Brickwall Thoughts

[Norfolk Nan]

Can I start a thread about brickwalls please? We all have them and there’s a lot of good advice about knocking them down if the problem is during the civil registration/census period. Mine pre-date the 1830s and concern ag labs or other ordinary labourers so unlikely to leave wills. I’ve posted about them here so won’t repeat the details again, one appears out of thin air in a place close to three county borders (Bucks, Beds and Northants) and the others are located in London. All are dead before the census so no magic place of birth, no useful witnesses at their weddings, no settlement docs or poor law examinations. I’ve extended every generation sideways hoping to find something that proves a link - their children marrying cousins for example, no joy. DNA hasn’t helped so far. So, any thoughts or experiences that you’d like to share and maybe provide the clue for someone here?

Thank you.

[Mick Loney]

Slightly off topic I know, but tracing missing censuses for someone? Look for their children, as older parents are often with a married child. Found quite a few that way over the past few weeks. It just goes to show that recording children often pays off, even if on a very distant branch of your tree!
NB found a few children’s marriages that way too

[Norfolk Nan]

Not off topic, Mick I lost a London individual but found her in Rugby living with a married daughter and family so certainly something to take on board.

[PatsyAlice]

I too would appreciate some thoughts. My most long standing brick wall is in Norfolk. He also seems to have beamed in from another planet and dies in 1823. He does marry in his place of residence (Colkirk) but the witnesses are of no help. I have no idea what his occupation was. His age at death differs in the register from his age on his gravestone. He appears on 137 public member trees on Ancestry. Some people seem to think they have found his birth but I cannot see any proof of that. Freereg has very good coverage of Norfolk and there are some who come within the possible birth years but I cannot prove any are him. I have tried to link the names he called his children with possible birth families but to no avail. I think I have found his wife's baptism but no parents are given there so all in all it is a complete dead end - so frustrating.

[Norfolk Nan]

Hello Patsy, I certainly feel your pain

I understand it wasn't usual for family to be witnesses at weddings so while your witnesses aren't helpful they aren't indictive of a man with no family either. I tend to look at the marriages of children over a couple of generations in the hope that a marriage between cousins crops up. I've found many in my tree but none that break down my walls, yet.

It's hard to believe someone can have left no trace prior to marriage, isn't it. My husband's tree had missing baptism too but a DNA match provided the link. No such luck for me so far but I haven't given up hope