Hello all!

[marriner69]

Found this site a couple days ago and decided to introduce myself. I live in southeastern North Carolina, but was born and raised in Maine. What got me started on the family searches were some old photos I came across of my grandmother (born on the Isle of Mann and in the RAF during WWll) and my American-born grandfather while helping my mother clean her closest last year. They were dated from 1942-43 North Africa to May 20, 1944 Naples Italy May, 1944, were my grandparents met and were married. No one knew much about the family and so I took it upon myself to find out. So far, not a whole lot of luck:( I'm hoping this site may be of more use.


Okay, I'm looking for my maternal grandmother and this is all the info I have.


She was born on May 2nd (that I know for sure) between the years 1910-1912 (not so sure) on the ISLE OF MAN . Her given name was ANNIE MAY CHRISTIAN.

I have a photo and on the back in lovely old flow-y letters it states...

My mother, ANNIE ELIZABETH CHRISTIAN and her children CISSIE, NELLIE, MAGGIE, MAY (MY GRANDMOTHER) AND BABY VERA. TAKEN AROUND 1915 RAMSEY ISLE OF MAN, ENGLAND

I also have 2 pictures of my grandmother taken in LIVERPOOL, one is from the 1920's and the other...sometime either right before WWll or during.

I know her mother (ELIZABETH CHRISTIAN) died in childbirth along with the 6th daughter in 1916-17 and Nanny (what I called her) was sent to live in Liverpool with family of some relation. Some of the older sisters stayed with the father, but I do not remember her ever saying his name. I do have a picture of the him with ELIZABETH but no names or dates on the back. So, can anyone help?

[Peter_uk_can]

Hi Mariner.... I can't speak for other B-G members, but I have found that sometimes it is harder to find more recent family members than it is older ones. Given that we know who our grandparents were, we may find them as children in the various archives and from there on backwards we can begin to build a family history, but trying to find a more modern record can be more troublesome.

In order for B-G members, or anyone, to help, you would need to throw out some names and possible locations, you never know what someone could come back with.

Peter

[Bo Peep]

|wave|Hello Marriner and welcome to the Brit-Gen forum. I am delighted you have decided to join us and hope you will have lots of success with your research.

[Mutley]

Welcome to the Forum,

As Peter says, chuck us some names and dates in the appropriate section and someone is sure to have a look around for you.

Good Luck

[Peter_uk_can]

Mutley...... kinda show me where I used the word "chuck" gizusabrk. :D

[Mutley]

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/tommyjerry/get%20smilie%20big%20smilie/sorry.gif

[Peter_uk_can]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/phlawford/smiley2a.jpg

[v.wells]

Talk about throwing out names - I'd like to throw out mine! It might be easier researching a brand new lot instead of the ones I've got|soapbox|

:D

[Peter_uk_can]

This isn't scrabble Vanessa, you can't just dump then 'cos they don't make any sense.

[Toronto]

The IGI family search site have lots of Elizabeth Christians from the Isle of Man. Have you tried searching their IGI site ? www.familysearch.org. You never know what clues you might uncover.

Regards
Mike Morris
Toronto Canada

[Toronto]

I have had a noither look at the IGI site for the Isle of Man. Christian is almost as common as Smith , there are hundreds of Elizabeth Christians. and quite a number from Ramsay. The following is an example .............. MIke Morris
Toronto Canada


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Elizabeth Jane Christian Pedigree
Female


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth: 20 DEC 1881 Ramsey, Isle Of Man, England

Christening:
Death:
Burial:


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Parents:
Mother: Mary Ann Christian Family


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information:
Batch No.: Dates: Source Call No.: Type: Printout Call No.: Type:

C008530

[Wirral]

My grandmother was a CHRISTIAN from Liverpool & although I was brought up believing that the family was from the IOM, I have traced it back to the 18thC in Cumberland. If you do manage to make a connection to the Liverpool CHRISTIANs I have lots of information on them.

The civil registration records of birth, marriage, death (BMD) for the IOM are not on the General Record Office for England & Wales (GRO) index. They are held on the IOM at their own Register office. There is also a big family history library there which holds the church & other records. As you know the approximate date of your grandmother's birth, I suggest that you Google for the contact details & ask the Register Office to look for the birth certificate. Certificates in England & Wales cost £7 each - those in the IOM are probably similar. Once you have the birth certificate, then you can apply for a copy of the marriage certificate of the parents. By then you should be before 1901 when the censuses are available online (every 10 years from 1841-1901). The IOM is included in the online censuses.

Good luck!

[Toronto]

After checking out various sites on family history , I would suggest you try out the following site , and make queries from that site re the Christian family in Ramsay. It looks like they are geared up to answer family history queries.

www.isleofman.com/Community/Genealogy.aspx

There were lots of Ann's in the Isle of Man and some in Ramsay. If you get one of the childrens birth certs it should have the mothers maiden name on it. Try and get the couples wedding cert this would show her fathers name and his occupation.

I dont know if you can apply for these records in England but I will check. I do have the web site that allows you to use your Visa card to pay for this and the mailing costs. Its
about $14 or $15 (7 pounds) for each certificate.

All my best in your search

Mike Morris
Toronto Canada

Mike Morris
Toronto Canada

[v.wells]

This isn't scrabble Vanessa, you can't just dump then 'cos they don't make any sense.

Why not? Their genes have passed on to me - now I don't make any sense:D

[marriner69]

Thanks everyone. I am sooo frustrated now! It's no one faults...well, it is my grandmother's for keeping her past such a secret! Good God, if I didn't know better I'd think she was a frickin' spy!

We know for a fact she was born on the IOM around 1912. She came to America in 1946-47 after she married my American born grandfather whose mother was a wicked bitch (the whole family agrees) and furious he wasn't going to marry the girl she picked for him. It didn't help that my gradmother was at least 10 years older then him.

My grandfather was part of the North African campaign (US air corps) and ended up in Italy where they married.

I also know that she had a son (out of wed-lock) sometime around 1938-39 after Hitler invaded Poland and pissed off England who said "Okay, we warned you!" So, the father of the baby went off to war and was killed quickly. After giving birth to her son, she left him with her older sister "Cissy" or "Sissy" (no idea if that was short for something or if it was her given name) and joined the RAF to support him. In 1947-48 she and my grandfather went to IOM to take him to the US and the sister went insane! She guilted my grandmother into allowing her to raise him since she could not have children of her own. His name stayed Christian and he knew my grandmother was his mother. She never really got over leaving him...then again, even on her death bed she wouldn't tell my half uncle who his father was....strange family!


Anyway, in 1985-86 she went back to the IOM died in May, weird huh? She is buried in a cemetery outside of PEEL? I forget the name, starts with an L and sounds French if I remember. Her father and mother are buried there along with a couple of sisters. So, any thoughts on where to go with that info?