A Trio of Mistakes: 52 Ancestors: Week 37

Few of us have not made mistakes in our family history. so we should have plenty of examples to highlight for this week's "52 Ancestors" prompt.  

But genealogy research mistakes are wonderful learning experiences and they can be blessings when they show us how to improve our research.    Here is how I  discovered my  mistakes. 

1.  Which Ellen Danson married Ralph Dewhurst? 

My four times great grandfather John Danson (1736-1821) had a daughter Ellen Danson, baptised at St. Chad's Church in 1763 (Poulton Parish Register, Lancashire). In searching for a marriage I came across an Ellen Danson marrying a Ralph Dewhurst in 1796 - and the date seemed to fit.  But I made the basic fatal family history mistake. I assumed this must be my Ellen, forgetting the Danson name is a popular one in that part of Lancashire.

St. Chad's Churchyard, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire where my Danson ancestors were baptised, married & buried.

Some years later I had contact from a fellow Danson researcher who thought that that my John and his Richard were brothers, both sons of Peter Danson - this is  were I come to a halt with my direct Danson line. Richard had six daughters including an Ellen, born 1768 who my contact believed married Ralph Dewhurst in 1796.  

I  then received an e-mail from a fellow member of the Lancashire Family History and Heraldic Society who had in her family an Ellen Danson (daughter of Ralph Danson) and guess what?  She believed  her Ellen married Ralph Dewhurst.

So there we have it - a trio of Ellen Dansons and who was right? In my favour is that "my" Ellen Danson and Ralph appeared to name their eldest daughter Margaret, (the name of "my" Ellen's mother) and second son John after her father - thus following the traditional naming pattern in the north of England and Scotland. On the other hand these are Christian names in popular use, and "my" Ellen would have been 33 years of age on marriage, which seems quite old for the time. 

What is certain is that an Ellen Danson was born to my ancestors John Danson and Margaret Fayle, and that an Ellen Danson married a Ralph Dewhurst at the same church in 1796, as on Lancashire Online Parish Clerks  but which Ellen was she? 

Unfortunately the records available do not throw any light on this mystery.                   

The message to me is a strong one - DO NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS!

2.  Following A False Trail 

For many years when researching my husband's Donaldson family, I made seriously  wrong assumptions. I traced the family easiiy on Scotlands People through census returns and old parish records to the marriage of Samuel Donaldson and Ann Howieson in South Leith, Midlothian, Scotland in 1759.

Then I reached the proverbial brick wall in trying to prove Samuel's parentage.

In the Old Parish Records, there was a Samuel Donaldson born in 1729 in Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire on the south west coast of Scotland. This very much appealed to me - the date was about right, the coastal location on the banks of the Solway Firth in south west Scotland fitted with Samuel's later life as a merchant in a seaport (albeit on the other side of the country);    and Kirkbean had an interesting history as the birthplace of John Paul Jones, found of the American navy.
I know - not exactly convincing research conclusions! 

On the bass of following ancestral roots, we even had an enjoyable short break exploring the area. It was only many years later when I was writing the narrative of the Donaldson family history, that I stopped suddenly and thought -

"I have absolutely no proof that the Samuel Donaldson, born Kirkbean, was the same person as the Samuel Donaldson who married 30 years later in Leith and was my husband's G.G.G.G.G. Grandfather."

I had another look at the ScotlandsPeople website and there were only 3 entries for a Samuel Donaldson born in Scotland in the relevant period:

• 1725 - Samuel, son of James and Jean
• 1729 - Samuel son of John and Jean
• 1752 - Samuel, son of John and Janet

The traditional naming pattern can sometime be a clue to identifying the "right" person. However Samuel's first born son was named David (probably after his maternal grandfather), though second son was John. None of his five sons was called James, and none of his three daughters named Jean or Janet. Given that it was not compulsory to register births, marriages and deaths in Scotland until 1855, perhaps there is simply no record of Samuel's birth and no evidence to confirm the names of his parents.

So years of assumption and work on the background history of Kirkbean came to nothing -  though we did enjoy our holiday there! 

                              And the lesson - DON'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS 
               
3.  The Puzzle of Peter
Early on in my Danson family history, my aunt recounted a story of my great grandfather James having a younger brother buried in St. Chad's Churchyard, Poulton-le-Fylde. I soon found in the local library a Danson entry in an "Index to Graves" which I noted down as:

Henry Danson, who died 27^th October 1881 aged 75 years.

Elizabeth Danson, wife of Henry Danson, died 8^th April 1879 aged 67 years.

Peter Danson, son of the above who departed this life

18^th May 1866 aged 12 years.

Sacred to the memory of James, son of Henry and Elizabeth Danson.

This quick confirmation of the younger brother of my great grandfather  delighted me and indicated the young Peter was born 1853-4, so would have been about 8 years old at the time of the 1861 census. However no entry in the census records was found of him locally. He was not at the home of his parents nor staying with any of his four older married sisters, nor was a record of his birth traced.

Moreover when help was sought from the Blackpool Registrar, the only relevant certificate related to Peter, the brother of Henry Danson, who died aged 72 of apoplexy on 18th May 1866 at Back Street, Poulton. The informant was Jas Brownhill, of Tithe Barn Street Poulton, who was present at his death - thought to be the husband of Peter’s niece Margaret Danson. The burial entry in the St Chad’s Church Register is rather faint but the age given is clearly 72 not 12.

As a further check I later obtained a copy of the monumental inscription from Poulton Library to discover that I had originally recorded the entries in the wrong order, and this subtly changed their meaning.

Bear with me here - the correct order was:
                    Sacred to the memory of James, son of Henry and Elizabeth Danson
(I now realise this refered to 15 year old James, son of my gg. grandparents Henry Danson and Elizabeth Brown, who died in 1827, and not as first thought my great grandfather James (1852-1906).      
   
Also of Peter Danson, son of the above who departed this life 18th May 1866 aged 12. 
            (Was this a confusion between 12 and 72 in recording the age for the Index ?)
  
 Also of Elizabeth [Calvert], wife of Henry Danson who died April 8th 1879 aged  67.                     

Also of Henry Danson who died October 27th 1881 aged 75 years 

In my excitement at the original find and in a rush to write things down, I had changed the order of the inscription  to give emphasis to “my” James parents. Henry Danson and Elizabeth Calvert.   I had completely misinterpreted the entries - not helped of course by the repetition of the same Christian names (Henry, Elizabeth and James)  down two generations.

That I had made a mistake was further confirmed when in a history of St. Chad's church,I learned  the graveyard has been clsoed in 1883,  so could not be the burial place of James Danson my great grandfather who died in 1906.   Further research showed that he had been buried in Moorland Cemetery, Poulton.  

In later changes at the churchyard, many gravestones had been removed, including my Danson one, so I was reliant on the monumental inscriptions for information.


 Whether there was a young Peter remains doubtful, and perhaps the family recollection was on this occasion wrong.  

                                        But there were also lessons for me - 

DON'T ALWAYS BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE TOLD

                                   & TRANSCRIBE INFORMATION CORRECTLY


So there we have it - the basic message in all three examples  of my mistakes:

• Do not assume
• Do not jump to conclusions 
• Do not always believe family stories  
• Make sure you transcribe correctly 

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