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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2003-07 > 1058139171


From: Don Aitken <>
Subject: Re: Name change mystery - dropped the mc
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 00:32:51 +0100
References: <20030713174314.03427.00000346@mb-m05.aol.com>


On 13 Jul 2003 21:43:14 GMT, (Uksteveg) wrote:

>Hello,
> I wonder if anybody could throw some light on something I have recently come
>across.
> I have started to come up against brick-walls when trying to research my
>ancestry, The surname is Gill and the area they lived was Salford. Basically I
>went through the GRO indexes and could not find a number of relevant birth and
>death entries, in the 1840/50s. My last solid info is from the 1861 census
>which lists a number of family members born in the 1840's in Salford. It lists
>my ggg-gm as aged 52, widowed and born in Ireland. I know she was married to
>Anthony Gill, blacksmith, from subsequent marriage certificates (and her death
>certificate).
> I decided to take the bull by the horns and went through the 1841 census for
>Salford in the area I assumed they were living. I found Anthony, Margaret and
>four children, one of whom is my gg-gf. However, the name on the census was
>McGill, and not Gill. I later checked the index through FREEBMD and found
>Anthonys death entry for Q3 1855, and got the certificate and I'm certain its
>the person I want. I will now look for more McGills rather than Gill's the ones
>I could not originally find..
> My question - why the sudden name change? The hours I have spent looking for
>Gill entries!! It would seem that sometime between 1855 and 1861, the Mc was
>dropped. They were probably all illiterate, which could explain something, but
>is this normal, and would some 'official' name change have had to have
>happened, they must have known their surname. I'm pleased I solved the mystery,
>by a stroke of luck, but it has just opened another mystery. Hopefully on my
>next visit to the record office I'll find my missing entries!!
>
The obvious answer is that they changed the name to avoid anti-Irish
prejudice, which was rife at the time. It was a not uncommon strategy.

--
Don Aitken

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