I have an overwhelming number of people in my tree called Unknown. I knew they were there, but doing this A-Z challenge searching for people to write about has dramatically brought the situation to the forefront.
Unknown spouses, unknown surnames, specifically unknown maiden names of spouses, unknown children. Some are unknown because the records don’t exist or in the case of many women, they are never given an identity – just considered a chattel of their husbands.
Others are forced to be unknown because although there are records, we are paralysed in our research by the 100-year rule and unable to confirm names and events.
I need to do something about this to make my tree as complete as I can. So, my challenge for the next wee while will be to pick away at the list and see if I can give some of them an identity.
If you
are looking for me, that’s where I will be, standardising place name formats
and reducing the number of unknown people in the tree.
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