Genealogy Chat

Posting more out of curiosity than anything else at this stage but is anyone on the boards doing a one name study? I know about the existence of the One Name Studies Guild website, but if you are thinking of doing a study, are there any things to bear in mind first?

Be interested to find out, a chap that is doing one, on one of my names contacted me , and is a wealth of info, i have one quite unusaul name that i'd like to do , but not sure how to go about it. Will watch this thread with interest jess

Jess, I have a rare surname linked to my ancestry albeit distantly that has sparked my interest. I'm interested in tracing all instances of it, but believe it to be a fairly modest goal as I reckon there are easily less than 100 people with that surname from say, 1800 onwards.

I believe the site tells you how much research you need to have done to register your interest with them but by registering you do have a certain obligation to answer queries from researchers. I have been sort of drawn in to helping with a study. I was searching for what I thought to be a fairly unusual surname in Sussex and finding it in a town about 20miles from where my ancestors lived, I logged the reference 'just in case it fits in later'. More delving in PRs showed more names and now we have several mini families waiting to fit into the bigger picture. On another name in the Isle of Wight, we logged every reference from their indexed name card, and checked these in PRs for known family.... Tedious... but it has brought a much clearer picture when we could sit down and study it all in peace at home.

I am not thinking of doing a one name study of a name but did get intouch with a chap doing a one name study of a name of an ancestor of mine. I had to contact him by letter. He was great and did give me some help but only because first I gave him all the information I had. He praised me for the info I had found and said that he gets lots of mail from people expecting him to provide them with all the answers when he has done all the work. A good answer I think. Lots of people are not prepared to do any work themselves and expect someone else to provide them with all the answers then go off to claim they have completed their family tree. So I think you must ask the question why you want to do it, for yourself or to help others. I think the people who do all this work should be well praised. Good Luck Irene

I'm in a similar position to Andy One of my direct lines have a surname which seems to be fairly unusual. Less than 200 of them by the 1861 census and significantly less in earlier years I have considered embarking on a one name study cos I'm sure I'm the only person in the world descended from these people but not sure I'm committed enough to put the work in that it would need and abandon the other lines I've also worked so hard on

I'm not sure yet what my exact reason for doing it would be other than my own satisfaction as given the paucity of names, its use to anyone else would be very limited. From what I've seen so far, we are only talking about no more than roughly a dozen people on each census with this surname even allowing for mis-spellings. Despite the rarity of the surname, there are intricacies, for example the family is rife with illegitimate children in the early days and couples marrying who had previously been widows/widowers with children from a previous marriage.

Think this is a really interesting subject. Would also like to do this at some point in my life on the unusual name in my tree. Alan - What is the name in suffolk that you are looking at??? Thanks Jo

I have been doing my one name study for a number of years now. I have found membership of the Guild to be a boon. There is a lot of knowledge available as many of the members have been genealogists since the year d o t and are very willing to share their knowledge. My ONS started as twig on a distant branch of my tree and gradually developed a life of its own, to the detriment of my research into my own family history. A ONS is a study of the history, spread development of a surname, and does not necessarily involve creating family trees or pedigrees although inevitably family links are made. I started by visiting my local county library where they have a copy of the BMD indexes on fiche, and extracted all the entries for the surname, this took about 3 months visiting once a week. Then hit the censuses, the parish records, phone books, IGI, and Google etc etc trying all the while to keep an accurate record of your findings. Then the braver souls write to those of the surname who appear in the voters' registers. Your research into your own tree goes by the board. When someone asks how far my tree goes back I reply with a frown, 'well about 1900 but I can tell you about some complete strangers right back to the early 17th century and beyond' :-). In the mean time I decided to put my stuff on a web page, so taught myself html from one of those Dummies Guide books. There are never more than 35 persons of the surname I am 'doing' alive at any one time, so my ONS is minute, those GOONS with a larger pool of names with many thousand living at any time, have assistant researchers all over the world, hold multinational reunions, & produce magazines and newsletters. Its Genealogy Jim, but not as we know it. dave http://homepage.ntlworld(.)com/kinship/ my do it yourself web page(s) :-)

I'm joining in with this one - I have been collecting odd references to the name MOCOCK - I think I thought it was a reasonably rare surname but there are more than I thought and it is a growing 'database'. It's the time spent responding to requests that I would find difficult to deal with as I work full-time. Mind you, if there weren't too many it would not be much of a problem. Trouble is, how do you find out? In the meantime, if anyone has any info/wants to share any info on MOCOCK then let me know. Jill

There appears to be 100 MOCOCKs alive in the UK (2000 figures) see http://www.taliesin-arlein.net/names/search.php 297 Mocock records on FreeBMD. 63 in the 1881 Looks like a good candidate for a small ONS, but them of course what about Mocox, Morcock hmmmm dave

I'm researching a single family, rather doing a One Name Study, as I prefer not to take on the responibilities that would entail. BMD from 1837, every census from 1841 (and having spent all last night on Origins I am relieved to find my tally of the surname higher than theirs) parish registers and every other source I can think of. The internet has proved invaluable in revealing more than the five dedicated researchers that I previously knew of and demonstrating the huge diaspora of the name. The one name research sits very happily alongside ordinary research because it forces me continually investigate new sources and explore the background to people's lives and the reasons for their movements.

