Hello,
I've been searching for a family member (Andrew Fraser b. circa 1810) of mine for around 10 years or so now to no avail.
Yesterday I made the journey to his supposed birth place (Manchester) and searched through almost every parish in central manchester between 1807-1813 and found nothing.
Sources for his birth are 1851 Census (manchester), 1841 census he lives in cheshire with birthplace as out of county and his re-enlistment in the police he said he was from manchester.
Now I think the police one is the most relevant as it also features a description of him so we can probably assume that it was from his own mouth. But every birth source also gives different ages (1810, 1808, 1809 respectively).
He was married at St Marys parsonage, Manchester in 1829 and was working as a policeman by 1832 (newspaper articles) and then listed in 1836 trade directory as a police officer in Cupids Alley, Manchester.
He was also a trained Coach maker, so he must of been trained in that in the 1820s.
So this would seem to all to link him to Manchester? Have any of you had experiences with people not knowing/giving wrong birthplaces? should I be looking further afield?
I am struggling to envision how he could be wrong about this considering the sources available.
Any insight into similar situations would be appreciated,
Joel