TravelGenee #atozchallenge D – DAWSON

TravelGenee #atozchallenge D – DAWSON

There are many of DAWSON’s in my family tree. With the naming practice of calling sons and daughters after relatives and ancestors there are a number with very similar names. When researching frequently you have to use dates of birth or parents or siblings names in the same document to make sure you are updating the correct person with new data.

There is an exception for one DAWSON family. The children of Charles Dawson (DOB 1832) and Emma GROUT (DOB 1835). While they did repeat common names they used both a first and middle name and some of these are unusual. This makes identifying them in records so much easier.

Here is the list of 12 children identified so far from my research:

Cecilia Ann Dawson, born 1854 in Boxford, Essex, England
Emma Kate Dawson, born 1859 in Boxford, Suffolk, England
Flora Fanny Dawson, born 1861 in Boxford, Suffolk, England
Charles Collis Dawson, born 1863 in Boxford, Suffolk, England
Bessie Amelia Dawson, born 1865 in Boxford, Suffolk, England
Grace E Dawson, born 1868 in Boxford, Suffolk, England
Harry Grout Dawson, born 1869 in Groton, Suffolk, England
Frith George Dawson, born 1871 in Groton, Suffolk, England
Ettie Freeborn Dawson, born 1873 in Groton, Suffolk, England
Hector Tarbert Dawson, born 1875 in Groton, Suffolk, England
Frank E Dawson, born 1877 in Groton, Suffolk, England
Winifred Shuttlewood Dawson, born 1879 in Groton, Suffolk, England

The 1911 census confirmed that they had 12 children and 11 of these had survived at this time. This appears to be contrary to the high infant mortality rates often referred to in the 1800’s.

Such a variety of unusual names always make me want to know the sources. GROUT is from Emma GROUTS maiden name, the mother. COLLIS is from Ann COLLIS as discussed in the last A To Z post.

More research is required to discover the sources for FREEBORN, FRITH, SHUTTLEWOOD and, TARBERT. Are they given names no longer popular or maiden names being recyled?

So while D might be for DAWSON it is the given names that help progress my research for this side of the tree.

Main Sources: A variety of Ancestry databases including England Wales Census 1841 to 1911 and FreeDBM.

TravelGenee #atozchallenge D – DAWSON

This is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge for April 2016: Letter D for DAWSON. You can read more about the A to Z challenge and my other posts. Or search on social media with #atozchallenge.