Name change question

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bashful

Name change question

Legg inn av bashful » 10 feb 2007 21:14:49

Hi everybody. I've been lurking here for about a year, ever since being
bit by the genealogy bug. I'm still really a newbie, but I was wondering
if I could ask a couple of questions...

So far, almost all of my information has been on ancestors in the United
States. I'm pretty lost when it comes to research outside my own country
- but I'd like to learn. Any general suggestions on how I could learn to
research some of my British ancestors? (I have a subscription to
Ancestry.com for US records, but have hesitated to pay the money for
total access - do you think it's worth it?)

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a Susan
McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married someone named
Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she married my g-g-g-
grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have tons of info on William,
and their children, but I can't track Susan back to her parents. I have
a "hunch" that she has a brother named Arthur, who married William
Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm this.)

I also have a second, completely different question... I hit a brick wall
in father's tree very early on. I now have reason to believe that
someone is his family changed their surname (legally changed it, while
here in the US, possibly during the 1940's). Following my father's
wishes, I can't really give his name, but in general, can someone tell me
if there is a way to track a legal surname change?

Thanks in advance for any advice you might be able to share. This seems
to be a very helpful group, and I hope to be able to repay the favor
someday.

- Kitty

Charani

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Charani » 11 feb 2007 12:11:03

On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 20:14:49 GMT, bashful wrote:

So far, almost all of my information has been on ancestors in the United
States. I'm pretty lost when it comes to research outside my own country
- but I'd like to learn. Any general suggestions on how I could learn to
research some of my British ancestors? (I have a subscription to
Ancestry.com for US records, but have hesitated to pay the money for
total access - do you think it's worth it?)

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a Susan
McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married someone named
Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she married my g-g-g-
grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have tons of info on William,
and their children, but I can't track Susan back to her parents. I have
a "hunch" that she has a brother named Arthur, who married William
Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm this.)

I get lost when I have to research in America, Canada or Australia.
It's quite normal :))

There are a number of free resources available for English and Welsh
research.

Civil registration began 1 July 1837 and there are central indices
available from then to 2004/5. Before then and it's parish registers
which are (usually) held at the County Record Office.

http://www.freebmd.org.uk is a free, volunteer project for civil
registrations; because it is volunteer lead, it isn't yet complete.

http://www.ancestry.co.uk has the full General Register Office (GRO) indices
for free as well as a ~3 month out of date version of FreeBMD.

http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet has the 1841, 1861 and 1891 censuses
and some of 1871. The latter will be completed this year and the 1851
and 1901 censuses will be added in due course. This is a PAYG site
but not expensive. Searching is free.

http://www.familyrelatives.org also has the GRO BMDs and has the advantage of
being indexed from 1866 to 1920. Again it's an inexpensive PAYG site.

There's also the IGI (http://www.familysearch.org) which may help *but* treat
any patron submissions with extreme caution. They can range from 100%
accuracy to pure fantasy and wishful thinking! Extractions are
usually more reliable.

You should be able to find Susan McDERMOTT's marriage to Mr HARRISON
in Ancestry. It's not coming up in FreeBMD.

Somerset has 561 parishes and they are not indexed. So a search for a
Susan (or Susannah) McDermott would mean physically searching through
the registers of every parish. There's also nothing online either
although there are some partial parish transcriptions available on
various sites. If you can narrow down what part of Somerset Susan was
from, then I may be able to help you a bit further because Somerset
County Record Office is one that I can get to fairly easily. I have
two Somerset families of my own which I'm researching and also
transcribing one for the FreeREG project.
--
http://home.comcast.net/~webact1/Collingridge/

singhals

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av singhals » 11 feb 2007 18:05:50

bashful wrote:

Hi everybody. I've been lurking here for about a year, ever since being
bit by the genealogy bug. I'm still really a newbie, but I was wondering
if I could ask a couple of questions...

So far, almost all of my information has been on ancestors in the United
States. I'm pretty lost when it comes to research outside my own country
- but I'd like to learn. Any general suggestions on how I could learn to
research some of my British ancestors? (I have a subscription to
Ancestry.com for US records, but have hesitated to pay the money for
total access - do you think it's worth it?)

