Gut feelings - Genealogists' Forum

Asa · #1 06-10-13, 16:54

Do you ever *feel* something is right without having much evidence? I quite often do and have very often gone on to find proof.

At the moment I'm looking for an identity of a bride for which there seems to be no surviving marriage (they haven't survived from the local church) or license or bond from c1726. I've been looking at a lot of wills but nothing doing. There's a baptism in the adjoining village of a baby that I'm just sure is the bride - right name, time, location and parents' names with a link between the two families in an apprenticeship record but absolutely no proof!

WendyPusey · #2 06-10-13, 18:33

Yes, I found a baptism for Female in Ireland with the same parents names, and I just knew it was my Great Grandmother. Don't ask me how but it turned out I was right.

Asa · #3 06-10-13, 18:42

We probably spend so much time at it we develop an instinct. I'm hoping something will turn up for this one

Olde Crone · #4 06-10-13, 19:04

I'm in two minds about gut instincts.

On another site, loads of people did loads of research for someone. It wasn't working out very well and eventually someone asked (rather exasperatedly!) what proof the poster had that she was related to this famous person. Back came the blithe answer:

"No proof at all but I feel it in my bones".

However, I too have had a gut instinct, mostly about my 2 x GGF. I have found a baptism which I am convinced is him along with the name of his unmarried father. No proof, but I can reasonably construct a scenario for him and I'm almost convinced I'm right - it's just that PROOF I don't have!

OC

Asa · #5 06-10-13, 19:08

Ha OC, I bet people weren't best chuffed with that! I like to think I'm a wee bit more sensible than that lol

Same as you, I can see the case I'm looking at has a good amount of likelihood but it's something to look for evidence for - I wouldn't add it to my tree even with question marks and notes at this stage :-)

HarrysMum · #6 06-10-13, 21:15

I searched high and low for the birth of my ggg grandfather, William Huband. I had his marriage in Devon, allhis children's baptisms in Devon, his death in Devon, but no birth.

I kept coming back to a William Huband born in Warwickshire. It is not an uncommon name as just about every Huband is either William, James or John...lol

I finally gave up and hired Kevin Asplin to get his Royal Marines records and sure enough....birth place....Arrow, Warwickshire.

Asa · #7 07-10-13, 05:38

I have some hope, Libby:-)

marquette · #8 07-10-13, 08:37

I have a few where I can only go on gut feelings and reasoned deduction.

"Charles, Charlotte and Thomas Tupper were baptised 1st March 1807"

That is all the baptism register says - I have looked at the microfilm.

Charles' NSW death certificate said his father was Thomas. This is the only Charles Tupper baptised in West Sussex in the census ages time frame.

I do not think I will ever "find" proof that they all belong to Thomas and Ann Tupper of Graffham.

In the 1841 census a child Ebenezer Iliffe with his father John in Marston Moretaine, and in 1851. There are Baptist registrations for his older siblings, but none for Ebenezer who we suspect was born about the time of his mother's death about 1832. There is none either for a child John, who is not in either census. John, who died in 1907, left the bulk of his estate to the known children and grandchildren of John Iliffe and Sarah Wilford. At some point after he arrived in the colony, we believe that Ebenezer became known as Black Jack Iliffe and eventually Old Jack Iliffe and then John Iliffe, but there is little proof (yet).