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Welcome to the
Genes Reunited web chat, where you can get help and advice from our resident genealogist and expert family historian, Anthony Adolph.
To find out more about Anthony click here.
Thanks again to Anthony and everyone who joined in on the sessions so far.
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Questions already answered
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| Doreen Price | 18/10/2011 21:47:03 |
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Thanks Anthony , hopefully I should be able to get through my brickwall at last. |
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Good luck to you - if not, come back next time! |
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| Pamela Attfield | 18/10/2011 21:41:25 |
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Hi Anthony in reply to your question I guess it was notice of a will. No her name wasn't O'Hanlon it was definitely Hanlon. Yes my great great grandfather was of irish descent but was over in Southampton from the 1840's where he met Cecilia. The notice said her name and personal estate (£91.4.10d) and residual legatee was her son John Hanlon and she died in Southampton. That is all I know. Pam Rodham |
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I see - so, as you'd expect with a probate clause from that period, it stated where she died. In that case, if there is definitely no death registered, then you've found a mistake in the system, most probably in the indexing rather than the original records. I suggest asking the registrar in Southampton to check their original records for the date you have been given - and look a year or two either side, unless the printed probate clause has been printed incorrectly, too. And do you realise that you can now order a copy of the will itself from First Avenue House in London? |
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| Olivia O'Dolan | 18/10/2011 21:40:57 |
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Hi Anthony I wish to trace my second cousins who I belive live in Glasgow Scotland. Margaret Donaldson nee Kelly whom I belive lives in Bailiston area of Glasgow. Her late Dad was Jackie Kelly and lived at one time in Easterhouse area of Glasgow. Jackie Kelly searved in Army during WW2 and searved at Dunkirk. Another second cousin I wish to trace is Margaret Kelly and her sister Isobel Kelly daughters of late William Kelly. I have no known address for these ladies.Their grandparents were William and Margaret Kelly. William Kelly sen worked with cleansing dep of Glasgow City Council during 1960s/ 70s. Thanking you. Olivia O'Dolan in Co Fermanagh Ireland. |
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There are two main sources to help you - Scottish General Registration (http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/), in which you can seek births, marriages and deaths to match and enhance what you know about the Kellys, and work forward towards the present, and telephone directories and electoral registers for Great Britain, available at www.findmypast,com. |
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| Doreen Price | 18/10/2011 21:37:46 |
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Hello, Are any parish records available for Chirk, Denbighshire ?, I am looking for GG mother born circa 1820. Thanks |
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Yes. They are at the National Library of Wales. |
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| Dawn Bacon | 18/10/2011 21:32:47 |
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How can I find out where a relative is buried? What's the best way to ensure you are following the right line if there are more than one . Thanks |
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You have to find out where they died (using the death indexes on this site, and then buy the certificate) and then contact the local graveyards, cemeteries and crematoria. Some are now indexed on www.deceasedonline.com. Sometimes, newspapers print details of funerals and hence burials. The second question is a huge one. The answer - by being very careful! If you can give me more specific details I'll try to comment more specifically. |
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| Dorothy Sharrock | 18/10/2011 21:31:47 |
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Hello Anthony I hope you can help me. I am trying to print my family tree but when I go into 'full tree' and press the print button the page just comes up blank. Have you any suggestions? Dorothy |
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I'm afraid that I'm the worst person to ask about getting printers to work - way beyond my area of expertise I'm afraid. |
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| nikki lawlor | 18/10/2011 21:29:15 |
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hello can you tell me why the records say district spen valley when she is not from spen valley she is from yorkshire and does the national health service number any good ? |
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I'd need a bit more information to comment on this properly. But if a birth, marriage or death was registered in Spen Valley registration district, then that's where it took place! Spen Valley is, incidentally, in Yorkshire anyway - see http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/spen%20valley.html No, National Heath numbers are no use for genealogy - which is a shame. |
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| Joyce Plumb | 18/10/2011 21:25:23 |
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Hi Anthony. Hope you can help me. I am adopted and my name was Joyce Elaine Plumb, born 23 March 1948. Through using Genes Reunited, I have found my parents details, Arthur and Margaret who were actually married and lived in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and that I have a sister Vivienne Margaret Plumb, born September 1946. A brother Stephen was born 1950 but with father's name blank on birth cert..Vvienne has a tree on Genes Reunited and I have emailed but with no reply. Her name is Clark on the tree. I do have more detailed information. Where can I go from here? My name is now Janice Buckley Thank you. |
