I’ve filled in the gaps in my family tree for the period where death certificates exist in England. You can see it below:
As you can see, I’ve been concentrating on the Ridgway side of the family and have more or less established that there’s no Alzheimer’s there. However, Mary Parker did have ‘Senile Decay – no DM’. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I think it means she got old and died.
I can’t find most of the Parsons side of the family. This is for a number reasons:
- They had many children and repeated names, making it difficult to establish whether ‘George’ is really the ‘George’ I was looking for.
- Their birth dates and ages varied on lots of different types of documents. Sometimes by as much as 10 years. This makes it hard to figure out whether it’s George the nephew or George the cousin or George the Uncle.
- Many Parsons’ graves don’t have inscriptions – so these databases aren’t much help in establishing which George is which.
- The Parsons’ households tend to be fluid and it’s hard to figure out the comings and goings and where they went.
There are still Parsons in West Monkton. I assume they are the same Parsons family and I’m going to try to contact them to find out about the Parsons side of the family. Then maybe I’ll be able to figure out where they all went.
As for the Ridgways, I reckon I shouldn’t have to worry so much about that side of the family losing their marbles. But from my investigations and talking to the living relatives, I’ve decided I’m going to look after my heart a little better.
