52 Ancestors 2026 Week 10 - Changed My Thinking

Changed My Thinking: The Two Hannahs of Brighton

Like most amateur genealogists — and I suspect more than a few professionals — I’ve wandered down the wrong branch of the family tree. Early enthusiasm, a familiar surname, and a record that seems to fit can be a dangerous combination. It certainly was for me.

When I first began tracing my Wadey line, I found my GGG‑grandfather, William Wadey, married to a woman named Hannah. As a new researcher, I did what many beginners do: I grabbed the first likely marriage I found. Right area, roughly the right time, and a name that appeared again later in the family. So into my tree went Hannah Twaites as William’s wife.

For a while, everything looked tidy enough. Until the 1841 census changed my thinking.

While reviewing the census, I noticed something odd: two women named Hannah Wadey living in Brighton that year — one in Circus Street, the other in Spring Street. At first, I ignored the Spring Street entry. All the Wadeys I knew of lived in Circus Street, so I assumed the first Hannah I found must be “my” Hannah. I didn’t look any further.

It wasn’t until much later — almost by accident — that I revisited the Spring Street household. And there she was: Hannah Wadey, living with a young boy whose surname was Twaites. That single detail made everything unravel and then fall back into place.

The presence of a Twaites child didn’t confirm my original assumption — it exposed it. This Hannah was connected to the Twaites family, not to my William. I had attached the wrong Hannah to the wrong man.

Once I stepped back and re‑examined the records with fresh eyes, the truth became clear: William Wadey married Hannah Burstow, not Hannah Twaites.

It was a simple mistake, the kind nearly every genealogist makes at some point. But it taught me an important lesson early on: never stop at the first “good enough” record. Always look for the second Hannah, the second possibility, the second census entry that might change everything.

And in this case, it truly did change my thinking — and my tree!