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Can I refer to you to the answer I gave another question earlier this evening? Vivienne might reply, later, when she finally realises you are trying to contact her, but the great problem here is that so many people put information on this site, and have since changed e-mail addresses. But hopefully you can use the information you have gleaned to continue research, using General Registration and the telephone directories/electoral rolls (or Facebook!). As you know who Vivienne married, you can seek her marriage record, which will give both parties' addresses, and then seek births of her children, which will also give addresses - all helpful in leading you towards where she is now. |
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| Carol Dunger | 18/10/2011 21:20:51 |
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Why can't we access census information after the 1911 census, which I have had to become a Platinum Member to look at. I need to look at family history when my mum was alive, i.e. 1915 to 1993. |
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When the censuses were taken, people were told that the information would be kept secret for a century - this still happens - so the next census, 1921, will become available in 2022. Until then you can can do a good job investigating your family using the birth, marriage and death records, and wills, if your family left any. Wills are at First Avenue House in London, and aren't on this site, just in case you were wondering. |
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| Ian Hudson | 18/10/2011 21:19:53 |
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Thank you Anthony. I have tried all the possible variants of Eliza Hudson and George Craven. He was a General Labourer and appears to have spent his adult life in the Bolton area. Are there any other types of records (other than those online), perhaps in Local Record Offices or Historical Societies which might give an indication of their marital status? Would there be any record somewhere of 'Common Law Marriages'? |
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No, common law marriages were by their very nature unrecorded. This could be such a union, but it's always a shame to give up before every stone has been turned. If you know exactly where Eliza lived, you could always think about church marriage registers, or even newspaper announcements of weddings (the latter unlikely for labourers, though). But the point is that, before he was a labourer, George may have been a soldier, and for all you know both of them may have married in part of the British Empire on the other side of the world. |
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| Rosemary Hilton | 18/10/2011 21:16:50 |
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Hi Anthony I have an ancestor Thomas who was born in Lancashire c1715. He was a bricklayer in 1738 when he married but by the time his first son was born 1741 had become a soldier. When the second son was born in 1743 I find him living in Leicester where his son was baptised. I don't know what happened to Thomas after this but the son must have gone back to Lancashire as he was married there in1766 and Thomas' wife died there in 1774. Please could you suggest any reason why Thomas as a soldier might have been in Leicester in 1743 or tell me if there are any military records that go this far back. Thanks Rose |
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You've really answered you own question here - Thomas went to Leicester because he was in the army. These were turbulent times; only a couple of years after 1743, Bonnie Prince Charlie's army came storming south to Derby, and might, had history unfolded differently, have taken London. The sources for soldiers from this period are not great - the muster rolls at The National Archives would be your best bet, but I think you're just a bit too early (though you could see if there are any militia lists held in the Lancashire record office). |
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| Carol Dunger | 18/10/2011 21:15:25 |
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Can you tell me where to find information about my relatives from the 1960/1970's as I have no family paper work to refer to. |
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It depends what you are trying to find out. On this site are the births, marriages and deaths, which are a major source for that period. |
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| Pamela Attfield | 18/10/2011 21:13:13 |
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Hi Anthony I actually did contact you back in April about my great great grandmother Cecilia Maria Hanlon. I cannot find her on the Birth, Marriages, Deaths. My local library found a piece about her which stated she died on 13th December 1884 and about her personal estate. But why is she not on any death records? Pam Rodham |
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I wonder what ever it was that your library found - can you tell me please? (and please repeat your question when you do). The surname Hanlon is of Irish origin, so maybe this person died there, or was registered here as O'Hanlon. Everything depends on the source of your information. |
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| Sharon Armitage | 18/10/2011 21:11:02 |
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Hi I found out I was adopted as a baby in 1974 (born 1973). I got some info yesterday telling me my birth parents DOBs and that I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I have been on Genes since March 2011 and had lovely members helping me but I am stuck as to how to find my birth relatives. There is one tree that has most of my birth family on the members tree but I can't seem to get a response from the member. Where can I go from here in order to try to find one if not most of my birth family? Thank you for your help Nicola (Sharon) |
