Find Living Relatives

i was adopted in the 60,s i have found my mothers side but i have a half brother from my fathers side i cant seem to get anywhere ,just dead ends i joined ancestry with my dna etc but still hardly any information , found distant family but that was all , dont know if anyone could help on here ? my fathers name was r.v.lewis richard victor lewis 1918 t0 1976 last address 28 robin hood lane hall green birmingham , i think he married a valerie j clarke 1926 / possibly still alive ,mothers maiden name strong ?? and they had a son simon r lewis born 1958 born in warwickshire meridean 9c 1434 , im fairly certain this is correct but have had a lot of guesses but i think im on the right lines now just wondered if anyone could help as ive been looking for a few years and never get any further, a distant relative on ancestry seemed to think simon r lewis was last working for bernard mathews but she has had no contact for years and didnt know anything else , i m happy topay a proffessional researcher for their time if need be

There may actually have been 6 children from the marriage

Who registered your father’s death?

DNA is only worthwhile if others have taken tests and shared the results. It’s of little or no use in isolation

No-one other than you has Richard in a GR tree

Have you looked at Electoral Rolls?

Have you checked for possible marriage for Simon?

i have gone down every avenue available to me , im guessing his wife valerie j lewis would have registered his death he died in 1976 and his wife isnt my birth mother , i only know his last address was robin hood lane hall green birmingham that was my father r.v .lewis . i have very limited results from my dna and i just dont know where else to search its an impossible task !!!! i have looked for possible marriages for simon but such a lot come up , i was hoping my dna may have profered some results but they are all very distant family members and although they are aware of parts of my family they are too distant to have any contact or knowledge , the only piece of information i did get was that a distant cousin believed simon was last working for bernard mathews but she no idea in what context , i searche norfolk in case he showed up there but again i dont have enough background and it seems a common name , grrrrrrrrr

i have only found simon from the marriage if im researching the right way , thankyou for taking time to have a look

Buying the 1958 birth certificate from the GRO will confirm if it is the right Simon, again the marriage certificate for Richard would also confirm if you are on the right track.. If it is you could look to see if Simon married, then you would have two names to look for.

If Richard married in 1926 it is very unlikely that his wife would still be alive - she would have been born around 2906. EDIT read it wrong but would still be well in her 90’s if still alive.

Electoral rolls would be your next best bet.

Your Ancestry dna test won’t necessarily find him unless he or his children test.

EDIT: there is a small tree on Ancestry from a descendant of Richard’s sister, Ethel -- they might know of Simon.

You say you have only found Simon as a child of the marriage.

Assuming Richard and Valerie always lived in the Meriden reg district, there were possibly 7 children.
You can find their names by looking on FreeBMD, and searching for births in Meriden from 1950 to 1980, with surname Lewis, and mother's surname Clarke.

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

One of the seven registrations appears to have been a late registration, in 1963, when it should have been done in 1961, and therefore the child's name appears in both years.

Valerie's middle name is/was June, per her birth record on the GRO website - assuming the 1926 birth is the correct one.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp

As Richard died in 1976, I'm wondering about the 1980 marriage in Birmingham of a Valerie J Lewis to a Thomas.
However, I can't see that couple after that.

I don't see Valerie's death, either as Lewis or Thomas. It's possible she has died after 2021, or is still alive.

If her parents were Thomas Clarke and Leah Strong, she will be one of the closed records in the 1939 Register, implying that she may still be alive.

Thomas Clarke
in the 1939 England and Wales Register
Name: Thomas Clarke
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 25 Feb 1893
Residence Date: 1939
Address: 253, Bromford Rd. 8
Residence Place: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Occupation: Aero Charge Hand
Line Number: 1
Schedule Number: 1
Sub Schedule Number: 1
Enumeration District: Qbds
Borough: Birmingham
Registration district: 384/7
Inferred Spouse:
Leah Clarke
Inferred Children:
Stanley T Clarke
Irene F Clarke
Barrie M Clarke
Household Members (Name) Age
Thomas Clarke 46
Leah Clarke 50
Stanley T Clarke 25
Irene F Clarke 23
This record is officially closed.
This record is officially closed.
Barrie M Clarke 7

However, she is no relation of yours.


I don't see any of the Lewis children on Electoral Rolls with any degree of confidence, as the names are not too unusual, nor marriages or deaths.

You say you have been down every avenue available to you - what are those? Have you bought any certificates to prove you are following the right family?

