Burials of unknown people in parish registers?

[benny1982]

This may explain why a small percentage of the time we can never find a burial of an ancestor. In St Dunstan Stepney during the 1700s about 1 in 20 or 30 burials were of "A man unknown, found drowned" or woman or child.

Many of these unknowns were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and obviously had a name but was not known in that area and many of them were parents or grandparents so are many peoples ancestors.

 

[pejay]

I agree with you Ben. On looking through parish records there are many of - a body found on ...., a boy drowned at ... believed to be from ...... [ship],a corpse found on... no wonder I cannot find some of my elusive fishermen! This seems to go right through the 19th c as well

 

[benny1982]

Hi

Yes even to the early 20th century.

Ben