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It is bad luck that the owner of the tree you have found is not responding: if people's membership or interest has lapsed, or they have changed e-mail addresses, they won't know you are trying to contact them. The technique for tracing living relatives is, simply, using birth, marriage and death records to build your own tree back in time, and then seek siblings in the different generations and work down towards the present - see if people married, then see if they had children, and if they have died - and then start seeking those who seem to be living in the telephone directories. This site doesn't have those (yet) but Genes's sister-site Find My Past does. |
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| Colin Young | 18/10/2011 21:09:22 |
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Hello Anthony I am seeking a girl who was the daughter of a soldier based at Budbroke Barracks in Warwick. Going into the 1911 census through the normal system does not produce any results. Surely the military were required to produce a census of all personnel in barracks on the census day? Thanks Colin Young |
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Yes, certainly they were. Maybe they weren't there because this chap's regiment was stationed outside England and Wales at the time. The National Archives hold the muster rolls of each regiment, that might offer some clues. |
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| Jackie Page | 18/10/2011 21:08:39 |
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How can i trace family pre census-I believe they were of Jewish origin my great grandfather Nathaniel Nathan born C1818 in East End of London married Eva Barnett and his father who I believe was Israel Nathan I ca not find inormation through Jewish synagoue records |
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Oh dear - Synagogue records are your best hope, but if the family had stopped being practising Jews, then you may find them in Anglican parish registers. Jews wrote and proved wills like everyone else, and the better-off sort can often be traced through newspaper annoucements of births, marriages and deaths. Are you sure you've gone into the synagogue records with a fine-toothed comb? |
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| Ian Hudson | 18/10/2011 21:06:08 |
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I have been searching, for some years, for the marriage of my GGrandmother. I have used all the Records I know of - BMD Registers, my Subscriptions Sites etc. She was Eliza Hudson (b1872) who married (?) a George Craven. She died in 1907. In the 1891 Census she was unmarried: in the 1901 she was. Her whole life was spent in the Burnley/Bolton area of Lancashire. He came from Whitby Yorks. Where else am I likely to find the marriage (if indeed there was one)? |
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You could try looking under variants, such as Elizabeth, Bess, Bessy, Betsy, and consider that, in the marriage record, 'Eliza' may have appeared as a second name, not a first one - and perhaps try Hutson instead of Hudson, in case it was misheard. You could try the army marriages, and the other 'overseas' categories of marriages, now searchable on this site, or consider India, or Scotland - much depends on what he actually did (and he may have been a soldier before he did whatever he was doing when his children were born. |
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| Jackie Page | 18/10/2011 21:04:44 |
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my parents separated and I only know my grandparents name,Alfred Booth and Doris Booth (nee Rogers) my grandfather apparently came from a huge family, they married approx 1936 I know both are deceased but how can i find any info on the Booth side of my family |
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Your fist step here will be to seek the marriage record of Alfred and Doris - you can do the searching here, on this site. Once you have bough the marriage certificate, you can seek their births, or work forward by seeking the births of their children. By building up your knowledge slowly and carefully you should eventually be able to trace your entire family tree. |
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| Dawn Bacon | 18/10/2011 21:03:37 |
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Hi Anthony, I am trying to trace my mothers line and not knowing any more info other than her fathers name Albert Barrett born in the east end of london in 1909 there are 2 births one in Hackney and one in london, bow? for a Albert Barrett he married a louisa alice ewen ..any suggestions on which one to choose as I dont want to follow the wrong line... also I found out my grandfather died in 1992 a Herbert Bacon in hospital, but how can I find out where he is buried? any ideas greatfully recieved... Dawn |
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As above. |
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| Irene Deadman | 20/09/2011 21:56:03 |
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Hi Anthony, Sorry have only just seen the continuation of your answer! On the marriage certificate Edwin's father was William Verrall, Kezia's father William Pelham. I will try to give you a bit more info but not sure how much you need! Edwin Verall's age on the 1851 census is 41, so his dob is 1809/1810 born Lewes. He and Keziah ran a newsagents. Kezia Pelham was born 1824 in Ringmer, Sussex. She was baptised 3/10/1824. They where married at Saint Ncholas, Brighton on 26/11 1843. I have the names of both Edwin & Kezia's parents if that will help. Irene |
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If you know the names of both of Edwin's parents, then you can seek their marriage - but I'm not sure how you'd know both the names if you haven't got Edwin's baptism. At any rate, if you follow the suggestions I made, you shouldn't go far wrong. |
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