Notes on Interpretation

The following notes provide guidance on the interpretation and representation of historical records for the purposes of compiling this website.

Dates

Dates prior to 1753 have been adjusted to match the current Gregorian calendar. Before this, the first day of the new year was 25^th March. Therefore, the recorded years for events between 1^st January and 24^th March have been incremented by one [1].

Some dates will be prefixed with “Abt.”, being short for “about”. This will occur when the event occurred at a time before records of such an event were made (for example, deaths before 1837 only had the burial date recorded, and most births before 1837 only had the baptism date recorded). Alternatively, this may mean that a record that includes the actual event date has not yet been located or sighted.

Spelling

Where more than one spelling of a name has been found for a person, spelling has been standardised to the most common or usual form, including:

• Elisabeth and Elizabeth
• Ann and Anne
• Margarett and Margaret

Similarly, common name abbreviations have been expanded to their most usual form, including:

• W^m as William
• T^ho or Tho^s as Thomas
• Ja^s as James
• Marg^t as Margaret
• Rob^t as Robert
• Sam^l as Samuel
• Edw^d as Edward

Literacy

While literacy rates steadily increased in England throughout the 19^th century [4], with no compulsory primary schooling system, it remained common for labourers and agricultural workers to have limited literacy skills.

Various forms of records can be used to determine whether someone was able to write – primarily civil birth and death records, and civil and parish marriage records where a signature was required. Those unable to write would sign such documents with an “x”, an example of which is shown below.

Images of Records

Where noted with the text “(extract)” in the caption, images of historical records have been digitally manipulated by cropping away parts of the image to better highlight the particular subject or household being discussed. Original images are available by visiting the relevant Ancestry or FamilySearch profile.

Family Tree Notation

For profiles where complicated family arrangements exist, these will be illustrated with a family tree containing immediate relations of the subject themselves. The following information should be used as a guide to interpret the family tree notation used: