Researching Joseph Townsend
Investigate the background of Joseph Townsend using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
 | Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 12721 people with the Townsend surname? In that year Townsend was ranked number 314 for popularity in the UK. |
The name Joseph means "God shall add (another son)" and is of Hebrew origin.
Records of Joseph Townsend on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of Joseph Townsend in your family tree. A vast range of data is available to search ranging from census records, births, deaths and marriages, military records and immigration records to name but a few. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for Joseph Townsend. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for Joseph Townsend. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for Joseph Townsend. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for Joseph Townsend. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for Joseph Townsend. |
DNA
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. A DNA test can sometimes help to make a link to a particular family name if you find you share common DNA with people who have the same or similar surnames as each other. If you are lucky then you may get a match within a few generations and discover some Townsend ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Townsend Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Joseph Townsend and the Townsend Family Tree
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Townsend Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources listed below it will be possible to locate a birth record and, from that record, a birth certificate may be obtainable which is likely to list the names of the parents, therefore taking you back another generation. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Townsend family tree.
Explore Parish Records for Joseph Townsend at Find My Past.
Search for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of Joseph Townsend using the FreeBMD database.
Explore Genealogy Bank for Joseph Townsend records.
Explore MyHeritage for Joseph Townsend information.
Study the LDS Database for records about Joseph Townsend.
Research the Townsend surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Townsend Military records.
| Did you know that there are currently 17161 people with the Townsend surname in the UK? Townsend is now ranked number 317 for popularity in the UK. |
Townsend Family History Databases
Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.
Check out the WikiTree database for user contributed records for Joseph Townsend.
Study MyTrees for information on the Townsend family and people looking to contact living Townsend relations.
Explore One Great Family for Townsend records submitted by people who are already researching the Townsend Family Tree.
Find Joseph Townsend from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Townsend Forums
There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.
Research the Townsend surname using Genealogy.com forums .
| Did you know that there are currently 91147 people with the Townsend surname in the USA? Townsend is ranked number 127 for popularity in the USA. |
Miscellaneous Townsend Databases
Explore the Ellis Island Database for information on Joseph Townsend. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called Joseph Townsend
Joseph Townsend
Joseph Townsend (4 April 1739 – 9 November 1816) was a British medical doctor, geologist and vicar of Pewsey in Wiltshire, perhaps best known for his 1786 treatise A Dissertation on the Poor Laws in which he expounded a naturalistic theory of economics and opposed state provision, either outdoor or otherwise.
In A Dissertation on the Poor Laws, Townsend criticized relief as allowing the population to swell by protecting the weak (see his parable of the goats and dogs on the Island of Fernandez), and thus called for the abolition of any state relief in pursuance of greater productivity, as "it is only hunger which can spur and goad them on to labour." (Townsend, 1971:23) In another statement, he more explicitly said: "[Direct] legal constraint [to labor] . . . is attended with too much trouble, violence, and noise, . . . whereas hunger is not only a peaceable, silent, unremitted pressure, but as the most natural motive to industry, it calls forth the most powerful exertions. . . . Hunger will tame the fiercest animals, it will teach decency and civility, obedience and subjugation to the most brutish, the most obstinate, and the most perverse."
Townsend has been credited with anticipating Thomas Malthus' argument against public welfare assistance in An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). Unlike Malthus, however, Townsend advocated a system of social insurance through compulsory membership of friendly societies, which would meet the health and burial costs of the poor.
Source: Joseph Townsend, Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Townsend
Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.
Tangeman Tangen Tangman Tanison Tankin Tennison Tennyson Theunissen Thomasen Thomasin Thomasine Thomasma Thomason Thomassen Thomassin Thomasson Thomazin Thomesen Thomesson Thomison Thomkins Thompsen Thompson Thompsontesting Thomsen Thomson Thomssen Thomsson Thonason Thoumasson Tiencken Tienken Timpson Timson Tincknell Tincombe Tinganna Tingcomb Tingen Tinkham Tinkman Tinsman Tinson Toensing Tomasaon Tomasian Tomasin Tomasine Tomasini Tomasino Tomaskunas Tomason Tomasoni Tomasson Tomaszynski Tomchen Tomchin Tomchun Tomczynski Tomkin Tomkins Tomkinson Tommasino Tompson Tomsen Tomson Tonkens Tonkin Tonkinson Tonnesen Tonsing Tounzen Townsan Townsen Townshend Townson Townzen Tumageanian Tumasian Tunison Tunkin Tunson Tympson Tymson Tyynismaa
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