How To Solve Genealogy Brick Walls Using Real Life Examples

I see family historians stumbling over the same two metaphorical genealogy brick walls time and time again. In this article learn about the most common genealogy brick walls and learn how to solve them using real life examples.

A LACK OF DATA

These brick walls in your research are caused by not being able to find the information you need, either in order to go further back in time or to fill in a gap in your research. The records you normally use simply don’t exist, the page where you’d expect to find your ancestor is missing, damaged or illegible.

Infamous examples of missing or damaged records include the WWI Burnt Collection and the great number of Irish records destroyed during the Civil War.

Disasters such as floods, fires, war, political or religious turmoil can all affect the regular recording of data. Many parish records have gaps around the time of the English Civil War.

Alternatively, the records you need might still exist but the site where they’re held is currently closed. Or, you might know what information you need but be unaware of the type of record that could contain the necessary data.

TOO MUCH DATA

Have you ever found that, despite having facts about your ancestor(s), there are too many possible records relating to them and you can’t narrow down the data?

For example, my 4x Great-Grandmother Elizabeth Williams was born in Dyserth, Flintshire (or Denbighshire), Wales and her father was John Williams. Both are extremely common names in Wales and it took a DNA test to enable me to determine which Williams was mine!

Screen shot with my markings in colour from GRO Index of Births for Elizabeth Williams born 1843 (+/- 2 yrs) in St Asaph registration district.

Sadly a solution to these genealogy brick wall problems can’t always be guaranteed. However, it’s important not to give up hope and to regularly revisit old ‘brick walls’ that have held you up in the past.

Looking at a problem with fresh eyes, or in light of a new record release, can help to break down the problem. Here are some examples of how I’ve solved (or tried to solve!) my own genealogy brick walls.

GENEALOGY BRICK WALL: CASE STUDY ONE

Case study one looks at a real life example of genealogy brick walls caused by a lack of data.

My Great-Grandfather was known as Sam Pithers. His son, my Grandad, had told me that Sam was born on 7 July 1901. You’d think finding his birth registration would be easy: Pithers is an unusual name and I knew Sam’s exact date of birth.

The Wrong Name – No one had thought to tell me that ‘Sam’ wasn’t my Great-Grandfather’s real name. I spent days looking on the GRO indexes for a Sam or Samuel Pithers with assorted name variations but couldn’t find his birth, marriage or death.

I went back to my Grandad and explained my problem and was informed that Sam was a nickname and that my Great-Grandfather’s real name was George William Pithers.

The ‘William’ part of his name was hotly debated,too. Apparently Sam’s own mother stated he’d never had a middle name but Sam insisted he did!

My Great-Grandparents, Annie Louisa Pithers (nee Higgs) and the elusive George William Pithers AKA Sam.

A Second Attempt

Armed with the correct name, I found Sam’s marriage and death record, under the name George William Pithers. The death registration dated 1971 confirmed his date of birth as 7 July 1901, and his marriage record gave me his father’s name (also George William Pithers).

But I still could not find Sam’s birth registration despite trying multiple spelling variations of George or William Pithers. I was beginning to despair. This should have been the easy part!

How could I find out the names of Sam’s parents if I couldn’t find his birth (or baptism)? The obvious step nowadays would be to look at the census records. But, Sam was born after the 1901 census was taken, and I was researching before the release of the 1911 census.

Incidentally (although I didn’t know it at the time), the 1911 census wouldn’t have helped anyway – although I have now found Sam’s parents on it, their children (including my elusive great-grandfather), don’t seem to have been recorded!

Alternative Sources

I was lucky that my grandfather was able to supply me with more details about the family. Grandad remembered an Uncle ‘Baby Bill’ and an Aunt Beat – Sam’s younger siblings. Grandad didn’t know exactly when Bill was born, but he knew that he’d died recently, in 2003.

I went back to the GRO indexes, this time looking for Bill’s death, and I found a William Henry Pithers dying in 2003, with a date of birth of 2 March 1911. Using this information I looked for Bill’s birth registration, found it and ordered his birth certificate.

When that glorious brown envelope arrived it confirmed that Bill’s fathers name was the same as the father’s name on Sam’s marriage certificate, George William Pithers. I had solved the genealogy brick wall – although I still hadn’t got my direct ancestors certificate.

Just to be sure – I wanted a little extra proof before I decided that the birth certificate I had ordered was definitely that of Sam’s brother Bill.

I decided to search for Aunt Beat, the sister of Sam and Bill. There was only one Beatrice born in the right area at the right time, Beatrice Alexandra Pithers born in 1903.

I ordered her birth certificate and when it arrived I knew I had cracked the case -she had the same parents as Bill. It had taken some detective work, but I’d finally found Sam’s parents, without locating his birth certificate.

Returning to the problem – I later discovered that Sam had been born out of wedlock, about a year before his parents’ marriage. This would mean that Sam’s birth could have been registered under his mother’s maiden name, Simpson.

