Limited Time

Time on the study has been a bit limited recently, because of other commitments. This situation always leads to a backlog of correspondence so, over the last couple of days, I have been trying to catch up. As usual, there has been a variety of queries.

One was a new contact whose ancestror, a Hannah Parry, was born in 1811 and married before the 1841 census, so normally not someone I would be able to find much information for. However, the researcher had found later relatives, an Andrew Dorricott and his family, listed on my site, because their nephew, a Henry Parry, was with them. That seemed like a good start but, despite being able to trace the Dorricotts through the censuses, the Parry side remains at a standstill until some certificates or parish records are examined, since the Henry was born about 1872 and does not appear with his own family in any census.

Three of the contacts were people who had been in touch some years ago but had recently come across something which prompted them to get in touch again. There was also an enquiry from someone writing a book about the bishops of Barbadoes, three of whom were Parrys. That correspondence will certainly be ongoing since there is a lot of information available but it’s a matter of gradually putting it all together. Perhaps they’ll be candidates for another page on the web site, although I shall obviously have to ensure I’m not duplicating anything the author wishes to write. There was a similar query on the Parry message board, about a Baptist minister – I must remember to reply to that, there’s no dates given so a request for more information is probably necessary before anyone can help there. I did reply to another message board query, from someone who was “completely stuck” - that’s not even been acknowledged yet. I hope they were notified of my response.

A researcher who’d been in touch last year wrote to say that she’s found some relatives, which was great news (even though they are no longer Parrys, since they’re descendants of a daughter). I realised, thanks to the Guild marriage challenges and the recording of “cardinal points”, that her earliest Parry marriage, of Thomas Bancroft Parry to Priscilla Boucher in the March qtr of 1877 probably took place in Stepney St Dunstan. If she can view that record, it should enable her to confirm a possible census entry for Thomas as a 5 year old and therefore move back another generation. Talking of marriage challenges, I received results from two of them this week – 100% success rate for Whitechapel Stage 2, with 8 out of 8 found, plus two more results received from Poplar district. Several other challenges have been announced recently so I need to organise the data to submit to those – fortunately not too many to look up since none of the areas are Parry “hot-spots”.

Going back to the correspondence, I finally managed to reply to the researcher looking for the William Parry, father of a William born in 1864. I hate to admit defeat but, at the moment, I just can’t identify him amongst all the other William Parrys. I do hope that, as I gradually complete all the census details and matching up of entries, he becomes apparent, but it’s not looking hopeful at the moment. So many of the people change their ages and birthplaces from one census to the next that anyone who doesn’t have other family with them to help confirm who they are is always going to be difficult to identify (and that’s to say nothing of those who “disappear” for a census or two. Did they go on holiday, emigrate, or just get mistranscribed?)

But at least now the only outstanding correspondence is four people whose information I have said I’ll check through to see if there is anything I can add, so they all know that will take me some time to do.

Oh, and the replies starting to be received for the messages I’ve just sent!