Thanks for that link Dave - I'll check it out in a minute. I was thinking of old, dead Mococks more than alive and kicking ones who might be related!! Scary. And yes, you're right - re alternative spellings - and they are mistranscribed as Mecock and Macock too! Brenda - I agree with your comment about tracking the movements - the whys and wherefores etc. It all helps make them much more real - my Mococks travelled between London and Birmingham - they were mostly gunsmiths - and a lot of the Birmingham lot were brothers, born in London. Jill

Me again - hey Dave - checked that site - fun! It gives me an idea of how common some of my names are/were - I don't always find that obvious on census returns as they either include millions of variations or transcription errors. Thank you.

Andy, There are only about 200 people born with my maiden name since 1765. I have been able to connect nearly all of them and jump on any who don't seem to fit with glee!! I can't get back further than 1765 and various people have tried for at least 50 years. I have a website with my own domain and one thging I would say about a one name study is that it forces you into finding out about details of your ancestors...not just a list of names and dates. That has directed me towards local history, whicj I find just as fascinating (if not more so) as seeking out names!

Andy This isn't going to help you whatsoever but I contacted a lady who is compiling a one name study on my maiden name. I contacted her just out of curiousity when I first started my tree but as I only gave my fathers name I never received a reply. However when I became a genealogical nutter and eventually found my g grandfather I contacted her again as she didn't have my branch after him. She was really grateful and extremely helpful - I sent her copies of my certificates (she already had my g grandfathers wedding certificate) and she sent me the whole tree going back to 1650 so I was delighted. Due to the size of the tree I was a little sceptical but so far I have only found a couple of possible mistakes so I trust her sources. I was quite proud of myself too as my own research matched hers so I can be confident I have the right connections - not bad to say I'd only been doing it for a year and she's been studying for 30 years! It is something I would consider later on in life when I have more time on my hands but it would have to be one of my uncommon names but I would imagine it could be a fascinating task to take on! Good Luck! Debby

I've already done some research on the name by just googling it and found one contact about 18 months ago through Rootsweb whom I managed to get in contact with and she supplied me with some initial information. This was when I found out that the name was tangled up in illegitimacy and multiple marriages! I'm on top of the tangled web now but can't get any further back than about 1780 at present, however I'm at a stage where I'm more concerned with wanting to put some flesh on the names and dates. For instance why did one ancestor leave rural Somerset for London, etc. Like with anything it is going to frustrate and excite with varying measures.

I seem to have fallen into a One Name Study more or less by accident. I have been searching for five years for a definitive baptism of my 2 x GF. I have chased up many a blind alley, but recorded all the information I found 'just in case'. Fed up with non-progress, I thought I would see if the generation before might help, creep up on him from behind, so to speak. More references collected. Then I discovered A2A, where there are more than 650 references, from 1179, to my family name. All this means I now have a database of over 1000 people, all with the same surname, all from the same small area, and some extremely detailed information too. I have various mini-family trees and am rather chuffed to realise that my research is more accurate than several 'Professional' Family Trees which have been published in the last two centuries. I don't have the time to be a committed Gooner, but I intend, at some unspecified date, to publish what I have found. Googling has, on the whole, produced very disappointing results for this name - only two people seriously researching and one of those is, shall we say, inaccurate in the extreme.No-one seems to be doing the name as a One Name Study - probably because it is such a common name in the area! Marjorie

Hi Andy, I've been a member of GOONS for a long time and 'fell' into my one name study because my registered surname is uncommon and most people with the name can be linked into one of just a few main families. I've made a lot of friends and found loads of new relatives along the way. I've been able to help a lot of people and received important information on my own ancestors in exchange. I've also learned a lot about family history and searched a lot of archives that I wouldn't have done if I'd just stuck to my own ancestors. When I started, the GRO indexes for example were only at St. Catherine's House. They weren't available on fiche, let alone online. It should be easier to conduct a one name study now, with so much info available online etc. The GOONS does give guidelines to the sort of information you'd be expected to collect if you register your study with them, but it's your study and up to you what you do with it - just as long as people who get in touch with you know your limitations. A word of warning though - it's extremely time consuming! you can get totally hooked on that one surname and find yourself searching high and low in the most obscure records for just one little mention, no matter how irrelevant it might seem at the time. Sometimes it's those odd references that can make all the difference to someone's research. In short, it can be more obsessive than family history. I have my own website for my study, which is by no means comprehensive, and takes up loads of my time too, but I've thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and I add whatever I can, when I can. If anyone would like to see the type of info I've collected, then here's the address - remove the brackets of course. http://www(.)angelfire(.)com/ar3/dibden_onename/index(.)html Follow the 'search or browse' link from the home page. Best wishes, Carole

I'd love to do a one name study but wary of the time & cost involved. My great grandmother's maiden surname was Malkin and I can trace all of them from her place of birth, Halifax, to William born c.1770 but born who knows where! I'm fascinated to find out more about them, where they came from, etc but keep coming up against brick walls. Living in Scotland doesn't help either because I can't just nip round to the local library, cemetery, etc. I find areas where the name is common, Staffordshire has some Malkin potterty for example. One day maybe, when I have the time & money I'd love to dedicate to it! Rachel