@DaveBlackston did you see the notes about the free access weekends? If you haven't seen Lost Cousins or Mocavo, this is a good opportunity to try them. And you can use your regular username and password to login at Ancestry.co.uk, just be sure to download anything you see because it will only be visible during the weekend. I'll be searching the National Probate Calendar.

Note also that Find My Past and the British Newspaper Archive have low-cost offers that are running out soon: lostcousins.com/newsletters/lateaug14news.htm

@JanMurphy -- Thanks. I saw them mentioned here and am trying them out.

I've also been thinking about FAN clubs and how to apply them to my particular problems.

@DaveBlackston Me too.

That doesn't surprise me. ;-)

I have an impossible census problem that I need to write up.

Interesting! I'll be on the lookout for it!

I have an 1891 census with a person in the family I thought was my family. He is 1/12 years old, that is, a month old. And from other records, baptized in 1899. What's wrong with that picture?

I've heard of cases of kids getting baptized after infancy. Were the other children in the family baptized at a "normal" age? Also, the frist could be a child that dies in infancy and the name was re-usd for a latter child. I've seen cases like that as well.

Don't have baptism records for the siblings yet.

Admittedly, 8 years old is rather old to be baptized.

I'd be more inclined to investigate the name reuse theory. I've certainly seen cases like that in my own researches.

Oh, sorry, I typoed -- baptism is 1889 (before the census child was born).

See, my hand wants to "fix" it.

Ok. Did they have lambhourginis that went at 88 mph back then? ;-)

Are they related to former boxing champion George Foreman? (He named all of his boys George Edward Foreman.)

So "there must be more records!" (apologies to D. H. Lawrence)

Or not. ;-) One of my personal metaphors for this research is a set of combined jigsaw puzzles with lots of missing pieces, but if one is clever one can find multiple ways to connect the pieces together.

I'm willing to spend a lot of time searching for the new connections, but (especially when dealing with the 18th century) there is a possibility that the records just are not there.

I am actually really lucky that my family can be traced back as far as it has been.

Especially not online (probate).

Yeah. Probate records are looking more and more helpful, but not easy to obtains.

familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Inferential_Genealogy

Was looking for the video lesson on Inferential Genealogy and found one about Metadata instead:

<watch later>

I've seen the inferential genealogy video before. Pretty interesting stuff.

wrt, the baptism/census conflict... 2 years (more or less) is plenty of time for the baptized child to pass away and another child be born and given the same name. Since time machines don't exist (as far as we know) that'd be the theory I would investigate. Perhaps there are death records for that parish and time period that might be illuminating?

(I know you know all this -- sorry if I am stating the obvious)

Problem is that I would have to buy the certificates at ten pounds a pop.

I'm good at coming up with (in most cases unverifiable) theories to explain apparent conflicts.

Ahhh..

At that point the risk analysis becomes a little more muddled.

;-)

Getting other certificates first (e.g. those in my husband's direct line) would be more practical.

Anyway, have you explored NEHGS? americanancestors.org/home.html

I recommend (as always) signing up for the free newsletter first.

Not sure if their coverage reaches to PA and OH.

americanancestors.org/free-databases

I have poked around the site. There's actually some documents there of very strong interest to me...

Genealogist extraordinary, who wrote a number of genealogical and historical summaries on the Blackstone family. He also corresponded with many Blackstone families of many spellings. He kept hundreds of family group sheets which were donated by his wife Edna Blackstone to the New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) library in Boston after his death. The NEHGS is located at 101 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116.

The Barbour collection, you know....

(That's about some guy who spent a lot of time documenting Blackstones.)

They often have deals for Ancestry subscribers.

I've though about paying for a professional to go through those papers looking for Ebenezer and Vestus.

(More time effective than me going through the docs.)

Well, posting here is good practice for getting your notes in order for a pro.

Yes. I am becoming more organized.

Well, I should get some breakfast. Nice chatting with you!

You too! See you online in the not-too-distant future, I imagine. :)

:)

Eureka! Just grabbed a Devon map from Ancestry.co.uk with the parish boundaries!

published by the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies in Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, England in 1966. The map shows the dates of the historical parishes. The organization is new to me.

What would I do without Stephen P. Morse? stevemorse.org/census/uk.html