How much info is enough?

[GiddyUpGo]

Sorry for the very basic question, but I’m having a hard time knowing when I’ve successfully located someone I’m researching and when I might possibly have just found someone with similar statistics.

For example, I have the full name (first, middle, surname) of an ancestor, her birthplace and the year she was born. I found someone in the 1881 British census with the same first, middle and surname, the same birth year, living in my ancestor’s birthplace. It seems like I might have found her, but how can I be sure? Is that enough information to add someone to the family tree or do I need to find something else, and if so what should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the newbie question.

[majm]

Welcome to RootsChat

From the 1881 census, is she living with her parent/s or family (so recorded as dau/son/wife/) and from her birth certificate/baptismal record ... do the parents names match up?  Is the place of birth matching up to your already known info?

I expect there's likely to be others along shortly to help you.   



JM

[GiddyUpGo]

Thanks for your quick reply! She's living with her parents and reported as a daughter, age 5. I don't have her parents' names so I can't match in that way, also don't have her siblings' names (just her husband's). I also do not have her birth certificate--the source was a name my grandmother gave me (this was her own grandmother).

But the location is Nettlebed, England which currently has a population of less than 700 people though I suppose a century ago it could have been a much larger place. Not sure where to look for population data for 1881 but I'm thinking if it was as small as it is now that would lessen the chances that there would be more than one person living there with the same name and birth year.

[KGarrad]

Welcome from me, too!

Her marriage certificate will state her father's name.

[majm]

Yes, that all makes sense, but you may need to find her father's details (name/occupation) on her marriage certificate to help confirm if you are on track.

Perhaps you may wish to share her name, and the 1881 address so that some of the UK experts can help you further.

I am in New South Wales, Australia.  The UK experts will have much better understanding of the 1881 Census and later.  My ancestors on all my lines had been in NSW for at least several generations by the 1880s.

JM

[Wiggy]

And Welcome from me too     

It sounds as if you have a pretty good match there really - three names, plus birth year and place - that's a good match really.   
 Two names might have been more problematical  (given what my family were up to all giving their children the same names) - but surely first and second and surname matching has to be quite good I would say.   

We can never be 100% certain can we? - but that is pretty good in my book.

If you do a search for the whole family - i.e. just put in the family name, place and a date range either side of her and see what you come up with - you might find the family with lots of names you recognise from following generations and that will give you even more confidence that you are onto the right person.

Happy hunting.

Wiggy   

[GiddyUpGo]

Once again thank you, I'm impressed with the helpfulness and quick response on this forum.

Here is her data:

Harriet Ellen Simms
Born 1876
Nettlebed, Oxfordshire

Married John Salt (born 1874)

Unfortunately I don't have the marriage certificate either, the information all came from my grandmother. I think it was written in a family bible somewhere, which my mom might still have, but there's no official documentation.

[majm]

Here is a live link to some population info about Nettlebed in 1881

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10341462/cube/PREV_GENDER_10YRS

JM

[majm]

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27J-NQRN

Siblings, parents listed there.

Henry & Ann SIMMS as parents,

JM