November 24, 2023
Most genealogists start their research with their direct ancestors – grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. Eventually we might add a few siblings to our tree. If we’re trying to trace a line forward to find living relatives, perhaps we’ll try to find the spouses and children of some of those siblings. We rarely spend any time researching unmarried or childless relatives. We add their names and dates to our tree and move on to someone else.
That’s too bad since some of those unmarried siblings may have left records and stories that can break down some of the most intractable brick walls.
My great-grandfather George Dawson was one of six children born to James and Sarah Twiddy. The children were all born in a parish called Swanton Novers in Norfolk, England. I found baptismal records in the local parish records for all six of them. I also found burial records for two of them, John and Sarah, who died in childhood.
The other four children, three sons and a daughter lived to adulthood. My great grandfather George immigrated to the United States. Although my great grandfather didn’t leave any journals or letters, I believe he kept in contact with his brothers in England. According to ships’ lists, George travelled to England several times. He even shows up in the 1901 census in the household of one of his brothers in England.
George’s brothers James and John (a second son was named John after his older brother died in infancy) remained in Swanton Novers. Neither of them married, but they were easy to find in church records and censuses in that area. Sister Susanna wasn’t as easy to find. She apparently left home in her late teens since I couldn’t find her in later records.
I spent decades wondering what might have happened to Susanna. Did she marry and change her name? Did she die in another parish where I might have overlooked her burial record? Maybe she went into service and was listed with very little information in later censuses.
Recently, British probate records became available digitally at a reasonable price. I ordered records for the Dawson brothers who’d remained in England. Neither had married so they didn’t have any descendants. Both had small estates (anything over 40 pounds required probate). Both were listed in the probate indexes.
In the case of John Dawson, his probate solved the mystery of what happened to his sister Susanna. John left his estate to his four nieces and nephews, children of his deceased sister Susanna. Her husband’s name was given. The children’s addresses in London were also provided.
With the information from John’s probate, I was able to find records for Susanna’s marriage and death. I also found her and her family in various censuses.
No longer do I need to wonder what happened to my great grandfather’s sister. Thanks to an unmarried brother’s probate, I know more about her life than I ever thought I would.
It would have been easy to skip John’s probate file. After all, my director ancestor was in America long before John died. The chances of finding anything of interest in his files were small.
Turns out I would have missed a lot if I hadn’t ordered John’s probate. My genealogical mantra paid off once more. Always check every record you can find. You never know what you might find!
Carol Stetser
Researcher