Q&A
PAUL BLAKE is the author of Tracing Your Insolvent Ancestors and other books
KAREN CUMMINGS is the course director for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring
PETER HIGGINBOTHAM is an author and the creator of work houses.org.uk
MARGARET MCGREGOR is a member of AGRA with a particular interest in wills
JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist
STEPHEN THOMAS is a genealogist who has more than 20 years of experience
PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert, and wrote Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors
Why can’t I find any record of my grandmother’s birth?
Q I’m searching for my grandmother’s birth records. On the 1901 census, she is listed as Claresor E Faulkner, laundress, at Rowditch Union Workhouse in Derby, age 26, born Barton & Walton, Derbyshire. She married Thomas Parker on 31 August 1901 as Clarissa Ellen Faulkner, 23 – her father was William Faulkner (deceased). On my mother’s birth certificate, her name is Clarissa Elizabeth. In 1911, she was 33, born Walton, Staffordshire, but the 1939 Register states she was born on 26 February 1871. When she died in 1964, she was 92.
Janet O’Regan
A I’ve looked through your documents and carried out some searches starting with some of the apparent discrepancies in the information provided.
On her children’s birth certificates, the mother is named as Clarissa and Clarissa Elizabeth. Since your grandmother was the informant for both births, this is not an error made due to lack of knowledge.
