08 December 2023
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Family Tree Academy tutor, professional genealogist David Annal has set a series of family history challenges. Find the quiz in the January issue of Family Tree (out 8 December 2023). And find the answers to the quiz below.
Good luck in the quiz folks! We're sure you're going to find it enjoyable. Absolutely no peeking at the answers until you've given it a go.
(You don't have a copy of the January 2023 issue of Family Tree? No problem - you can order a print copy from here, you can buy a digital copy from here, or you can read a digital edition as part of your Family Tree Plus membership (to log in or take a FREE trial, please see here).
It’s A Date!
1. Match the dates to the genealogical events.
a. 25 March 1754 Hardwicke’s Marriage Act comes into force
b. 10 March 1801 First census of England, Wales and Scotland taken
c. 1 January 1855 Civil registration introduced in Scotland
d. 24 October 1874 Probate Search Room at Somerset House opens its doors
e. 1 January 1927 Adoption of infants in England and Wales authorised by law
2. In which year were the following organisations/institutions founded?
a. Barnardo’s 1866
b. The Foundling Hospital 1739
c. Broadmoor Asylum 1863
d. The Royal Hospital (Chelsea) 1682
e. The Metropolitan Police 1829
3. On which date were the following censuses taken?
a. 1841 6 June
b. 1851 30 March
c. 1881 3 April
d. 1901 31 March
e. 1921 19 June
Where Do You Think You Are?
4. Can you name these five pre-1974 counties? (A-E)
A Durham
B Merioneth
C Leicestershire
D Herefordshire
E Surrey
5. Can you identify these five English/Welsh towns? (F-J)
Hint: four of the five are on this list:
F Workington
G Leeds
H Boston
I Carmarthen
J Weymouth
6. Can you name these five civil registration districts? (K-O)
(locations are approximate)
K St Asaph
L St Faith
M St Ives or St Neot’s (they’re right next to each other!)
N St Albans
O St Thomas
What Does That Say?
7. These five forenames appear in the 1848 will of John Campbell. Can you read the names?
a. Edward
b. Elizabeth
c. Charlotte
d. George
e. John
8. These five surnames appear in the will of Johana Stone, dating from 1702/03. Can you work out what the names are?
a. Willson
b. Dickeson
c. Norris
d. Jordan
e. Harper
9. These five items are listed on a 1700 inventory of the goods of John Burbridge. Can you work out what the items are?
a. one bed
b. one salt Box
c. two kettles
d. Tenn bushels of beanes
e. Five peuter (i.e. pewter) dishes
Putting It Into Practice
Beginners
10. Using the 1891 census entry for the Hayward family of Letheringham, Suffolk as your starting point, can you identify the correct birth registration for the 7-year old daughter, Ada, from the results list?
1883 DEC HAYWARD, Ada
Plomesgate 4a 816
11. Starting with the 1851 census entry for the Evans family of St Mary’s, Cardigan, can you find the baptismal record relating to the 15-year old daughter, Margaret?
Margaret was baptised in the parish of Verwig (or Verwick) in Cardigan on 4 March 1836. Her parents are listed as David and Margaret and her surname is recorded as Evan. Despite the discrepancy in her father’s occupation (farmer in the 1851 census, shipwright in 1836) we can be sure that this is the right baptism as the addresses (Penyban/Penbank) are a match.
12. Looking at the burial record of William Clarke of Lostock Gramal, Cheshire, can you find the record of his will in the National Probate Calendar?
William’s will was proved at Chester on 5 July 1884.
Intermediate
13. Starting with the 1881 census entry for the Carrick family of Fenny Compton, Warwickshire, can you find:
a. a record of the marriage of Frederick and Sarah Carrick in the GRO index?
JUN 1859
CARRICK Frederick
CURTIS Sarah Elizabeth Prudence
Oxford 3a 747
b. the parish register entry of their marriage?
Frederick and Sarah were married on 24 June 1859 in the parish church of St Thomas, Oxford.
c. a record of Sarah’s baptism?
Sarah was baptised in the Wesleyan Chapel in Oxford on 18 December 1836.
d. Sarah’s entry in the 1851 census?
Sarah, aged 14, was living with her parents, George and Sarah Curtis at an address in Osney Lane, in the parish of St Thomas, Oxford.
Advanced
16. Martha Sarah Cox married Richard Speed at Manchester Cathedral & Parish Church on 11 September 1864.
Using the record of their marriage as your starting point, can you answer the following questions:
a) According to her entry in the 1861 census, what was Martha’s occupation?
At the time of the 1861 census, Martha was living with her parents at 10 Love Lane, Manchester. She and her younger sister, Mary Ann, were both working as reelers. A reeler worked in a textile factory, operating a machine which wound yarn on to a bobbin.
b) Robert Lawton Cox married Mary Kinsey at St Mary’s, Manchester on 1 September 1822. How could you prove that this is the marriage of Martha’s parents?
Robert has a distinctive middle name but this on its own wouldn’t constitute proof that this was the right marriage. However, the marriage record tells us that Robert was an iron moulder and this ties in with the occupation given for him at the time of Martha’s baptism in 1835. Also, Martha’s sister, Mary Ann, was born in 1839 and we can find her birth registration (as Mary Cox) in the GRO index, which gives her mother’s surname as Kinsey. When we combine all of this evidence there can be no doubt that the 1822 marriage relates to Martha’s parents.
c) Where and when was Robert baptised?
The 1861 census told us that Robert was 60 and that he was born in ‘Lawton, Cheshire’. This points towards a birth sometime around 1800 and we can quickly find the baptism of Robert Lawton, son of James & Ellen Cox at the parish church of All Saints, Lawton on 11 December 1800.
d) Robert’s parents were married by licence. What, according to the marriage licence allegation, was his father’s occupation?
James Cox and Ellen Ingle were married at Eccles parish church on 4 February 1800. The entry in the parish register tells us that James was 25 and Ellen 23 and that they were married by licence. The licence was issued by the Bishop of Chester three days before the wedding and it tells us that James was ‘of Lawton in the County of Chester, Farmer’.
e) Robert’s paternal grandmother died in 1812, leaving a will in which she bequeathed an item to Robert’s father which she described as being “usually known as the late King of France’s”. What was the item?
Although James Cox grew up in Lawton in Cheshire, he was born over the county border in Audley, Staffordshire, on 17 November 1774 and baptised there on 28 January 1775. His parents, Robert and Margaret Cox both left wills, Robert dying in 1806 and Margaret in 1812.
In her will, Margaret made bequests to each of her surviving children, and to her son James she left, “my Snuff Box usually called the late King of France’s and my late Husband’s Silver Spectacles”.