There's a very slight possibility that the youngest Lewis/Clarke child (1972) may now be named Lewis-Campbell.

Someone of that surname, with the same first name as the 1972 child is an author and publisher - born March 1972 and a British citizen.
Google the name.

I can't find any more detailed biography to help confirm or not.

However, re the Lewis/Clarke children -

there were also Lewis/Clarke marriages registered in Birmingham - in 1956, 1964, 1965, 1967, and 1969 and 1967, so it's possible some of the children belong to those families.

25
Simon Richard Lewis
Age Guide: 60-64
Director
Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10...

an entry from 192.com,,,,although not a n unusual name.and possibly not the same person.?

thankyou to everyone taking time out to do some research for me it is very much appreciated , i am going to look down some of these new avenues and see where it takes me, it would be lovely to think there are more family out there but i am fairly certain they had only 1 child , although this information was given by my birth mother who wasnt married to him etc but she thought he had 1 son , i find a lot of dead ends but you have all given me some more work to do , valerie j lewis/clarke to my knowledge is still alive , i had a dna ancestor come up who had one of my fathers sisters in her tree but she had very little knowledge of this side of the family unfortunatly, or she didnt want to disclose, i did write again to her but have had no reply and it is very difficult if my birth was a secret and i do understand this , so i am going to get my head down and follow these leads thankyou everyone , i shall try keep you informed

Re Simon Richard Lewis details posted by Kay????

The Warwickshire location might seem encouraging - but according to Companies House, he was born in 1961, so not the right person.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/bMlMxLznVzY-xeHhVEbAlfrdaxY/appointments


There's another Simon Richard Lewis, who is a dentist in Birkenhead.
But he was born 1955, so not him either.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/B3PxZKzWKupKAem2hdfu6iDzjvM/appointments

And as you know, there are others on Electoral Rolls, whose names don't come up in any other way in a Google search, so nothing to verify their ages.

thankyou, it is so very difficult with only guesswork , i wish i had more information to give clues , i cant find a census record but i believe my father moved to robin hood lane halll green birmingham and had a plant shop prior to that he lived on chester road birmingham but cant even find any census records to confirm any people living there ,its very frustrating , i was so praying my dna may of shown something up

1921 is the most recent census to have been made public, so your father won't appear on any census available to us.



Richard Victor Lewis
in the UK, World War II Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945
Name: Richard Victor Lewis
Nationality: British
Rank: Signalman
Birth Date: 24 Jan 1918
Birth Place: 4, Radstock Avenue, Wardend, Birmingham
Military Date: 15 Feb 1942 [ date of capture ]
Military Place: Singapore
Regiment: Malaya Command Signals
Service Number: 2582283
Father: Charles Richard
Mother: Ethel
Description: 31: Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, World War II: Lawrenson-Litten


His parents married in Birmingham in 1915, but were living in Lancashire in 1939.
I don't see Richard on the 1939 Register - he was probably already in the forces.

yes that is definitly correct re the forces etc i have found a lot of this on ancestry and some of his wifes ethel may bailey relatives , but sadly none of them know a lot about my side of the family although they came up in my dna matches i seem to have hit a very dead end , i do know my father died young of his war injuries as a result of being a prisoner of war so the only near family member i have if he is still alive would be richard and valeries child/children, i am certain there was only 1 child but i may be wrong there , would be wonderful if there were more . thankyou again

If you feel it's worth spending money on it, you could get a copy of one (or all ???) of the other children's birth cert(s) to see the details.

Expensive to get them all, especially if they turn out to belong to other families!

You said your birth mother thought there was only one son - but she may not have been aware of the later children if she didn't have much contact with him.

Have you obtained a copy of the birth cert?

Were you born after Simon?

Sorry Teresa, I am having a bit of trouble understanding. Are you saying that the Bailey family come up in your dna matches or your fathers Lewis relatives.

If it is the Lewis relatives are they not replying to messages? If they are not aware of you they might not consider replying.

Both Erika and I have asked if you have bought any certificates and you have not answered.

You don't seem to be sure that Valerie 1926 is actually the Valerie who married Richard, nor that Simon is a son of that particular Lewis/Clarke couple.

You do need his birth cert to be sure one way or the other.
Otherwise, you may be wasting energy looking for the wrong person.

Also the marriage cert, to verify Richard's wife's middle name (June, if she's Valerie 1926) and age.