I'm so confused!

[Shirley silver surfer]

I decided that I must purchase the death certificate of my GGGrandfather William Wells.

The last census record I found was in 1891 where he was a widower and a pauper in Portsea Workhouse. There was another William Wells in the same place but he had a middle initial of H and he had been born in Portsea, whereas my William was born in Winchester (St Cross). Their ages were similar but William H was said to be married (no sign of his wife though).
When I searched the 1901 census neither of them appeared.

Searching the death registers produced two records - one in 1894 and one in 1900 neither of which gave a middle initial. Even if I buy both certificates I may not be able to separate them as the ages vary, although I believe my William (born 1818) is three years older than the other (born 1821)


To complete my confusion they both married ladies called Sophia!

I thought one could ask for checking points when ordering certificates but this facility seems to have disappeared. I mght be able to separate them if I knew the occupations.

Has anyone any suggestions please?

[margaretmarch]

The checking points were stopped last year when the prices changed.
I suppose the name of the informant might be the only way to distinguish one from the other always assuming that it wasn't the Workhouse Master!

You could look to see if there is a tree anywhere showing the other William's family where they might have got a death cert and would be kind enough to tell you which one it was that they have.

Margaret

[margaretmarch]

Looking at the image for the 1891 showing your gggrandfather I I can see he was a labourer and the other one is described as Railway Porter so that would hopefully distinguish them.
Margaret

[JudithM]

Are Portsmouth registration office (I think that is where Portsea registers wil be now) helpful to family historians I wonder. If so a phone call or email to them may be of use. You could explain your dilemma and ask if they would check occupation.

[Darksecretz]

That Judith, is a very good idea. I would be inclined to go down this route also. if you click on the link for our reference library below it will give you the address/email for Portsmouth office, (you will need to scroll down the page to see it)

http://www.familytreeforum.com/content.php/113-Hampshire

[kylejustin]

i think it is best to look at the local register offices too. though i believe if you order from the GRO and tick the box that says you dont have the reference, you are able to give as much as you know and order a search around a date.

[Shirley silver surfer]

Thanks for all your comments.
I had a chat with a very nice young lady at the Portsmouth Record Office (now moved to the Central Library). She said that a visit would be a good idea as they had a card index of inmates with cross references to the original registers.
The card index offered an answer immediately as it gave GGGrandfather's death date (no doubt about it being the correct William). Then the original ledger was produced and I was able to see the admission date and the departure date with the word 'death' beside it......SOLVED!
Thanks again,
Shirley

[Darksecretz]

oh thats brilliant news Shirley! well done! did you get the death certificate in the end? its so good to have 'killed someone off' if you know what I mean, I have many that I can't kill off as I can't find their deaths!

[Christine in Herts]

Had I joined this thread a bit sooner, I would have recommended contacting one of the local register offices. I have found the Hants service extremely helpful.

Christine

[Shirley silver surfer]

I only went to the Record Office on Tuesday and sent off for the certificate yesterday. I always get the certificate if I possibly can.

I have used the register office once but it is not very accessible for me. They were helpful then (when someone registered a death with the wrong Christian name - how could I possibly know that Matthias was known as John?) but the Record Office staff were so helpful and I was so pleased to see the actual workhouse ledger which provided extra information.
My husband was also impressed (and that takes some doing as he joins the 'glazed eyes brigade' whenever I mention family research).
I have the satisfaction of knowing for a certainty that I have the correct record now.
Shirley

[margaretmarch]

That's great Shirley and so nice to know that staff in Records Offices are so helpful.
Margaret

[Darksecretz]

oh thats lovely Shirley, you were so lucky to see the ledgers, I have only ever held/seen one, and that was for Melton Mowbray Workhouse which had the baptisms of some of my Robinsons in it, unfortunately they didnt have admission registers that have survived for there so couldnt check when they went in or came out. But a brilliant result for you, (and well done for getting hubby a little bit interested!)