« on: Monday 22 June 20 17:03 BST (UK) »
We can become quite embroiled in genealogy and become passionate about it, the way people can be about football, fishing, and other hobbies. I think we have to accept that we will not always find out everything we want to. But what are your main genealogy frustrations?
I think a big frustration for many of us is the lack of records once you get back past the mid to late 1700s, unless they were more prosperous, or even were in receipt of parish poor relief, or stayed locally and had rare names. You hit very muddy waters. Many pre 1813 parish registers only give fathers name on baptisms, and burials can be just a name and date, and marriages be just names and a date and whether by banns or license. Common surnames and the fact many witnesses to marriages were regular ones can make things very tricky. If people were more prosperous, wills are a godsend, and are probably more reliable than heraldic visitations which can have many errors.
More frustrations are:-
Primary sources that give conflicting info on the same person or family. Then again people wrote down what they were told.
Gaps in parish registers, or the fact that some parish registers only go back to the mid 1700s due to earlier ones being lost or destroyed. Bishops transcripts can help but even then the survival rate can be patchy.
Census dodgers.
Immigration records giving just a name, or even just a title and surname such as "Mr Smith" and date of arrival and not enough to properly identify a person.
Researching:
LONDON, Coombs, Roberts, Auber, Helsdon, Fradine, Morin, Goodacre
DORSET Coombs, Munday
NORFOLK Helsdon, Riches, Harbord, Budery
KENT Roberts, Goodacre
SUSSEX Walder, Boniface, Dinnage, Standen, Lee, Botten, Wickham, Jupp
SUFFOLK Titshall, Frost, Fairweather, Mayhew, Archer, Eade, Scarfe
DURHAM Stewart, Musgrave, Wilson, Forster
SCOTLAND Stewart in Selkirk
USA Musgrave, Saix
ESSEX Cornwell, Stock, Quilter, Lawrence, Whale, Clift
OXON Edgington, Smith, Inkpen, Snell, Batten, Brain