This page is a one-name study of Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire (1841-1901).

 

I am not sure why I became interested in my family tree. Perhaps I had reached that age where you become curious about your ancestors. On both sides of my family there was some family trees available but nobody had coordinated all the information in a single place.

 

I started in 2004 and bought Legacy 5.0 Deluxe Edition from Millenium Corporation (www.legacyfamilytree.com) and started to store all the information on a computer (Windows XP). Legacy allows me to import data from other family tree programs (in the common GED format) and also to export the information in either computer form to other family tree software programs (GED format) or in various human-readable report formats including book form. All the information about my family tree is stored in this program and all the reports are generated by this program therefore the grammar and constructs may, at times, seem a little unfamiliar or unwieldy. I do not have the ability to change this – it is how this program generates reports.

 

I started by asking the “senior” family members for family information as far as they knew and entered this. I then took out a one year subscription to ancestry.com that gave me access to the UK 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 Census. All the census information is on-line, I can search for individuals by name and location. They also have copies of the enumerator’s page so it is possible to double check the information. Unfortunately, at the time, they did not have the 1841 or 1851 Census available (it is now available).

 

The UK conducts a census every 10 years. The Census that were taken in 1831 and earlier do not contain any names and are therefore of little value genealogically. The dates/times of the various Census are:

 

Midnight. Sun/Mon. 6/7th June 1841
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 30/31st March 1851
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 7/8th April 1861
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 2/3rd April 1871
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 3/4th April 1881
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 5/6th April 1891
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 31/1st March / April 1901
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 2/3rd April 1911
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 19/20th June 1921
Midnight. Sun/Mon. 26/27th April 1931 (Destroyed in W.W. II)

 

Different information was collected for each census. Each census entry typically lists the street name (sometimes the number), the person, age, occupation and the town/county where they were born. If there is a uniquely named person of a certain age in the 1861 Census and there is only one person with the same name and birth location in the 1871 Census then it is reasonable to assume it is the same person.

 

Sometimes there are errors in the Census transcription. The Census enumerators wrote all the entries into the Census book. These have been recently transcribed into computer format. For example, Joseph Barsby is listed in the ancestry.com 1861 Census as Joseph Barby. A look at the actual census entry shows the name was incorrectly transcribed. This can make computer searches for names difficult. Although I am using Barsby as my example, the same is true for Hammond which is often mis-transcribed.

 

All the UK births, deaths and marriages from September 1837 onwards are stored in the General Register Office (GRO) in London. Every three months all the entries are transcribed into large bound book and listed alphabetically. Ancestry.com provides a searchable list that lists the name and the location of the birth, death or marriage. Unfortunately they only contain an index of the person and where the actual certificate can be found. For example, a search on ancestry.com for Henry Barsby married in 1872 +/- 5 years lists

 

Name 

Year 

Quarter 

District 

County

Barsby, Henry

1873

December

Blaby

Leicestershire

Barsby, Henry

1873

December

Sheffield

South Yorkshire West Riding of Yorkshire

Barsby, John Henry

1875

September

Bethnal Green

Greater London London Middlesex

Barsby, George Henry

1878

December

Stamford

Huntingdonshire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Rutland

Barsby, Henry

1878

December

Mansfield

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

Barsby, Thomas Henry

1878

June

Chorlton

Lancashire

Barsby, Robert Henry

1881

December

Melton Mowbray

Leicestershire Nottinghamshire

 

The most likely candidate for my research is in the Mansfield district. This shows:

 

Name:

Barsby, Henry

Record Type:

Marriages

Quarter:

December

Year:

1878

District:

Mansfield

County:

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

Volume:

7b

Page:

143

 

The only additional information I can then look up on the computer is a list of people on the same page (Vol 7b, Page 143). This shows

 

Name

Year

Quarter

Record Type

District

County

Barsby, Henry

1878

December

Marriages

Mansfield

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

GREEN, Sarah

1878

December

Marriages

Mansfield

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

HIBBERT, Henry

1878

December

Marriages

Mansfield

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

Scott, Eliza

1878

December

Marriages

Mansfield

Derbyshire Nottinghamshire

 

I can therefore deduce that a Henry Barsby married either Sarah Green or Eliza Scott sometime between October to December 1878 somewhere in the Mansfield district. To find out the exact person he married I would need to order the marriage certificate from the GRO. Each certificate costs GBP 7.00. For each person it would cost GBP 21.00 to have a certified copy of the birth, marriage and death certificate. I have over 500 names already in my database making this cost-prohibitive to keep records on everyone. More typically I would look in the 1881 Census data and see the name of the spouse and deduce who he married.

 

The free site freebmd.co.uk is trying to transcribe all the entries in the GRO database. Unfortunately they are missing a lot of the records from 1837-1881.

 

Genealogy research will be much easier once all of the birth, marriage and death certificates are more readily available.

 

I had become stuck in researching my family history around 1811. There were lots of Hammonds in the Nottingham Censuses of 1841-1901 that I believe were related but trying to track each one became difficult. I decided the only way I could properly research is to fully correlate all people with the last name Hammond (allowing for transcription errors this also included Hammon, Hammons, Hammonds etc.) in the Census and track their family history.

 

I have paid for a service through ancestry.com that gives me access to the Census data from 1861-1901. This document tracks what I have done to trace the family history.

