How do I find a specific family member?
Finding one specific family member on a site this large can feel overwhelming. The Pinsent family database, on which this site is based, has several thousand entries. It doesn’t help that some names are reused constantly, sometimes even by the same parents.
Focus on the person you know the most about.
On the website, families are divided by branch. These divisions make sense when you know how families relate to each other over time, but aren’t obvious when you are starting out. Which branch you’re in won’t be clear to you right away.
To find your family, choose someone (who is dead, as living people are not included on this site) you know something about: a full name, a birthdate, a death date, a marriage date, a spouse’s name, a location.
The more detail the better.
From there, you have two key options: the family branches and the search engine.
Using a family branch to find a family member
Each family branch has a “Notable Members of the Branch” category. This section includes basic details about every person in that branch with a biography.
Here’s an example entry:
Alfred John Pinsent, printer and compositor, Torquay, Devon, 1869 – 1939.
This method works best when finding men who died in adulthood. That demographic is the best documented in the primary source material. See: Who gets a biography?
Let’s say you are looking for “John Pinsent” and all you know is that he was born in the 1920s.
By skimming the “Notable Members of the Branch” for each branch, it soon becomes clear there is only one potential candidate: John Pinsent of the Hennock branch.
If you are unsure which of the mid-19th century William Pinsents is the one you need, other contextual information you have―like the names of wives and children―can help you narrow things down.
Using the search engine
The search engine works best when you have concrete information to work with.
For example, let’s take William Henry Thiery Pinsent.
First, let’s search the following: “William Pinsent” Hannah
Tip: Use quotation marks in your searches to make sure the search engine looks for a phrase, not individual words (e.g., “William Pinsent” instead of “William” “Pinsent”).
The search engine finds him eventually with this combination, but you have to dig. His correct name is “William Henry Thiery Pinsent” so without more detail he gets buried.
Let’s add his birthdate: “William Pinsent” Hannah 1865
This time, he appears much more quickly.
After one more try, this search phrase brings him to the first page of results: “William Pinsent” Hannah baker
Conclusion
Finding your first family member is an inexact science. How easy it is will likely depend on what information you already know.
Once you have found someone in your branch, however, the rest is easy.
Every entry for a (Pinsent-born) family member includes links to their entire immediate family at the bottom of the page. That includes grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and male siblings and half-siblings.
In other words, once you’ve found one family member, you have essentially found everyone.
For advanced users, once you have your family member make a note of their PinsentID. Searching for that ID will reveal every time that person is mentioned anywhere on the website.