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a Susan
McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married someone named
Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she married my g-g-g-
grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have tons of info on William,
and their children, but I can't track Susan back to her parents. I have
a "hunch" that she has a brother named Arthur, who married William
Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm this.)

visit Google to find a website called GenUKI -- a vast
amount of excellent information.

Also, subscribe to (or watch via Googlegroups) the newsgroup
soc.genealogy.britain which is where the British experts
hang out. Also check the archives of the group at
googlegroups) Be careful posting, though, they're a tough
crowd.

I also have a second, completely different question... I hit a brick wall
in father's tree very early on. I now have reason to believe that
someone is his family changed their surname (legally changed it, while
here in the US, possibly during the 1940's). Following my father's
wishes, I can't really give his name, but in general, can someone tell me
if there is a way to track a legal surname change?

If you are *absolutely* positive there was a legal name
change (many of them were de-facto, not de-jure), the court
that issued the order will have records of before'n'after.
Which court you need depends on which state ... try
http://www.usgenweb.org/?? where ?? is the two letter postal
abbreviation for the state of interest; some states have
fairly comprehensive overviews of the state's legal
system...or a link to the state AG's office.

Cheryl

bashful

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av bashful » 11 feb 2007 18:21:40

Charani wrote:

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a
Susan McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married
someone named Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she
married my g-g-g- grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have
tons of info on William, and their children, but I can't track Susan
back to her parents. I have a "hunch" that she has a brother named
Arthur, who married William Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm
this.)

Somerset has 561 parishes and they are not indexed. So a search for a
Susan (or Susannah) McDermott would mean physically searching through
the registers of every parish. There's also nothing online either
although there are some partial parish transcriptions available on
various sites. If you can narrow down what part of Somerset Susan was
from, then I may be able to help you a bit further because Somerset
County Record Office is one that I can get to fairly easily. I have
two Somerset families of my own which I'm researching and also
transcribing one for the FreeREG project.

Thank you so much for the ideas! I'm going to follow up with it, and try
and learn more about researching beyond my comfort zone. I have other
branches from the UK, so even if I don't find Susan, I might find others.

If you do happen to come across something, I do have one not-very-
reliable source (a personal online tree) that lists Susan being from
Crewkerne, Somerset. Not sure if that would help. But thank you so much
already, just for answering, and giving me a place to start with UK
research. :-)

- Kitty

Hugh Watkins

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 11 feb 2007 19:04:56

bashful wrote:

Charani wrote:


(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a
Susan McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married
someone named Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she
married my g-g-g- grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have
tons of info on William, and their children, but I can't track Susan
back to her parents. I have a "hunch" that she has a brother named
Arthur, who married William Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm
this.)



Somerset has 561 parishes and they are not indexed. So a search for a
Susan (or Susannah) McDermott would mean physically searching through
the registers of every parish. There's also nothing online either
although there are some partial parish transcriptions available on
various sites. If you can narrow down what part of Somerset Susan was
from, then I may be able to help you a bit further because Somerset
County Record Office is one that I can get to fairly easily. I have
two Somerset families of my own which I'm researching and also
transcribing one for the FreeREG project.


Thank you so much for the ideas! I'm going to follow up with it, and try
and learn more about researching beyond my comfort zone. I have other
branches from the UK, so even if I don't find Susan, I might find others.

If you do happen to come across something, I do have one not-very-
reliable source (a personal online tree) that lists Susan being from
Crewkerne, Somerset. Not sure if that would help. But thank you so much
already, just for answering, and giving me a place to start with UK
research. :-)


for Somerset AKA Somersetshire in old records

join the Bristol_and_Somerset list on Rootsweb

You might even come in contact with someone who lives in Crewkerne
or who is transcribing the parish registers

good hunting

Hugh W





--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Sherlock Holmes

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Sherlock Holmes » 11 feb 2007 20:13:54

bashful wrote:
Charani wrote:

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a
Susan McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married
someone named Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she
married my g-g-g- grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have
tons of info on William, and their children, but I can't track Susan
back to her parents. I have a "hunch" that she has a brother named
Arthur, who married William Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm
this.)

