Grow Your Family Tree
Identify your ancestors’ real parents
Reader Valerie Elson asked us for advice on a mystery that’s puzzled her for several years: the identity of a distant relative’s parents. George Littlewood first appeared in the
1881 census, aged seven, living with his uncle and aunt – Nathan and Ann France (nee Littlewood)
– in Honley, Yorkshire. He stayed with them until at least aged 37, according to the 1891, 1901 and
1911 censuses. Valerie had identified all of Ann’s siblings – one of whom was presumably George’s father – and had ordered at least one birth certificate that turned out to be the wrong George Littlewood.
Search the General Records Office birth index
We first visited the General Records Office, which is the only site that has updated its database to add the mother’s maiden name to birth indexes registered before 1911 (it was only after 1911 that the maiden name was recorded by default). Visit www.snipca.com/38735 and log into your account or click ‘Register as individual’ (all searches of the birth index are free). Once logged in, click the ‘Search the GRO indexes’ link to start.
First, select ‘Birth’, then enter a date (approximate or specific) for the person you’re searching for. In the case of George Littlewood, this was around 1874 based on his age being seven when the census was taken on 3 April 1881. Because ages aren’t always accurately recorded, we clicked the ‘0 years’ dropdown menu and set it to ‘+/- 2’ (see screenshot above) to widen the search to cover 1872-1876.
Next, enter the person’s surname and first name, plus their gender, before clicking Search. In the case of George, we knew his birth would have been registered in the Huddersfield district, which narrowed the list to five people.
Armed with the information Valerie had given us about Ann’s siblings, one candidate stood out immediately: a
George Littlewood born in Huddersfield between April and June 1873, whose mother’s maiden name was Hutchinson. Ann’s brother John married Ann Elizabeth Hutchinson between January and March 1873, and a year later – according to the 1881 census – the couple had twins (Ben and Ella). Perhaps the extra pressure of looking after twins meant they had to hand George over to his childless aunt and uncle?
Corroborate evidence using marriage certificates
Now Valerie had a candidate for George’s parents, we were able to confirm the match when she discovered that George married in 1913. The marriage certificate confirms George’s own identity from his name, age, profession and address (which matched those on the 1911 census). It listed his father, John Littlewood, as a spinner (see screenshot below), the same occupation as on his 1881 census return. Finally, one of the witnesses was Ben Littlewood, George’s younger brother.
Her genealogical mystery solved, Valerie subsequently uncovered a sad end to George’s story: he died just two years later on 5 August 1915. His burial record is on Ancestry (along with his marriage certificate), revealing he was buried two years to the day after his wedding.