At some point in every line of ancestry, we hit the brick wall where we cannot find any records about a person. Most will find it hard to go beyond the 1600s as church records before that time are either lost or births, marriages and deaths just weren't recorded.
But sometimes brick walls are hit early in a family tree which can be very frustrating.
My most annoying brick wall is my great great grandfather. Although if anyone was going to drive me batty it might as well be John Batty.
John Batty married twice. He firstly married Frances Hassell and after her death, he married Mary Thornham. He fathered 11 children in all. Censuses reveal that in 1841 he was a boiler man. By 1851 he is working as an Overlooker in a silk mill and in 1861 he was still at the mill but was now a silk throwster which was still his job in 1871 and 1881. In 1891 he was the gatekeeper or 'mill lodgeman' at the same mill. By 1901 he was 81 years old and at last, seems to have retired as he was 'living on his own means' but his son Albert was a railway clerk and his daughter, Emily (my great grandmother) was working in a mill as a cotton winder. He died in 1906 at the age of 86 In Barton upon Irwell.
I know everything about his wives' ancestors and I have detailed records of his descendants. I can even know their addresses and when they lived where. So why is my great great grandfather driving me batty when I know so much? It is his birth.
In all the records I have he is recorded variously as:
- born at sea
- At Sea
- But at Sea (?)
- On the sea
- Born at Sea, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
I soon discovered that Sulawesi, Indonesia, was the default location for births at sea at that time, so even this place holds no clues.
I have tried searching:
"British Armed Forces And Overseas Births And Baptisms" and "All UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969".
Frustrated I tried "Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Inquiries into Deaths at Sea: Papers and Reports" and
Getting very disheartened now, I tried The British in India Collection. Nothing!
Spreading the net wider I tried "India Office Family History", "All UK, Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths From British Consulates, 1810-1968",
"All UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969", "Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Inquiries into Deaths at Sea: Papers and Reports.
Finally, as a last resort, I tried searching for the shipwreck records of survivors for the 10 years surrounding his birth date.
Nothing. Diddly Squat. A big unsurmountable brick wall. It is such a pain that my ancestors in this line stops here when other ancestors records have taken me back to before the year 1000.
So I extend a plea to anyone reading this that if you have any other ideas about how I may locate the family of John Batty I would be so grateful, or, maybe, he is an ancestor of yours and you have records I don't. If you can help please let me know!
In the meantime, I am driven batty by Mr Batty and his huge brick wall!
