genealogy successes and failures

[Mrs. Davies]

Many years ago I made a posting on a Manchester site looking for my Grandfather Frank Meerten and I happened to add his wive's name as well (Maude Lavina Valentine). Not long afterwards I received an email from a cousin of Maude's. This was my first venture into web searching for relatives. It turns out he had Maude's family tree right in front of him and lo and behold I had many many news relatives. Even my mother's sister was stunned at how many brothers and sister Maude had. You just never know what is lurking in those family trees.

My second story returns to Frank Meerten. Who began looking for his grandfather's history and was unsuccessful back in 1917. My great great grandfather came from Guyana and there were many strange tales of his adventure to England. I hired a genealogist in Rochdale, England to get some certificates for me. She discovered that my great great grandfather had married twice and from the second marriage he had several children. The first marriage was very short (due to death of wife) and produced only my great grandfather and his brother. We (the family) wanted to know who the grgr-grandfather's father and mother was in Guyana. It turns out he PUT A DIFFERENT FIRST NAME FOR HIS FATHER ON EACH OF THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.. so this is my brick wall - but like growing ivy we hope each year through all the volunteers on the web to climb up and over that darn brick wall.

[beachy]

reading your items what advices could you give me,i have hit a very big brick wall for the past six years,but have also a long the way found living relatives i did not know existed.but they can not help with this wall.I am looking for my grandfather only have his birth year,his fathers name,and a copy of his marriage certificate.not sure where to look or what to do next.

[Clive Blackaby]

Hello Beachy.

Where have you looked so far? The information you have given us so far doesn't give us a lot to go on, but we all have to start somewhere.

There's a lot of information out there. Where to start searching depends on what sort of dates you are looking at. Also on whether his name is a very common one, or very disinctive.

Do you know whether or not he was born in the UK?

Is it possible / likely he is still alive?

Tell us as much as you can of what you know - we may be able to help you.

Edit ---

Ah! I've just had a look at your previous posting :)

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6720

The advice you were given there was quite correct - your best line of approach is probably to find his birth certificate. Unfortunately this may prove quite difficult as there will be numerous babies given the same name (Joseph Williams) in 1914 and quite a few will have had father called Henry, so you could find yourself with a lot of unwanted certificates.

The other area which might just help would be WW II military records. You say he disappeared in 1942, and that he was working on the Docks.

Others on this forum may know more than I do about what records if any were kept of people working in reserved occupations (which I have a feeling included dockers)

[Peter Goodey]

"Unfortunately this may prove quite difficult as there will be numerous babies given the same name (Joseph Williams) in 1914 and quite a few will have had father called Henry, so you could find yourself with a lot of unwanted certificates."

True but there also appear to have been some brothers, so far as I can glean from the original telegram.

I'd work through the GRO indexes over several years around the stated year, noting all occurrences of each name and then assess whether one of each name was registered in the same district. This is not foolproof because it assumes that all brothers were born in the same area but it's an approach and might pay dividends. If just one of the brothers can be found, the mother's name would then be known and it would then be child's play to locate Joseph's birth.

[beachy]

i have some one looking into this man,i believe there were two brothers,Stanley and Richard????????? one worked for Hereford council and the other for the fire service and was awarded a medal for service,but am unsure if the names are right and their jobs.i have some one at the fire service records office having a look for me.waiting a few more weeks won"t hurt as i have been searching six years.many thanks to you all for your advice

[beachy]

Hi to you all.
The Fire service have checked all their records and they do not have or had a Richard or Stanley Williams,so that part is untrue.So have to try some where the only other thing is to see if i could check the employment records for Hereford council to see if ether one of these men ever worked for the council

[Eudora]

Recently we found my paternal great-great-grandfather's date of marriage and the date and place of birth of his first three children [all born in India] on FreeBMD.

Because he was only approx 19 yrs old when he enlisted for the 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade in 1855 we had thought he had met his wife out in India. Not a bit of it. He had married her the year before he joined up.

Sometimes, I have found the later Census returns helpful in establishing and confirming family members.

[Davran]

When I was fairly new to genealogy I hit a brick wall with a Scottish ancestor from Renfrew. I surfed the net and came across a Renfrew site, which had a posting about the same ancestor. It turned out to be by a professional who was researching on behalf of someone I had never heard of who had the same ggrandfather as me. So, it's worth hunting around in all sorts of places.

I have also had quite spectacular success with my husband's tree through GenesReunited. I have found him a cousin, who even had a picture of his father, though they had never met.:D

On the other hand, on the Scottish side, I was enthusiastically pursuing a lovely KNOX family in Westerkirk on the basis of a rumour that the family originally came from Dumfries, only to find that the ancestors so far all come from Renfrew. I live in hopes of a connection to Westerkirk - the Knoxes there lived in two places called Midknock and Netherknock, which have rather taken my fancy;)

[zadok45]

i have hit a very big brick wall.......
So have I. Mine concerns my paternal Grandmother. I have full details of her marriage, and her death (so I should - I attended her funeral, in 1967!).
However, there are absolutely no records for her birth. Have searched GRO indeces extensively, and have also checked the relevant census records, but no sign whatsoever. The earliest census record in which she appears, is 1901, but no leads from there.
There are no family members remaining, with possible family details, so I am now wondering where to look. I have also searched using her father's name, but no clear candidate has shown up. What if my Grandma changed her forenames? How could I locate her in these circumstances?

I welcome any constructive suggestions.

[Peter Goodey]

This isn't really the right place but have you considered that her surname might have changed?

[zadok45]

This isn't really the right place but have you considered that her surname might have changed?

Hi Peter,

You were quite correct. It took some time to establish the name switch, and the result was achieved more by serendipity than by logical, sequential research.

It seems my Grandmother's whole family changed their names from Martin to Moore. However, there seems to be no explanation for this. Another mystery.