Genealogy Chat

I was looking for a Phoebe Elizabeth and saw this in passing - have GR mis-transcribed?

(note the Hepzebath menioned is not the subject of my search)

My search params:
Forename (empty)
(maiden)Surname Browning
YOB 1886
margin +/- 10 yrs

Background:
Child born 1908 in Wimbledon (Surrey, for search purposes)
Birth cert obtained.
Parents names from that bring up {1904 Mar Thetford 4b 551} (found on freeBMD)
Siblings no idea

Not one singe Phoebe of any description turned up in the GR 1901 census search results, so I'm wondering if the census image was so washed out that the transcriber put "Hepzebath"?

H = washed out B
e = e
p = overcooked l loop or else a high pen stroke from the line below and the i has comined with this to give an impression of p.
a = should be e
e = should be a

Anyway, "Hepzebath" is listed as born 1885, implying a birth at age 23, in Wimbledon.

Chessington initially looks to be too far away but husband's occupation was listed as Coachman (Domestic) in 1908, so mobility vs. geography isn't an utterly insurmountable problem.


Your opinions would be welcomed. Thanks in advance.


Mark

Well I have just checked on Ancestry and there are a number of Phoebe Brownings on the 1901 census and loads of Phoebe's so I don't know why you can't find them on GR.

Not exactly sure what you are asking above.

Kind Regards

Jane

I have checked the original 1901 image on Ancestry and it is Hepzebath M Browning, definitely not Phoebe.

Carolyn

There is a birth on free bmd of a Phoebe Elizabeth Browning, Dec 1876, Thetford dist, who looks like the one who married there in 1904, but no sign of her on the 1881, 1891 or 1901 census.

Carolyn

Hi Victoria,

well, I've never heard of such a name before, so I was basically asking in case it was a commonly occurring transcription error for the Phoebe Elizabeth combination.

As to why I can't get the GR census searches to pick her out, that's another story.

I think I've overlooked something which is so obvious that I can't see it.



Carolyn,

I picked out the marriage index first (sorry, I wasn't expecting people to go running searches, so I had the husband's names and you didn't, which was unfair on you).

freeBMD Death indexes for her married name seem to cut off at ~1919.


Births was easy as her name combo was unique on the list (and light green shading). There *was* another Phoebe {no second name} from Thetford but that tallied with an age 25 death that I'd just seen.

B 1876 Dec Thetford 4b 379
M 1904 Mar Thetford 4b 551
D not on freeBMD yet


However, the birth cert (1908) says Wimbledon.

Actually that might be it. On the GR census search and /without/ any county specified, the search stops at 300 hits and P is too far up the alphabet. /With/ a county specified (Surrey), of course it misses her because she hasn't moved home yet.


Thanks for helping.


M

I think I might have found her on the 1901 census living in Ware, Hertfordshire, as Phebe Browning aged 26, kitchen maid, born Suffolk, Fakenham (which would come under Thetford dist).

Carolyn

Hepzebath (not sure of correct spelling) is/was a genuine name, presumably of biblical origin.

Yes, Hepzibah is from the bible.


And how about Azubah?

I have an 80+ year old cousin with that as a middle name! it also is from the bible





BUT Mark ...... you shouldn't be spending all that extra money on the extra searches on GR! They really are not worth it!!



sylvia.

for bmds after September 1837 ALWAYS go to www.freebmd.org.

That is THE organization that is transcribing all bmds and putting them onto the web.



and it is FREE

@ Carolyn

Kitchen maid sounds right for marrying a coachman - looks promising. Thanks.

@ Huia

Hello again! Okay, if it's a real name I can eliminate that entry as a possible.

@ Sylvia

The GR census search function is free to use. I stopped short of any pay-per-view because Hepzebath, for instance, would have been a complete gamble!

I've gone back to using this as a preliminary county-filter tool because freeCEN won't work if you try an "All Counties" search (or so its warning notices said).

When I've picked out a likely looking result, I go back to freeCEN for a proper look.


Something that's been bothering me lately is how freeBMD is full of holes which always seem to affect the ancestors I am looking for. However, it is forgiveable because at least they have the entries colour-coded to show you where the lists have gaps in them.

I am concerned that Ancestry users (Ancestry taps into freeBMD's data) aren't seeing this colour coding, and are not being given prominent warning notices about gaps in the records and are thus at risk of linking incorrect people into their tree simply because they found a name they were expecting to find (but it's the wrong one).

freeCEN is also seemingly full of holes, or else I'm using it incorrectly.

"Surrey" isn't even on the counties selection list, for instance, so I presume it is still in the queue for being transcribed.


regards


Mark

Mark,

Have you tried www.ukbmd.org.uk?



sylvia

Hi Sylvia,

many thanks for pointing this one out, as it branches out into all sorts of areas I've not looked at yet.

I think I must have Googled for the urls for freeBMD, freeCEN and freeREG before bookmarking them, which meant that I'd completely bypassed the page address you mentioned.

They are all, in effect, sub-pages of it.


cheers,


Mark

Mark

FreeBMD is not as full of holes as you seem to imply. If you look at the coverage graphs, (accessible from the Home Page) you will see that up until 1909 there are very few quarters that haven't yet been transcribed. You are right in saying that it is better to use FreeBMD rather than Ancestry - it is updated regularly and the search facility is much better. Also, with a little bit of detective work, you can sort out some of the odd results (like an uneven number of people on a marriage page)

FreeREG and FreeCEN are fairly new projects and as yet have only transcribed very little of the avaibable material. Details of

If you would like any of these to finish the transcriptions more quickly, why not volunteer to be a transcriber. Half an hour a day can add three handwritten pages to the database.

Hi Potty,

yes, I agree the expression "full of holes" was misleading, on my part. No sleight was intended. It was just an over-reaction to the quantity of "Sorry, we found no matches" that I keep getting.

So they are cracks, not holes but my rellies still seem to have dropped down them, with alarming frequency. All will show up, in good time, I have no doubt.


The other aspect is that I must be searching using the wrong terms (too specific and/or not specific enough on forenames) or I'm going by the family-memory name, which will inevitably turn out to be a nickname, or else I'm rejecting the results that I do get, on the basis that the locations look 'wrong'.

Ultimately, the lesson seems to be "do not attempt to fill the time, while waiting on the next round of certificates, by getting ahead of yourself and searching the indexes for 'likely candidates'..."

Transcribing seems to be a more worthwhile way of filling the time and concentrating the mind, so I'll look into this, in more detail.

Thank you kindly, for the suggestion.


Mark