Nothing Wrong with Taking a Chance

Posted by Darlene Vaillancourt Jul 3, 2006

A personal tale that might inspire some of you. I was browsing around a 1911 census database in search of a couple of people, and found my husband's great grandfather, Pierre Bosse. That was nice, but I then noticed that the next household was Octave Bosse. What are the odds of two unrelated people with the same last name living next door to each other?

I convinced myself that Octave was Pierre's father. But after 3 hours of searching various census and vital record databases, I couldn't link the two. I regretfully accepted that I must have been mistaken. Well, in the light of the next day, I changed my mind and went back at it.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I eventually discovered that Pierre seemed to also go by the name Honore. Once I stumbled on that little gem, I was able to connect him to his next-door neighbour after all.

Guesses are never the same as documented facts, but they can sometimes guide you to look places you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.