Genealogy Conference

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8:58 AM

I've been contemplating this as a question, but I thought I'd float it here first, as it also relates to the topic - I'm increasingly sure that "just one record" is a problem here. Or it can roll into the next workshop.

I have a family - David and Jane Hill of Little Rissington (Glos., England), and I'm trying to work out how many sons they had. I can find the following records:

01 Nov 1857 - GRO Birth - Thomas Hill - son of David and Jane.
25 Dec 1857 - Church Baptism - John Hill - son of David and Jane
07 Apr 1861 - Census - Charles Hill - age 3 - son of David (Jane died in 1859)
02 Apr 1871 - Census - Thomas Hill - age 13 - son of David

In 1880, Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and is found in prison censuses in 1881 and 1891.

David had one daughter with Jane, and two more with his second wife; all expected records for them are identifiable.

So on the face of it, there were three sons: Thomas, John and Charles. All were born around 1857, though, and only Thomas appears in more than one record. Thomas is real, I'm sure, but what about John and Charles, who just disappear after "just one record"? (I have found neither death nor marriage records for them locally).

Is this three sons with multiple missing records, or one son who had his name changed three times? Both seem somewhat unlikely! Or is there another story?

15 hours later…