Somerset has 561 parishes and they are not indexed. So a search for a
Susan (or Susannah) McDermott would mean physically searching through
the registers of every parish. There's also nothing online either
although there are some partial parish transcriptions available on
various sites. If you can narrow down what part of Somerset Susan was
from, then I may be able to help you a bit further because Somerset
County Record Office is one that I can get to fairly easily. I have
two Somerset families of my own which I'm researching and also
transcribing one for the FreeREG project.

Thank you so much for the ideas! I'm going to follow up with it, and try
and learn more about researching beyond my comfort zone. I have other
branches from the UK, so even if I don't find Susan, I might find others.

If you do happen to come across something, I do have one not-very-
reliable source (a personal online tree) that lists Susan being from
Crewkerne, Somerset. Not sure if that would help. But thank you so much
already, just for answering, and giving me a place to start with UK
research. :-)

- Kitty

Hi Kitty,

One resource that ought to be of some assistance to you is FreeBMD this
is the English General Records Office (GRO)Birth, Marriage and Death
index's which have been transcribed into a online database, these
index's are in now fully complete as this is an on going project.
Also you can get access to the actual index images at >
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectyp ... d/bmd.aspx

You may need to register however it is free.
Hope this helps.

Tara

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Tara » 11 feb 2007 23:22:05

"bashful" <wdwkitty@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns98D39B188E6B8wdwkittyyahoocom@207.217.125.201...
Hi everybody. I've been lurking here for about a year, ever since being
bit by the genealogy bug. I'm still really a newbie, but I was wondering
if I could ask a couple of questions...

So far, almost all of my information has been on ancestors in the United
States. I'm pretty lost when it comes to research outside my own country
- but I'd like to learn. Any general suggestions on how I could learn to
research some of my British ancestors? (I have a subscription to
Ancestry.com for US records, but have hesitated to pay the money for
total access - do you think it's worth it?)

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a Susan
McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married someone named
Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she married my g-g-g-
grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have tons of info on William,
and their children, but I can't track Susan back to her parents. I have
a "hunch" that she has a brother named Arthur, who married William
Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm this.)

snip


I couldn't find much on Susan, but if Arthur is her brother, then she
probably also has a brother named William P. McDermott and maybe a sister,
Marie. Arthur and William were both druggists and William later also became
a physician. They are living together in the 1860 census in Butte County,
CA. In 1870, William looks like he's living in some sort of boarding house
and there's also a Marie McDermott living there. There seems to be a bit
more info available on William and Arthur than there is on Susan, so if you
could confirm the relationship, maybe you can follow them back to their
parents.

Here are a bunch of different records from Ancestry.com that look like they
could be the same folks as above. You probably already have some of these,
but I wasn't sure what all was included with your subscription. I put a few
comments on some of them.

San Francisco, California Directories, 1889-91
Name: Susan M. Rhodes
Location 2: r. 1115 Valencia
Occupation: widow
Year: 1890
City: San Francisco
State: CA

_____________________________________________

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
Name: William Patrick McDermott
Year: 1866
Place: California
Source Publication Code: 2769.15
Primary Immigrant: McDermott, William Patrick
Annotation: Place and date of naturalization or registration. Earlier issues
of this article were titled "Butte County, California, Great Register," see
nos. 1050.8-1050.21 above.
Source Bibliography: "GREAT VOTING REGISTER, BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA." In
Genealogical Goldmine (Paradise, California, Genealogical Society). Vol.
22:1/2 (Fall 1989), pp. 41-46 (L); vol. 22:3/4 (Spring 1990), pp. 47-52 (L,
Mc).
Page: 50

