Several years ago, the 1851 census of England became available online. I was eager to find the family of my ancestor James Forsbury in this census. Up to this point I had the names of the family members, but the details were fuzzy. The 1851 census said that they were from Rogate, Sussex, (not Reigate, Surrey, as said in the 1861 census). I had been looking in the wrong place!
I quickly found them in Rogate, Sussex, including the christening of an older son, who had emigrated to Australia and disappeared. A Google search found an old message board posting from Australia asking for information about him. I replied to the message and received 150 years of detailed history of his descendants. And in return, I was able to provide 150 years of history on my branch of the family. My Australian cousins and I still celebrate this breakthrough!
During the past year, another
breakthrough allowed me to trace my Forsbury ancestors back for six more generations, and reserve their temple ordinances. What a
blessing!
Sometimes, we go as far as we can at that time, but if we try again a few years later, we may have additional records and additional techniques that allow us to go further. In this situation, I was confining my search to Sussex, where James was born and christened. Online maps are my friend. My breakthrough occurred when I looked for his father's christening across the county line in Hampshire, Again I had been looking for the right people in the wrong place!
It seems that I need to learn the same lesson multiple times. 😀
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