William Gould genealogy

William Gould genealogy - Attempted Proof Charts

Chart 1: Attempted Direct Proof (1) by date of birth

Chart 2: Attempted Direct Proof (2) by comparison of parent forenames with forenames of first male & female children

Chart 3: Attempted Counter Proof by date of birth

Absolute proof is seldom possible in family history. Usually, the best we can hope for is to construct an attempted proof, followed by a subjective assessment of the conclusions that have been drawn from it. I have called the charts below “Attempted Proof Charts” for this reason. They all refer to the stated hypothesis. For further details, see Introduction to Attempted Proof Charts.

Chart 4: Attempted Proof by Contradiction by searching for two people

Notes:

The attempted direct proof by birth dates is not sufficient on its own, since there could be two William Goulds born around the same time. The attempted proof by contradiction is needed as well.
A possible reason for the discrepancy in the implied birth date from the age given when William died is that the informant was not a family member (William probably lodged with him) and therefore may not have known William's age.
The lack of a baptism in Chart 4 is only weak evidence, as all that is known of William 2's birthplace is that it is somewhere in Somerset (from the 1841 census).