Name: Arthur McDermott
Year: 1859
Place: California
Source Publication Code: 2769.15
Primary Immigrant: McDermott, Arthur
Annotation: Place and date of naturalization or registration. Earlier issues
of this article were titled "Butte County, California, Great Register," see
nos. 1050.8-1050.21 above.
Source Bibliography: "GREAT VOTING REGISTER, BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA." In
Genealogical Goldmine (Paradise, California, Genealogical Society). Vol.
22:1/2 (Fall 1989), pp. 41-46 (L); vol. 22:3/4 (Spring 1990), pp. 47-52 (L,
Mc).
Page: 49

(It looks like William and Arthur both registered to vote in Butte Co. at
one point. I have no idea what all info was required to do that and whether
it would be worthwhile to follow up on the original records.)
_________________________________________________

San Francisco, California Directories, 1889-91
Name: William P. McDermott
Location 1: 1242 Valencia
Location 2: 222 San Jose Av
Occupation: physician and druggist
Year: 1889
City: San Francisco
State: CA

Name: William P. McDermott
Location 1: 1242 Valencia
Location 2: r. 222 San Jose Av
Occupation: physician and druggist
Year: 1890
City: San Francisco
State: CA
_________________________________________________

Pacific Coast Directory, 1867
Given Name: William P.
Surname: McDermott
LOCATION: Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
Occupation: druggist

__________________________________________________

American Civil War Soldiers
Name: William P McDermott ,
Enlistment Date: 13 December 1864
Side Served: Union
State Served: California
Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 13 December 1864
Enlisted in Company E, 8th Infantry Regiment California on 14 December 1864.
Mustered out Company E, 8th Infantry Regiment California on 24 October 1865
in Fort Point, San Francisco, CA

(If this is the right person, and he's related to Susan, the military
records are a potential goldmine.)
_______________________________________________________

New York, 1820-1850 Passenger and Immigration Lists
Name: Arthur McDermot
Arrival Date: May 14, 1850
Age: 18
Gender: M
Port of Arrival: New York
Port of Departure: Liverpool
Place of Origin: England
Ship: Wm. Rathbone
Family Identification: 3268545, 3268547, 3268516, 3268506
Microfilm Serial Number: M237
Microfilm Roll Number: 87

Name Arrival Date Age Gender Port of Departure Place of Origin Ship
Arthur McDermot May 14, 1850 18 M Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Elisabeth McDermot May 14, 1850 10 m F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Francis McDermot May 14, 1850 11 M Liverpool Ireland Wm. Rathbone
Jane McDermot May 14, 1850 3 F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Jane McDermot May 14, 1850 32 F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Mary McDermot May 14, 1850 21 F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Patt McDermot May 14, 1850 47 M Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Patt McDermot May 14, 1850 20 M Liverpool Ireland Wm. Rathbone
Sarah McDermot May 14, 1850 4 F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
Susan McDermot May 14, 1850 13 F Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone
William McDermot May 14, 1850 7 M Liverpool England Wm. Rathbone

(In the 1900 census, it looks like William has 1850 as an immigration date.
This was the only William McDermot I could find who was about the right age
on an 1850 passenger list. There's also a Susan and Arthur that are about
the right age. All these McDermots were on the same boat but were listed in
4 different family groups. It might be worth the effort to find the original
passenger list film and see if there is more info given, but so many from
that timeframe don't give any more than what is in the index. There's a P.
McDermott in the 1860 census for Santa Clara, Co. that might equate to the
older Patt McDermott, their father? It looks like this whole family, except
the ones from Ireland, is in Cincinnati for the 1850 census. William has the
middle initial P there, so that's a good omen for it being the same as the
ones who ended up in California.)

--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.

Charles Ellson

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Charles Ellson » 11 feb 2007 23:55:16

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:13:54 +1300, Sherlock Holmes
<hawke_eye_david@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

bashful wrote:
Charani wrote:

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a
Susan McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married
someone named Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she
married my g-g-g- grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have
tons of info on William, and their children, but I can't track Susan
back to her parents. I have a "hunch" that she has a brother named
Arthur, who married William Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm
this.)

