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Old 06-07-19, 09:11
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Phoenix Phoenix is online now
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Thumbs up Hooray for Ancestry and DNA!

Norfolk has an awful lot of parishes. I mean an AWFUL lot.

In the old days, my research metod was what I refer to as French polishing: going steadily round the neighbouring parishes when I hit brick walls.

John Jarvis, b 1804 in Blakeney was the son of John Jarvis and Susanna Waller. I know this because his eldest sons were helpfully named after his sisters' husbands (who I imagine were godparents)

The received wisdom on Ancestry was that John was the son of a William Jarvis, which I knew to be wrong.

I have gradually been adding my distant tree to DNA sample. Yesterday morning I had two matches with common ancestors. Today I have dozens.

The trees show William as my ancestor (Grrr) but they also show a Richard and Alice Jarvis as grandparents, and the first tree I looked at sneaked up a different line, with a sibling of William (or John)

I had long suspected Richard and Alice as grandparents, as I had found them in several parishes, and the family names given to their children were the same, but never with the baptism of "my" John senior.

Curiously enough, William and John died within days of each other, in 1838. There was about ten years age difference between them.

When I looked at the trees for William, I noticed that there was a distinct gap between baptisms of siblings, so, knowing John was 79 when he died, I searched for his baptism.

And I've found him!!!

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...96?pId=3369747


Please ignore that Horatio baptism at the top of the page: he isn't important.


My John Jarvis is the fourth entry on the page, son of Richard and Alice, baptism at Burnham Thorpe.


He and a few siblings are baptised there, then the family move on.


So, my tree is right, my hunch about Richard and Alice was right, but without a baptism index, I'd never have spotted John - the French polishing method would not have taken me as far as Burnham Thorpe.


(And all those with William as father are genetically at least half right!)



And now I have zillions of new cousins!
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Last edited by Phoenix; 28-12-21 at 21:30.
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Old 06-07-19, 09:28
ElizabethHerts ElizabethHerts is offline
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How wonderful, Phoenix! It's so helpful when new records come online for counties where it is difficult to research.
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Old 06-07-19, 10:36
Lindsay Lindsay is offline
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It's so satisfying when you make a breakthrough like that - especially if your theory is proved right!
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Old 28-07-19, 20:35
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Chris in Sussex Chris in Sussex is offline
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Quote:
Please ignore that Horatio baptism at the top of the page: he isn't important
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