Welcome to Blog 2: Family Tree Research Mistake

When first researching the Scotchmer Ancestors of my children I made a very basic error.

I had got back to the 1840s to a John Scotchmer(e) who was born about 1816 but I did not know where as he had died before 1851 Census and was in London in 1841 Census with no clue about where he was born. His father on his marriage in Stepney in 1839 was shown as John Scotchmer with Miller as his occupation.

As the name is popular in Suffolk I did some reseaerch at Suffolk Record Office Lowestoft and found a John Scotchmer baptised at Otley Suffolk in 1815 the son of John Scotchmer (a Miller) and Mary Miller. In my innocence I assumed that this was the John Scotchmer I was looking for. How wrong was I? I had made a very basic mistake.

Some time later I came across a court case for a John Scotchmer who in 1831 in London was accused by his employer of stealing flour. He was imprisoned but was eventually his charge was dismissed. In the meantime his wife had died leaving several children destitute including a John of the same age as the John I was looking for so I realised my mistake.

You learn the hard way sometimes with research.