About This Family History Website

The content of this website focuses on the lives of individuals from a specific line of ancestors. This is because uncovering the past and piecing together the lives of family members is a time-consuming process. However, it is an important one in helping to ensure the facts presented on this website are accurate.

Part of the process involves researching social history to try and understand the world in which the family members were living in. Articles in the blog section summarises this research.

Research findings help write the biographies, which may include reference to documents and photographs, collected over the years. The website also includes transcriptions of census returns, and an index of all the people in the family tree.

Please do if you have any information about the content on this site or would like to share anything. Contact details are at the bottom of every page.

Research on this Site

Researching social history helps to understand the lives of members of the family on this site. It is interesting to learn about how and why they led their lives. This research uses a variety of sources and piecing them together for a blog article helps to gain a better understanding.

The research goes off in different tangents because new lines of enquiry start before old ones are complete. This leaves a lot of unanswered questions on the current research page. If you think you can help, please .

Please keep in mind, there may be some inaccuracies within the research.

Research Discoveries

The research has not yet revealed a great deal of scandal or wrong doing. Certainly, nothing to bring the family any ill repute! Discoveries so far include twins, two marriages linking the same two families and sisters who gave birth to daughters on consecutive days.

In 1920, sisters Ethel Bessie Campton (right) and Constance Nellie Gurden (left), both née Elderfield, gave birth to their first child just a day apart from each other. On 7^th March, Ethel gave birth to a baby girl and the next day, 8^th March, sister Constance gave birth to Constance Mary. Ethel’s baby died the following day without a name. Entries in the birth and death registers show a “Female Campton“.

There was also the conundrum of two marriages that connected the same families. Two brothers, Herbert and Harold Howell, each married into the same Fenn family. In 1903, Herbert married Nellie Fenn and nine years later, his younger brother Harold married Nellie’s niece, Winifred Louise Fenn.

Twins in the Campton family are rare, so the discovery of James and Stephen Preston, who were born in 1755, came as a surprise. Both the twins died the same year.

Data Accuracy

The website may not show accurate dates and places. This is because of the use of different sources and the reliability of them.

Recorded Birth and Death Dates

The recording of births, marriages and deaths has been part of a national registration system in England and Wales since 1837. These records contain details of the event.

Before this system became law, individual parishes made and kept different records. They recorded the dates of baptisms and burials rather than the actual dates of birth and death. The dates of births and deaths before 1837 are therefore more likely to be the dates of baptisms and burials.

Places

The registration index does not give the exact place of a birth, marriage, or death. Instead, it gives the name of the district in which the event took place. Parish registers provide accurate location for the event than those supplied by district registers.

Over time, the dates and places on the website will be verified.

Using This Website

The website is an archive of biographies, photographs, and documents that record the lives of family members to interest other family members and genealogists. The site contains four main areas, namely biographies, census returns, documents and photographs, with each having an index page. Links to these index pages are in the main menu at the top of every page. The biography page of an individual may also contain relevant photographs.

Downloading

It is possible to download the photographs and documents using the link provided, and the sharing of information is via a bespoke GEDCOM file. Please if this is of interest.

About

The Campton Family website is based in the UK. There isn’t much time to complete research and to blog. When there is, things may not always be right!