One Name studies tend to be started when a researcher has reached the limit of information in tracing their own family tree. Using both descendant and cluster genealogy approaches can help move around some road blocks but at some point, especially if the name is relatively rare, a researcher decides that they need to know everything about anybody who had that surname.
One Name Studies: the Initial Steps
As noted in an early article on Suite 101, "Guild of One Name Studies …" I have decided to start a One Name Study of my grandmother Bassingthwaighte’s surname. After taking advantage of the extended offer I used the Office of National Statistics to determine that in 1990 there were 64 Bassingthwaightes registered in the census. The Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS) (you have to smile at that) suggests the following calculations :
- Number of occurrences X 0.95 to give current numbers: 124.
- Current number X 3.25 to get potential number since 1600 : 424.
- Since I already know from own family research that the Bassingtwaightes have done well in all their emigrations I multiplied by 5 to get a potential search problem of 2120 Bassingthwaighte families to trace
Starting with the Probate Record
The real work of building up the data will probably begin with the 1840 English census, however I first wanted to begin to establish the potential set of name variants. As could be expected the name can be horribly mangled both by the initial curates and clerks and even more so by modern transcribers. The probate records can help eliminate some problems and instead find variant versions of the name that survived at least into the mid 1860s and which were used in legal documents. If such names are found in the 1860s forward then looking for them in earlier data and documents makes it more likely that it is a true variant of the standard name and not just a misspelling that got into the records.