I returned to the GRO index, this time with the knowledge that Sam was born in Kensington or Fulham, London. To be safe, I included all of London in my search and the first name variations, George, George William, William and William George.

There are five possible Simpsons registered as being born between September and December 1901 (remember, I know Sam was born in July, so his birth should be registered in the September Quarter).

Three of these have the registration district Kensington or Fulham. My funds were limited and I already knew Sam’s date of birth, parents’ names and likely address at time of birth so I decided to park the issue.

Another revisit – Recently the GRO released an updated birth registration index that includes the former name of each infant’s mother. This was an opportunity to revisit Sam and narrow down those five possible Simpsons.

Sam’s mother’s name should be blank as she wasn’t married in July 1901 and therefore had no former surname.

I reran my search, and have now narrowed down the results to two possibles, one of which (the September Quarter) is more likely than the other (December Quarter).

Sam was born in July and his birth should have been registered within weeks of his birth, otherwise his mother would have received a fine.

Finally I have my Great-Grandfather’s birth certificate. I solved the genealogy brick wall.

GENEALOGY BRICK WALL: CASE STUDY TWO

In this genealogy brick wall case study, we explore cases caused by too much data.

I have a number of Welsh branches in my tree and I’ve often found them the trickiest to trace. Mostly because these lines include ancestors with very common surnames, particularly prolific in Wales – such as Williams and Davi(e)s.

I’ve often found genealogy brick walls caused by too much data harder to break down than those caused by a lack of data. However, one method to tackle the problem of ‘too much info’ is to look at what ‘can’ be done rather than focusing on wading through hundreds of names trying to eliminate one at a time.

This could mean tracing sideways rather than simply looking to go further back in time. Trace the children of the ancestor that you’re stuck on, finding their marriages and families.

Wherever possible, look at your ancestors, siblings, any brothers and sisters in law, your ancestors’ spouses (whether a blood relation or not), their friends (marriage witnesses) and neighbours. This approach is often referred to as FAN resarch (Friends, Associates, Neighbours).

You never know where you might find a clue that will give you fresh evidence or ideas. I once confirmed one of my lines by looking at an ancestor’s sibling’s second husband before he’d married my distant aunt!

Don’t just stick to census, BMD indexes, and parish baptisms, marriages and burials. Try alternative records too, such as newspapers, criminal and poor law records, non-conformist records, electoral rolls etc.

At best, you’ll find some clues towards your ancestor’s heritage. At worst, you’ll confirm that your ancestor is not in the records you check.

Along the way, you’ll likely find out a plethora of information that can be used to ‘flesh out’ the life of your ancestor.

After all, real genealogy isn’t just about going as far back in time as possible but about really getting to know your ancestors.

Keeping a detailed record of your searches and workings is essential. It’s easy to forget exactly which records you’ve looked at, not to mention all of the search variations you may have performed. See this article on research logs for more help.

Defining a problem and the steps that you have taken towards solving it will help you to focus on the issue you are seeking to resolve. Genealogy problem-solving involves careful, logical steps to disprove or prove information.

Recording your problem and your workings will enable you to revisit genealogy brick walls as and when new data arises – or when you get a new idea, or simply learn about a source you never knew existed.

Below is a sample of a log I created whilst searching for one of my ancestors. The log is saved in Microsoft Word in a folder relating to the line in question. It spans four pages in total and I have others that are much longer. In addition I have more ‘scrappy’ notes saved in Evernote. Find a system that works for you.

If at first you don't succeed...have you thought of DNA?

Two of my Welsh genealogy brick walls were solved by asking my mother to take a DNA test. Even then I still had to complete several spreadsheets and meticiuoulsy research and rule out several ‘Elizabeth Williams’. Read more about DNA analysis here.

Join The Curious Descendants!

If you enjoyed this then you’ll LOVE my Curious Descendants emails. I send daily emails packed with family history writing tips, ideas and stories. Plus a weekly news roundup, ensuring you’ll never miss one of my articles (or an episode of #TwiceRemoved) ever again.

Write Your Family History With Style

Discover your family history writing style, and get writing today.

Why Everyone Should Write Their Family History

Write your family history stories and suddenly you’ll find you are spotting research gaps, tackling brick walls, and creating a legacy of stories.

5 Tips to Make The Most of Genealogy Research Rabbit Holes

Genealogy research rabbit holes are fun! Nothing beats the joy

STAY IN TOUCH

Never miss a blog post or an episode of #TwiceRemoved ever again. Plus get semi-regular family history writing tips delivered straight to your inbox. All for FREE!

Links

Purchases made via these links may earn me a small commission – helping me to keep blogging!

Read my other articles

visit

The Learning Centre

CURIOUS DESCENDANTS CLUB

Start writing your family history today. Turn your facts into narratives with the help of the Curious Descendants Club workshops and community.

TALKS & WORKSHOPS

Looking for a guest speaker? Or a tutor on your family history course? I offer a range of talks with a focus on technology, writing and sharing genealogy stories.

How To Solve Genealogy Brick Walls Using Real Life Examples

CONTENTS

Table of Contents