Curious how others prove details pre - 1855?

[daj]

Hi all

I am curious to find out if there are any tips/techniques on proving links between people prior to the Statutory registration in 1855.

As an example, I have a William Jamieson who married an Agnes Sellars in 1796. I have their entry in the OPR so I know that is correct. They had several children, all of whom I am confident are correct as they mostly died after 1855 so their death certificates state their parents names, or their birth entry in the OPR states the parents names. So far so good.

However, if I want to go further back, I am finding it difficult to prove categorically who Williams parents were.

Initially I used the LDS/IGI sites and they do give me details, but how did they link the names for his parents to him?

The marriage detail for William and Agnes does not list their ages, but if we assume he was 16 or a little older and I do a search for the birth of all William Jamieson in Glasgow between 1771 and 1880 then I get four. LDS list one of these four (William and Janet) but how do they work this out?

I have to be honest here and say I trust very little on the LDS site -- I am sure it was a massive job to undertake but I keep finding errors and contradictions. I am not here to critcise their work, but you can see how people make mistakes in building their tree as a small error on the LDS site can quickly be taken as correct by so many others.

Using the detail above, a few entries on the LDS site state the parents for William (b 5 Jan 1772) as William and Janet Wright, on another one it is William and Janet Aitchison. (Amazingly it was the same person who submitted each record to LDS). I know it is Janet Wright as I have the OPR, I just can prove these are his parents.


Anyway, aback to the question ... any tips to help me prove parentage

Many thanks

[killearnan]

First, you need to remember there are two types of entries in the LDS databases: submitted and extracted. The Ancestral File is all submitted; the IGI is a mix, while the OPRs (available at FHCs) are extracted. Submitted information may or may not be accurate. The extracted information reflects what is in a record, but it may not be the whole record. So you need to know which type of record you are dealing with before judging its accuracy.

Secondly, there are various ways to deal with pre-1855 families:
1841/1851 census returns may have a parent or other relative living with a family (a good reason to track down the siblings as well as your direct line).
Naming patterns can help. As can witnesses to events - one reason to use the IGI and OPR databases as they were intended (as indexes), as the original record may have more information. I have managed in some cases to sort out two people of approximately the same age with the same name in the same or adjoining parishes based on who the witnesses to various events were. There are other records, as well: monumental inscriptions, kirk session records, and so on. No one source type/method will solve every brick wall. But there is often enough to get back one more generation -- or maybe two -- if you are persistent and dig hard enough.