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Always check the originals
I was inspired to write in to you to encourage beginners to family history always, always, always to look at original documents.
I have been looking back at my branch of the Dunn family in Bermondsey, who seemed to have the habit of calling their offspring ‘Hugh’ or ‘John’ or ‘Mary Ann’. Try unravelling three generations of ‘John’, one of whom lost a ‘John’ in childhood and promptly named his next son ‘John’!
To cut a long story short, I was researching one ‘Mary Ann’ on , which gives – often helpful – hints. This Mary Ann Dunn married Robert Driver, and Ancestry hinted that there was an 1877 baptism record for a child, Ethel Maud. Now, I could have accepted that at face value, added Ethel to the family tree, then moved swiftly on to the next hint, but I have been in the habit of taking snapshots of documents to support the history I am constructing. So, a quick look
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