How to find a death when you don't know which name

[Ladkyis]

This is my problem.
My Great grandmother, Elizabeth NATHAN, was an actress - stage name Bessie NATHAN. She married Charles John GUILFOYLE, an actor - stage name Charles GUILFOYLE-SEYMOUR.
During her life she called herself Elizabeth GUILFOYLE, Bessie GUILFOYLE, Bessie SEYMOUR, Elizabeth GUILFOYLE-SEYMOUR, Elizabeth NATHAN, Bessie NATHAN.

I want to try and find her death but have no idea where she was when she died, or what year she died, or what name she was using when she died.

I am told (Family legend) that she had a stall in Swindon Market and this must have been in the 1920s. I have no idea why she chose there but then I have no idea why she opened a fancy goods bazaar in Newport and then sold it. Her youngest daughter married an american sailor after WW1 and went to America and after that Bessie left Newport.

All suggestions of how to trace her without spending a fortune gratefully received.

Ann

[ET in the USA]

Ancestry BMD scans are still free, unless you count your own time, then all genealogy is very expensive :) so you could use your best guess as to date and name, and then when you have exhausted that one, go to the next best, etc.

My guess is that she wouldn't have been buried as Bessie but under her real name Elizabeth. It really depends on who the informant was and if they knew her real name. I have one where the husband must have either spaced out or believed she was born in 1913 (it was really 1893) and he also said her maiden name was Ovens which was her mother's second married name. His wife's maiden name was Lord, but then as her third husband, he never knew her as that.

[ET in the USA]

Dear Ann,

I guess the previous answer wasn't much help...duh...

I googled Elizabeth and Bessie Guilfoyle just for fun and saw your 2004 post and your unwanted certificate for a 1949 death.

I see now that the money issue was about unwanted certificates, not searching costs.

You say she lies about her age, but you must have a ballpark range to work with that you can compare to a death age.
The 1949 death cert. was for someone who died at age 74. Wouldn't this have made her 4 years old when she married in 1875 ? Surely no one would believe that lie, even from an actress :)

I think what I would do, if it were me, is to make a list of the very best guesses, based on name, age at death, Location of death related to where she lived last or where her children lived, and any other factors, then just spend more money. I don't see any way around it if you are pretty sure she died in England.

Have you looked at ancestry for immigration or passenger information? That might also show an age. What about US census, in case she was there when she wasn't in England and just happened to coincide with a census.

If you send her birth date range and where she was in 1901 I'll help you look if you need it. Just assign me a section of the GRO deaths to search.
I love a challenge and I'm sick of my own people. I'm trying to find a marriage between Annie Wood and Frederick Lord, either before or after, or never, the birth of their daughter in 1894. Have no idea how old Mr. Lord is, as I have never found them together, except on the birth certificate.

[Sherry]

This is my problem.
My Great grandmother, Elizabeth NATHAN, was an actress - stage name Bessie NATHAN. She married Charles John GUILFOYLE, an actor - stage name Charles GUILFOYLE-SEYMOUR.
During her life she called herself Elizabeth GUILFOYLE, Bessie GUILFOYLE, Bessie SEYMOUR, Elizabeth GUILFOYLE-SEYMOUR, Elizabeth NATHAN, Bessie NATHAN.

I want to try and find her death but have no idea where she was when she died, or what year she died, or what name she was using when she died.

I am told (Family legend) that she had a stall in Swindon Market and this must have been in the 1920s. I have no idea why she chose there but then I have no idea why she opened a fancy goods bazaar in Newport and then sold it. Her youngest daughter married an american sailor after WW1 and went to America and after that Bessie left Newport.

All suggestions of how to trace her without spending a fortune gratefully received.

Ann
I looked on The Jewish Chronicle Archives for GUILFOYLE and GUILFOYLE-SEYMOUR but there was nothing. SEYMOUR and NATHAN gave too many "hits" unless you can narrow the dates down at all for me?
Let me know.
Best wishes,
Sherry

[Ladkyis]

I have searched the GUILFOYLE deaths from 1934 to 1955 (when she would have been 99) and purchased all the Elizabeth Guilfoyle certificates. I was kind of hoping that she would have used her real married name so that the people who buried her - whoever they were - would have been able to leave me a clue but why should she change the habit of a lifetime? In 1901 she gave her age as 39 (a good age but a lie) and said she was born in Maderia, she was calling herself Bessie SEYMOUR on that one and her oldest daughter is called Maggie SEYMOUR and just to confuse the issue further there is no sign of the youngest daughter who would have been 5.

She has been so difficult to find anything about and every night I pass her photograph as I go to bed and her expression tells me that whatever it is she wants me to do I haven't done yet...

Thanks for the advice, I'll just have to bite the bullet and start forking out for SEYMOUR certificates.

Ann