G2G: Richard Reffell born 1862 Brighton, Sussex, England

Question

in the 1881 census there is a "Richard Reffell" aged 19 , lodger, born 1862 in Brighton, Sussex, a bricklayer's labourer, in Westminster, London. I cannot find him in any other census nor with any parents or relatives anywhere. .Perhaps the record is incorrectly transcribed or he has given incorrect information, or both.. Please can anyone help me locate him so i can find his parents and correct Reffell-779 and give him a proper, sourced profile on Wikitree? Thanks in advance.

Edwin Reffell

Comments

Edwin have you tried  Rootsweb Family search  as there is definitely one there. There is a probate record plus a beneficiary mentioned

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the probate on FamilySearch is for a Richard Reffell born 1841.

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This is the free image of the 1881 census: https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/21708726?h=2ee14f

Answer 1

He is probably the same person as the one born in London as occupation and birth year would indicate. In 1881 census he is a lodger and someone else probably gave the information.

Comments

Yes, looks like the 1881 place of birth is an error.

Here he is in 1891, still working as a Bricklayer's Labourer, with place of birth as Shoreditch, London. Ancestry share image

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Maybe ... but this Richard was born to Richard Ruffels and Harriet Smee in Q1 1859. It seems a bit of a stretch to go from Ruffels to Reffell, mis-state his age as 19 when he would have been 22, and mis-state his place of birth as Brighton rather than Shoreditch.

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the enumerator probably wrote what he thought the surname ought to have been instead of what he heard or saw..anyway this Richard was baptized Ruffels.i am not surprised the enumerator in one censcs decided on Reffell, nor in another census on Ruffell.. i dont know what he was buried as.unless he was buried outside England and Wales he was not buried as Ruffels. he could be the Ruffell buried 1932 in Wandsworth so maybe he was not born Ruffels but the vicar/clerk preferred Ruffels to Ruffell or whatever Richard's parents' surname was or had become.

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my ancestor Joseph Reffell was christened Reffold, married Reffild. the first child in that marriage was christened Reffold, the next 2 Reffell.after his first wife Mrs Reffild died he married Reffell. then he had 2 children christened Reffel. the next 5 were christened Reffield. the one after that was christened Refell followed by 2 christened Refield and finally one christened Reffield..his brother Thomas was christened Reffold, signed his will Reffell which was probated as Refouled.Joseph and Thomas' father was christened Refeild and married Ruffield.one of the people i have a ydna match with is surnamed Ruffell and some of the people in another family i have a ydna match with prefer Reffelle.my grandfather signed his name Reffell in a letter  asking about his brother Reffelle. more than likely Joseph  and Thomas are related to the Riffields in the 16th century. and one Richard Roffel was definitely a stepcousin to an extremely rich lady whose business prospered as Raffles.

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Did they relocate their birthplaces from major cities to seaside towns and lose three years in age too?

I'm just trying to prevent a case of seeing what you want to see in a record rather than what it actually says.

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good point. i shall not use that census as a source. one thing is for sure. he is not a Reffell.there being no option to delete i think it best to change his last name at birth to Ruffell and use the death record for Richard Ruffell at GRO as source and biographical information.for the wikiprofile.