Somerset has 561 parishes and they are not indexed. So a search for a
Susan (or Susannah) McDermott would mean physically searching through
the registers of every parish. There's also nothing online either
although there are some partial parish transcriptions available on
various sites. If you can narrow down what part of Somerset Susan was
from, then I may be able to help you a bit further because Somerset
County Record Office is one that I can get to fairly easily. I have
two Somerset families of my own which I'm researching and also
transcribing one for the FreeREG project.

Thank you so much for the ideas! I'm going to follow up with it, and try
and learn more about researching beyond my comfort zone. I have other
branches from the UK, so even if I don't find Susan, I might find others.

If you do happen to come across something, I do have one not-very-
reliable source (a personal online tree) that lists Susan being from
Crewkerne, Somerset. Not sure if that would help. But thank you so much
already, just for answering, and giving me a place to start with UK
research. :-)

- Kitty

Hi Kitty,
One resource that ought to be of some assistance to you is FreeBMD this
is the English General Records Office (GRO)Birth, Marriage and Death
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

General Register Office !

index's which have been transcribed into a online database, these
index's are in now fully complete as this is an on going project.
Also you can get access to the actual index images at
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectyp ... d/bmd.aspx

You may need to register however it is free.
Hope this helps.

Anne Chambers

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av Anne Chambers » 12 feb 2007 00:36:03

bashful wrote:

Hi everybody. I've been lurking here for about a year, ever since being
bit by the genealogy bug. I'm still really a newbie, but I was wondering
if I could ask a couple of questions...

So far, almost all of my information has been on ancestors in the United
States. I'm pretty lost when it comes to research outside my own country
- but I'd like to learn. Any general suggestions on how I could learn to
research some of my British ancestors? (I have a subscription to
Ancestry.com for US records, but have hesitated to pay the money for
total access - do you think it's worth it?)

(In particular, I would love to track down more information on a Susan
McDermott, born about 1836 in Somerset, England. Married someone named
Harrison, who died. Came to California, where she married my g-g-g-
grandfather Willam Henry Rhodes in 1859. I have tons of info on William,
and their children, but I can't track Susan back to her parents. I have
a "hunch" that she has a brother named Arthur, who married William
Henry's step-sister, but I can't confirm this.)



- Kitty
there is a Susan Dermott b Somerset age 6 in the 1841 census

(HO107/958/11/8) - she appears to be living either with a draper
(Benjamin RYALL) or a druggist (George WELLINGTON age 60) in High
Street,Yeovil. No others of that surname on the page.

I can't find either Susan McDermott or Susan Hamilton in 1851

--
Anne Chambers,
South Australia
anne dot chambers at bigpond dot com

bashful

Re: Name change question

Legg inn av bashful » 12 feb 2007 00:50:14

"Tara" wrote:
I couldn't find much on Susan, but if Arthur is her brother, then she
probably also has a brother named William P. McDermott and maybe a
sister, Marie. Arthur and William were both druggists and William
later also became a physician. They are living together in the 1860
census in Butte County, CA. In 1870, William looks like he's living in
some sort of boarding house and there's also a Marie McDermott living
there. There seems to be a bit more info available on William and
Arthur than there is on Susan, so if you could confirm the
relationship, maybe you can follow them back to their parents.

Here are a bunch of different records from Ancestry.com that look like
they could be the same folks as above...

First, thank you everyone who has suggested UK links. I have a lot of
places new sources to check out now.

Tara, thank you! You did find more than I currently had. The Arthur you
reference is the one that I "think" is Susan's brother. He married
Joanna Driggs, who is the "step sister" of William Henry Rhodes. It just
seems like too big a coincidence that William also married a
"McDermott",unless they're related. And one of my sources says that
Susan came to California to live with her brother. I am also pretty
certain that William Henry and Susan were married in Oroville, Butte
County, California - where all the McDermott action seems to come from.

But I didn't know about William P. McDermott, or any of the other names
you found. Perhaps if I follow all these leads, I'll find something for
one of them that mentions Susan.

This is great information! I still have a lot to learn at this, and I
really appreciate the help. Thank you Tara!

- Kitty
(great-great-great-grandaughter of William Henry and Susan Rhodes)

Svar

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