| If you are having problems researching your | | | | both the first name and the second had not been |
| family tree then maybe you can learn something | | | | written down by the person in question, as they |
| from my experience here. I had got nowhere | | | | may well have been illiterate. When you come to |
| with this ancestor's birth, marriage or death - on | | | | do your own research you should bear in mind |
| or off-line - then a chance visit to a Family History | | | | this point. The vicar could have misinterpreted the |
| Website and an hour or two looking at the | | | | name writing it as he had heard it spoken to him |
| transcripts and a brick wall in my family history | | | | and so that "Sissell" could possibly been "Cecil" or |
| research came tumbling down! This, together with | | | | something completely different. As for Sunass - |
| thinking of spelling variations of names, opened up | | | | at that time I was clueless as to what it could |
| a new line to me. | | | | have been! |
| My paternal line in Dartmouth, Devon, UK has | | | | There were no early enough christening records |
| always been a bit frustrating once the census | | | | for John and Elizabeth on the Dartmouth Archives |
| records ran out in 1841. This, of course, is the | | | | website, but I opened another browser and |
| earliest census available on-line for England so that | | | | navigated to the Latter Day Saints (LDS) website |
| after this I needed to begin looking at parish | | | | or FamilySearch.org and here I did a search for |
| records. I had worked out that my three times | | | | Elizabeth's christening and was lead to a baptism in |
| great-grandfather was called John Thorn and from | | | | one of the other churches in Dartmouth, St |
| the information given in the census collections I | | | | Petrox, on the 16 September 1878. The daughter |
| knew that he had been born in about 1795 and his | | | | of James and Sarah Sissill was one Elizabeth |
| wife, Elizabeth, in about 1798. | | | | Gardener Sissill - and here I noted that the spelling |
| As a member of The Society of Genealogists in | | | | had changed to Sissill with an "i" and not an "e". |
| Goswell Road, London EC1. I was aware that the | | | | This record made me wonder if the witness to |
| SoG has the biggest collection of Parish Records | | | | Elizabeth's marriage could have been her father |
| in Britain on microfiche. They've also got some | | | | "James" and this has been interpreted as "Sunnas" |
| transcripts of parish registers in the library. | | | | because a flowing "J" for James had looked like an |
| Unfortunately Dartmouth parish records were not | | | | "S" and the other letters had been misread as a |
| microfilmed, but a selection of Devon Family | | | | "u" for an "a" and the double "n" as an "m". |
| History Society booklets of the marriages of | | | | The point I'm making here is to watch out for |
| some of the churches in the town, including St. | | | | names and their spelling. Before the levels of |
| Saviour's, were available. Scanning one book for | | | | literacy rose amongst the general public, our |
| any likely ancestors I noted down that on 13 April | | | | forebears would rely very heavily on a vicar |
| 1817 a John Thorn married an Elizabeth Sissell. | | | | writing down their given names as they sounded |
| With this tentative lead, I hit the Internet. I was | | | | to him. |
| looking for any evidence that this was the | | | | This success was because I located Dartmouth's |
| marriage of my ancestors. I opened the | | | | history website and then used their resources in |
| Dartmouth-history.org.uk website belonging to The | | | | conjunction with other Internet sites, such as the |
| Dartmouth Archives and realising that this | | | | familysearch.org. I could then take the names and |
| voluntary history group had an extremely good | | | | details further by looking for death certificates for |
| family history section including transcribed | | | | John Branton Thorn and his wife Elizabeth |
| baptisms, burials, marriages and census records. I | | | | Gardener Thorn, as they had died after civil |
| could read the very same details, as I had seen in | | | | registration of deaths took place in 1837. From |
| London, on this niche site. The information began | | | | here a physical visit to the Devon Record Office |
| in 1586 and ran to 1850! There was the marriage | | | | to see the parish records may be the next step. |
| of John to Elizabeth and this time I noticed that | | | | The first lesson is that you should always look to |
| the witness were given as John Adams and | | | | see what other research may have been done, |
| Sunass (sic) Sissell. I made the assumption that | | | | for the area your ancestors came from, and that |
| this particular person was part of the bride's | | | | is published on the Internet. Should you come |
| family and may have been her father, but still the | | | | across a family history society, or local history |
| name Sunass gave me great concern as it simply | | | | group with an internet site, could any of their |
| didn't seem right and I thought that possibly it | | | | publications or website pages be of any use to |
| wasn't legible to the transcriber. | | | | you in your research? Secondly, be aware of the |
| After doing family history for a few years now, | | | | misspelling of names and keep your mind open to |
| I'm aware that names can be transcribed | | | | possibilities. In my case I need to think of other |
| incorrectly. Perhaps written down as the | | | | spellings for the Sissells or names that may have |
| transcriber had seen them (as best practice | | | | sounded like Sissell in order that I may trace this |
| dictates) and not changed to conveniently fit in | | | | line back further and break down the brick wall. |
| with what is consider to be correct. I wondered if | | | | |