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Thread: Mathias family

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by christanel View Post
    Did Harry and his wife have any children born in South Africa? What are the names of the children who were born prior to the move to S. Africa?
    I think we have to move back from his life in South Africa and if we can find some birth or death records for any of the children it may give us Harry's full name and possibly where he was from.
    This is the link to Cyndi'slist which gives links to free and pay sites where you can look for Mathias records.
    This a link to the records for South Africa on familysearch.org

    I have just found a death record for a Henry James Mathias, age 63 (born c1871) died 26 January 1934, occupation Miner, wife Mary born Rees, place of marriage Mertha Tydfil, South Wales.
    Children
    Daniel Mathias
    Martha Mathias married to Robert Thompson
    Gordon Stanley Mathias
    Edward Mathias
    All adults.

    Birthplace for Henry James Mathias deceased is America, We????(can't read the last letters as they have been stamped over with the date of his death registration) Father John, mother unknown.

    Is this anything to do with your family?
    Christina
    Oh Wow! I am overwhelmed by the response! Thank you so much to all of you. Christina, I think this could possibly be him. I know there was definitely a daughter called Martha. We have a letter written by a relative giving us bits and pieces of information. Apparently May left one child with her mother in Wales as the child was ill and later died. Also one of the children died on the trip to South Africa.

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by christanel View Post
    Did Harry and his wife have any children born in South Africa? What are the names of the children who were born prior to the move to S. Africa?
    I think we have to move back from his life in South Africa and if we can find some birth or death records for any of the children it may give us Harry's full name and possibly where he was from.
    This is the link to Cyndi'slist which gives links to free and pay sites where you can look for Mathias records.
    This a link to the records for South Africa on familysearch.org

    I have just found a death record for a Henry James Mathias, age 63 (born c1871) died 26 January 1934, occupation Miner, wife Mary born Rees, place of marriage Mertha Tydfil, South Wales.
    Children
    Daniel Mathias
    Martha Mathias married to Robert Thompson
    Gordon Stanley Mathias
    Edward Mathias
    All adults.

    Birthplace for Henry James Mathias deceased is America, We????(can't read the last letters as they have been stamped over with the date of his death registration) Father John, mother unknown.

    Is this anything to do with your family?
    Christina
    Edward must be my Grandfather! We have no idea where he came from - apparently my great grandfather just arrived home with him when he was about 3 years old and this was in South Africa, but no one knows where he was born or who his mother was.

  3. #13

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    Thank yo so much Jill! In the letter we have, it says they think Mary had 17 children, but most of them died. She left one of the children in Wales with her Mother as the child was ill and later died. Also one of the children died on the trip to South Africa.

  4. #14

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    Hi Wimsey! Yes, thank you! This must be him.

  5. #15

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    Thank you! Going to follow up on this with our family!

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jomot1 View Post
    If thats the right man, then here's his headstone:

    https://www.graves-at-eggsa.org/main....itemId=2939573
    Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for this! This is definitely our great grandparents.

  7. #17
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Oh don't you just love it when it all starts coming together.

    Now we have to sort out why it gives Henry James place of birth as America with Welshman next to it.

    What you need to do now is buy Henry and Mary's marriage certificate from the GRO https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

    Although the records we all have found give him a middle name of James it is not on the marriage index so do not include it when filling in the form. You must only use the exact details as they appear on the index or the GRO will tell you they do not have the certificate you need.
    These are the details from the FreeBMD site as in my post #4
    Henry Mathias to Mary Rees registration district Merthyr T. vol 11a page 973

    The marriage certificate should give you both Henry's and Mary's fathers names and occupation and the addresses where Henry and Mary were living. It will be interesting to see whether Henry has given his father's name as John because quite often details on death certificates are not always correct. Unfortunately marriage certificates in the UK at that time did not give mother's names so no help for us there.
    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  8. #18
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    arrival Durban 20 May 1901 on ship Braemar Castle

    Mary Mathias aged 28
    Daniel Mathias aged 8
    Martha Mathias aged 5

    https://www.eggsa.org/cgi-bin/dosearchArrivals.pl

  9. #19

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    I will do that. The information we are most interested in trying to find some kind of record of our grandfather - Edward Mathias - whether it be a birth certificate or adoption papers. It has long been a mystery in our family.

  10. #20

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    Wow! Thank you for this! I had no idea all this information was available.

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