{"id":14993,"date":"2018-02-06T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T01:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/?p=14993"},"modified":"2022-02-04T18:03:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T18:03:49","slug":"how-i-solved-it-look-around-for-clues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/how-i-solved-it-look-around-for-clues\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Solved It: Look Around for Clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morag Hughson, blog author of Wir Unst Family<\/a>, has shared this blog as part of our ongoing \u201cHow I Solved It Series\u201d. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Her blog details how she had no luck until she noticed that the death record was one of three with the same informant. That informant information led to her being able to sort out relationships and which John Henderson she was actually dealing with.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly true that you can\u2019t always use ancestral records in isolation; sometimes there is simply not enough information in them to be able to use them alone. However, the supporting information can sometimes be closer to hand than you realize.<\/p>\n

In trying to locate the death record for a man called John Henderson, so that I could discover his parents, I found one possible record. It was quite early in the Statutory Records processing, 1857 \u2013 only a couple of years after they started in 1855, and they record whether a person was married, but not who to. Since I know that there are a number of John Henderson\u2019s living in the area, how can I be sure if this is the man I’m looking for? After trying a variety of different ways of looking at it (looking for siblings with the same parents; trying to track down the Brother-in-law who was the informant on the record) I get the feeling I\u2019m never going to be sure if this is him or not.<\/p>\n

I sit back and stare absently at my screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
No.<\/td>\nSurname and Name.
\nRank or Profession, & Condition,
\n(whether Married or Single,
\nWidower or Widow.)<\/td>\n		When and Where Died,
\nwith Hour of Death.<\/td>\n		Parents\u2019 Names,
\nand
\nRank, Profession, or Occupation.<\/td>\n		Cause of Death, and how long
\nDisease continued. \u2013 Medical
\nAttendant by whom certified,and
\nwhen he last saw deceased.<\/td>\n		Signature, Qualification, and Resi-
\ndence of Informant, If out of the
\nHouse in which the Death
\noccurred.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
16<\/td>\nHenderson
\nJohn
\nFisherman
\n.
\n(Married)<\/td>\n		1857
\nJune
\nEleventh
\n7.30 am
\n.
\nSome miles
\noff Skaw<\/td>\n		Andw<\/span> Henderson
\nFisherman
\n(deceased)
\n.
\nMargt<\/span> Henderson
\nmaiden name
\nGray (deceased)<\/td>\n		Drowned at Sea
\nin a gale of wind<\/td>\n		John Priest
\nBrother in law
\nof Deceased<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17<\/td>\nHenderson
\nLaurence
\nFisherman
\n.
\n(Single)<\/td>\n		1857
\nJune
\nEleventh
\n7.30 am
\n.
\nSome miles
\noff Skaw<\/td>\n		John Henderson
\nFisherman
\n(deceased)
\n.
\nMary Henderson
\nmaiden name
\nSpence<\/td>\n		Drowned at Sea
\nin a gale of wind<\/td>\n		John Priest
\nUncle of Deceased<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

\"Skaw<\/a><\/p>\n

Map showing Skaw in the north of Unst.
\nClick on the map to go to the zoom-able version on the NLS website<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s then I notice that the informant for all three death records on this page is the same name. It\u2019s clearly a boating accident as all three are recorded as \u201cDrowned at Sea in a gale of wind\u201d at the same date and time, and \u201cSome miles off Skaw\u201d. Three people registered with the same cause of death on the same day, and the informant has the same name surely means that the informant is the same man.<\/p>\n

This man, John Priest, is a Brother-in-law to the first man, Uncle to the second man, and neighbour to the third. The second man is recorded with a father\u2019s name the same as the name of the first man. Given the relationship of John Priest to each of them, this means that the first man is the father to the second man. Father and son working in the same fishing boat is certainly a common occurrence.<\/p>\n

This also means that the mother recorded on the second man\u2019s death record is the missing spouse on the first man\u2019s death record. Now I can be sure they are the men I’m looking for.<\/p>\n

Knowing his spouse is Mary Spence, I am also then able to place John Priest (the informant), as there is a John Priest married to Catherine Spence (who lives in Norwick in 1851 which is not far from Skaw) which tells me something about the Spence girls \u2013 that they are sisters \u2013 that I didn\u2019t previously know. Finding both their death records also confirms they have the same parents.<\/p>\n

So, when all looks lost, sit back and look around you!<\/p>\n

If you have a story idea or a blog that you\u2019d like to share as part of this series, please let us know about it in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morag Hughson, blog author of Wir Unst Family, has shared this blog as part of our ongoing \u201cHow I Solved It Series\u201d.  Her blog details how she had no luck until she noticed that the death record was one of three with the same informant. That informant information led to her being able to sort…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":15037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12,1],"tags":[19,34,35,16,14],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/How-I-solved-it-Blog-Featured-image-Look-Clues.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14993"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16010,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993\/revisions\/16010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}