birth range of 6 years.  I've managed to find the most likely baptism, made when he was 2, which might account for some of the doubts.  But the wretched man refuses to die or be buried, at least with any certainty that it is the right chap.  His 2nd wife has also done a disappearing act, so I do know how irksome this is!!!

[coombs]

My 2xgreat gran was born in Sussex but she grew up in London from babyhood. She was baptised in Stoke Newington and then grew up in Bow, the Lambeth, Camberwell, Walworth then Holborn. In 1881 onwards her birthplace is given as London or London Stoke Newington yet in 1871 when she was 6 her parents gave her proper birthplace of Sussex. I proved this. She was born in Sussex and lived in London from about 5 months old onwards.

She was still a Londoner through and through though, raised there, educated there, married there died there. Many Londoners dont come from a long line of Londoners anyway. Her paternal grandparents came from the area of Bermondsey nearest to Rotherhithe, which was back then just on the outer edges of London, a semi rural, semi urban area.