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The Final Piece
by Val Atkinson
Article ID: 22, First Published: March 2005On the subject of jigsaws: Have you ever got to the end of a jigsaw and with only one piece left, find it doesn’t fit in the final space?
FRUSTRATING!
Somewhere in all that blue sky, a piece shaped very much like the one in your hand, has been squashed to fit a place where it can’t be really comfortable. It’s almost right, and it does belong, but it shouldn’t be where it’s been put!
So you have to take apart sections of the puzzle until the last piece WILL go in the last space.
Here is an example from actual research.
INFORMATION FROM FAMILY KNOWLEDGE:
Ancestor Mary PAPPIN born 15 Dec 1853 near Newquay Cornwall England
Parents George PAPPIN and Elizabeth formerly CHYNNOWETH married c1850
Mary PAPPIN married Captain John SHERLOCK 22 April 1873
WANTED: Marriage certificate for George PAPPIN and Elizabeth CHYNNOWETH
PROCESS:
Search not successful. George is in the indexes but his wife is Elizabeth TREBILCOCK. There is no other George PAPPIN for seven years.
Obtain Mary’s birth certificate to confirm mother’s maiden name.
Certificate found with no problem.
It says parents are George PAPPIN mariner, and Elizabeth formerly TREBILCOCK
Obtained marriage entry for George and Elizabeth. VERY VERY TIDY!
This can be traumatic for a family, because it involves taking apart precious family knowledge and showing it to be inaccurate, accepting the mistake of the mother’s maiden name. and re-collating the facts. In this case the family was very philosophical and just felt glad it had been sorted out in such a tidy way. Elizabeth CHYNNOWETH would probably surface in the next generation.
HOLD ON! THERE’S ANOTHER PERSISTENT PROBLEM!
We can’t find George, Elizabeth and Mary PAPPIN on the census.
The only Mary PAPPIN of the right age has mother Elizabeth but father Isaac.
Has George died, and Elizabeth married a PAPPIN relative?
Solution: Obtain Mary’s marriage certificate to Captain John SHERLOCK to confirm her father’s name.
Certificate says father Isaac PAPPIN mariner.
WHAT IS GOING ON? We have Mary’s birth certificate. She was born in the right place at the right time, and she has the father we expected her to have, and his name is George NOT Isaac!
When faced with a situation like this any family has to stand still, be calm and think things out. Make a list of possible scenarios and ponder over them.
1. There is only one Mary PAPPIN.
You WILL fit in the space that’s left. Isaac PAPPIN has probably adopted our Mary after her father George died.
2. There is more than one Mary PAPPIN
I think you fit, but not here. I’ll have to move a few pieces to find you your place
3. We have the totally wrong Mary PAPPIN
You’re a cuckoo in the nest, and somewhere else there’s another Mary, the right one, with a father George.
PICTURE YOURSELF IF YOU DECIDE ON NUMBER ONE:
Mary PAPPIN is the last jigsaw piece, and you’ll have to cut her up to get her into the space, or force her in with squashed edges. Well, serve her right for confusing things!
PICTURE YOURSELF IF YOU DECIDE ON NUMBER TWO:
The hardest option. The other two are someone else’s fault, but this involves my possible mistake. It’s no good saying: ‘Don’t sidetrack me with the facts. My mind is made up’!
In genealogy we don’t make our minds up until the last piece is safely in place.
PICTURE YOURSELF IF YOU DECIDE ON NUMBER THREE:
You’ll have to visit jigsaws far and wide with your single piece, and assemble them all to see if there’s a place for your Mary. You’ll be dedicated enough to do it, because you have the facts at your fingertips and you know who Mary PAPPIN is!
OK IT’S NUMBER TWO. WHAT’S THE ACTION PLAN?
SIMPLE:
Find a birth for Mary 2 quite near the birth of Mary 1 and in the same place.
RESULT: There IS a birth registered three months later in the same place.
It is Mary PAPPIN with father Isaac and mother Elizabeth formerly GUBBER.
Well, maybe Elizabeth CHYNNOWETH will surface elsewhere.
HOW DID THIS CONFUSION IN FAMILY KNOWLEDGE OCCUR?
Further research showed that Isaac and George PAPPIN were brothers who each married an Elizabeth round about the same time, and had daughters named Mary born within weeks of each other, in the same little village. The handing down of the oral family tradition had confused the facts, and only the desire of one family member to discover her roots led to the uncovering of the mistake.
Two things also stand out at the end of this:
We still have not located the Elizabeth CHYNNOWETH who was thought to be Mary’s mother.
What happened to Mary daughter of George PAPPIN? Why was she not on the census? Did she die? Did she emigrate?
Family History is about questions we work to answer, and problems we strive to solve.
Nothing is too much trouble
Nothing is too bothersome
Nothing is beyond our ability
Nothing is impossible to adapt to
Nothing phases us
WE’RE HERE TO CRACK THE ANCESTOR PROBLEM AND PLACE THE PIECES NO MATTER WHAT THE INCONVENIENCE!
