Sometimes genealogical research can lead down a plausible trail that looks okay but, when other information comes to light, things don't look so good. That's what happened to me when working on my Maidment line. The 1841 census had shown a Harriet Maidment living with Thomas Rideout and his wife Mary Rideout nee Maidment. With Harriet was a 1 month old son, Henry Maidment. When I found a Harriet Maidment of the same age having other children out of wedlock before finally marrying and changing her name, I assumed it was the Harriet I was looking for. No matter that Henry was no longer with her. Children often died in the first years of life back then.
When I found a second Harriet Maidment in the 1841 census of the same age as Mary Rideout's sister I knew I had to do more research. The second Harriet I'd found was living with William Maidment who looked to be her father. With the Harriet I'd been researching, on her marriage certificate she named her father as William. Besides that marriage took place in East Stour the 1841 census place for William Maidment and his daughter, Harriet. It looked like it was time to scrap all the work I'd already done.
So, I decided to look for Harriet's son, Henry Maidment in the 1851 census. I remember searching for Harriet Maidment in the same census with no luck but searching for females of marriageable age can be problematic. Maybe being male Henry had kept his last name even if he had ended up with a new family.
I found a likely candidate, a Henry Maidment listed as a nephew with birth year about 1842, living in Sixpenny Handley, Dorset - right county, right age. A check of the listing showed Jasper Maidment as the head. I'm sure the name Jasper had come up with checking Ancestry's ThruLines. With Jasper were his wife Mary A, children: Joseph, Mary A, John, George, sister Jane and nephew Henry. What was more Mary A., Jasper's wife, was born in Ashmore, where Thomas and Mary Rideout lived. Maybe I was on the right track at last.
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