 

There are some problems with this approach. Sometimes the entries in the index have been incorrectly transcribed; there are numerous errors with spelling particularly with place names.

 

This document is rather exhaustive and tedious. I have documented all steps so that if any errors are found it should be reasonably easy to correct.

 

I access ancestry.com using Internet Explorer. IE correctly handles a setting on ancestry.com that lets me list 50 names per page, the same setting is broken under Firefox (my preferred browser). Using IE I ask ancestry.com to list all people with the surname Hammond who are living in Nottinghamshire. I cut and paste this index into an Excel spreadsheet. As ancestry.com only lists 50 per page I may have to repeat the search request several times. I then ask ancestry.com to list all people with the surname Hammond who were born in Nottinghamshire. I delete all those who are currently living in Nottinghamshire (to avoid duplicate entries). I store the list in a separate spreadsheet. I repeat this for 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901.

 

Each list is enumerated. I am more interested in those living in Nottingham as my family is from Nottingham. To avoid duplication, I assign a monotonically increasing number to all those living in Nottingham in 1861 starting with 6001. To those born in Nottingham, but not living in Nottingham in 1861 I start at 6501. This is repeated for the other census – 1871 numbers start at 7001 and 7501, 1881 numbers start at 8001 and 8501 etc.  It started to get a little confusing, so 1891 numbers are 9001 and 89501, 1901 numbers are 90001 and 90501.

 

I track all the various family units (all those listed as living in the same house) using the information for each census and use this to create a new Excel spreadsheet.

 

Once I had all the information for 1861 and 1871 I went back to track all individuals from 1861 to see what had happened to those family members and then repeated this information for 1881, 1891 and 1901.

 

For 1841 and 1851 I bought the Nottingham Family History Center CDs. The information in the spreadsheets below is from them.

 

This file is written in Word, then exported to HTML. The Census data is stored in Excel (one sheet per Census) and exported to HTML. I have manually added the links below. It was easier to put the Census information in separate files.

 

The following links contain information about Hammond(s) in the 1841-1901 Census:

  • Hammond(s) in 1841 Census
  • Hammond(s) in 1851 Census
  • Hammond(s) in 1851 Census
  • Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire in 1861 Census
  • Hammond(s) born in Nottinghamshire (but not living in Nottinghamshire) in 1861 Census
  • Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire in 1871 Census
  • Hammond(s) born in Nottinghamshire (but not living in Nottinghamshire) in 1871 Census
  • Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire in 1881 Census
  • Hammond(s) born in Nottinghamshire (but not living in Nottinghamshire) in 1881 Census
  • Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire in 1891 Census
  • Hammond(s) born in Nottinghamshire (but not living in Nottinghamshire) in 1891 Census

  • Hammond(s) living in Nottinghamshire in 1901 Census
  • Hammond(s) born in Nottinghamshire (but not living in Nottinghamshire) in 1901 Census

     

    Additional information:
  • Hammond baptisms in Nottinghamshire
  • Hammond burials in Nottinghamshire
  • Hammond female marriages in Nottinghamshire
  • Hammond male marriages in Nottinghamshire

     

    As each spreadsheet is complete, I transfer the information to this Word document.

     

    Some census indexes provide more information than others. For example, the 1891 index includes the street address, other Census indexes do not. I have tried to include all information where possible.

     

    Now, the real fun starts. Matching the various names with the different Census data and tracking families from one census to another. The next link needs some explanation. It contains a mapping for each family unit showing its roots (a previous family). It also contains a mapping for each family showing how the family unit evolved. Let’s see an example. In the first section of the next link, there is a box for each census/family and an entry if there is an earlier family history. For example, the column 1861 contains all of the family units for 1861. Column 1 represents family unit 6F1 (column 2 represents 6F2 etc.). In column 1, there is an entry ‘4F17’. This means that the family unit in 4F17 (the 17th family unit from the 1841 Census) contains the parental lineage for the family unit 6F1.

     

    If you notice any errors, please let me know. Clearly this is a tedious, time-consuming task and errors may have slipped in.

     

    This link shows the cross-reference between all Hammonds that lived in Nottinghamshire from 1841-1901.

    This link shows the mapping between the family units that lived in Nottinghamshire from 1841-1901.

    There is some missing information. For example, any family that is missing an entry in the Census (for example, Joseph and Sophia Hammond are listed in the 1841, 1861-1881 Census but do not have an entry for 1851) needs more research. Most likely there is a transcription error somewhere but these can take a long time to find.

     

    I have not merged in all the data from the Hammond(s) that were born in Nottinghamshire but were not living in Nottinghamshire during the Census.

     

    The next steps will be:

     

    • Merge in all data from the Birth/Marriages/Deaths records in the Nottinghamshire Family History Society CDs
    • Merge in all other data accessible

     

    I will probably do this when there are accurate records available. Currently freebmd.rootsweb.com does not list many of the earlier records.

     

    Additional Links

     

    Nottingham Family History Society – http://www.nottsfhs.org.uk

    Pigot’s Directory of Nottinghamshire in 1830 -  http://www.geocities.com/ian_charles_uk/pigots1830index.htm

    1754 Pool Book – list of people allowed to vote - http://www.charliespage.co.uk/pollbookindex.htm

    Hodson’s 1814 Directory of Nottingham - http://www.charliespage.co.uk/1814.HTM

    Free BMD – http://freebmd.rootsweb.com