STEPHENS, Percival James, Aus to Amiens, Fran

[pottoka]

Letter in the post. Cross all possible fingers and toes as tightly as possible!!
It might take time as it's a big Town Hall (I forgot to ask); Rouen told me three weeks and took two months - so long that I wrote to them again and ended up with two certificates!

[ChristineR]

His service file says that he was discharged in England on 12 March 1922.

Also there is a letter in the file from your grandmother, dated 1915, where she asks if her brother enlisted as a single or married man - a young woman having introduced herself as his wife. Perhaps this is the Ivy Green who also wrote asking after him.

On the back of that letter asking to be discharged in London (to return to France) is his wife's signature declaring that she has no objection to him being discharged there. Her name is given as Henriette Stephens. She has two sons, aged 5 and 7 from her previous marriage who he does not want to bring to Australia as they would be disadvantaged by not knowing the language. The three sons mentioned who have died are in reference to her aged parents - being her siblings - for which reason she does not want to leave France while her parents are still alive.

He declares he had not employment to return to - but the Lunacy Department kept writing to ask if he was coming back as they were keeping his job for him!

It appears that he was in the 3rd Ambulance until he was shot in the head 1919, then in the Army Pay Corps until joining the AGS in 1920.

His address on discharge was 142 Rue de Moulin, Amiens, France

[trevorjm]

Elaine may well be ruing the lack of detail available prior to writing to Amiens Town Hall, in which case I thank you Christine, and apologise profusely to you, resolute Pottoka!
Trevor

[pottoka]

I've still not heard from Amiens Town Hall which is more than a bit off after three and a half months. I'll write to them again (and say that I wrote ages ago!) - with the extra information - and hope that they'll get their flippin' finger out!

I've also put a request for a volunteer to go there and look up the information on a French website. Normally requests are for records which are older than that because you have to be able to prove a relationship to be able to get a record which is less than 75 years old (I'd thought that it was 100 years). This might work as the forum is for records at the Archives départementales (Central Record Library for the département of the Somme), and it just so happens that it is in Amiens as well.

Just so that you know that I haven't forgotten you!

[trevorjm]

I remain indebtted and sincerely grateful to you Pottoka!

[pottoka]

Don't be too grateful, Trevor, or you might be counting your chickens before they've hatched!

[pottoka]

They say that things come in threes, and this time it's bad news, I'm afraid.

First, the volunteer on the site where I put a request turns out to work alone and, at the moment, is not available to take requests for family reasons. Another member wrote to me to say that I had not given enough information in my request but declined help when asked for advice.

Second, I received a really snotty letter from Amiens Town Hall telling me that their personnel cannot undertake genealogical research for private individuals (I knew that!) but that I could get permission from a bigwig judge and go and look in the Archives myself. Presumably they'll pay for the travel expenses and hotel bills?

I thought that was in reply to my "reminder" letter as it came fairly soon after, but in fact, it was the reply to my first letter of 11th February. I don't know what kind of reputation people who work in town halls and government administration have in Australia, but in France, it's not good. Taking four months to send a stock reply to a letter is a good example! (like clearing their desks half an hour before going home time and clock-watching until they can dash out)

Then, third, my reminder letter came back to me with a post-it on it, saying:
"1914-1924 no marriages under the name of Percival STEPHENS RANDALL".
Some kind soul must have taken pity on us and looked through the ten-year tables for a marriage under Stephens and, just in case, under Randall as well.

So I'm afraid that it would appear that Percival and Henriette didn't get married in Amiens itself and, without any more precise information, I don't think it's going to be possible to find them.

I've just found a site covering the region, but the terms and conditions say that members cannot make any posts about people or events less than 100 years old. As I said before, I believe the law has changed and reduced the time limit to 75 years for consulting BMDs, but the site has not updated its rules, so I can't even post a question on there. I'll ask around, but I can't hold out much hope. I'm very sorry to have to disappoint you like this.

[trevorjm]

Well, Pottoka, you have been magnificent in your endeavours and should feel no sense of underachievement as far as I'm concerned! The prevailing view in our family has been that Percy chose to simply disappear from view, and it appears that he did a jolly good job of doing just that!
Thank you sincerely for the efforts you have made on my family's behalf. Should we ever discover what happened to Percy I shall try to let you know, for you have earned an answer!

Best regards,

Trevor

[dawnpk]

Dear Trevor, I am Dawn, Granddaughter to your Grandmother's younger sister, Honor Richards nee Stephens. Have you been able to find out any more information. I was thinking Henriette and Percy married while they were in England.
Hoping you have some more information about the mysterious Percy, that our poor Grandmother's never knew.