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I am looking for the parents or siblings of Walter Bennett Wood. He married Eliza Winchester in 1873 in NSW, Australia. I just received the marriage certificate however it does not state his parents, dob, or his birthplace, the only new information I got from the certificate was that his occupation was a gold miner - so I'm at a dead end. I have always assumed he came from England as a young adult, but I can't be certain.

Walter and Eliza had three children - Walter b 1874, Eleanor b 1876 and Richard b 1878. Any help would be appreciated.

Can anyone help??

Jodie, does it stage his age on the cert?

Nope it doesn't, or place of birth.

I cant find any birth registrations in the UK for a Walter Bennett Wood. Way to many Walter Woods to know if any are him without any other info.
Sorry!

Have you tried his death cert to see if that can offer any more info?

I think I have the right death (1925, NSW) - as you said there are a lot of Walter Wood's. I was hoping someone might be able to find something before I spent more money.

Do you know what area the death was registered in?

I can only find one registered in 1925 - West Maitland. This gives parents names as William & Elizabeth.

From the familysearch site we are down to 3 or 4 possibles. So initially we need to cross refer with the census and then look at passenger lists if we cant find any!

Its a start at least.

This could be a likely candidate

WALTER WOOD Pedigree
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Christening: 16 OCT 1853 St Peter And St Paul, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
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Parents:
Father: WILLIAM WOOD Family
Mother: ELIZABETH
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Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

Walter is with family in 1861 & 71 UK census but cant see him in 1881??

Yes, death - 1925 West Maitlands, parents William & Elizabeth. The only reason I picked up on that because of the location "Maitlands, NSW" is where I have a couple of births there - that's the only connection, do you think that's too much of a long shot?
He wouldn't be in the 1881 census because he would have been in Australia by then.

Then I found a Walter in the 1851 Census with parents William and Elizabeth, siblings Eliza, Joseph, and Mary. What do you think? Is it my guy (great, great grandfather)?

Which 1851 census are you referring to? UK or Aus?

I would be inclined to order that death cert if you are pretty sure its your Walter. It may give more clues as to age. It should name his spouse too so would help prove.

I was just working on your thoughts that he may have hailed from the UK and the one I was looking at appeared the most likely but I dont have access to shipping records to see if he did make the journey to oz, which would explain why I cant see him on 1881 UK.

This Walter though would not be on the 1851 census as not born til 1853 so another potential Walter?

Jodie can I suggest that you change your heading to show:

Walter B Wood - NSW Australia

There are some people on here who are able to look through oz electoral rolls, census etc that are way more experienced than I and would probably sort you out in no time.

Good Luck!
Vanessa

I don't think this is our Walter (the one who died in 1925 in Maitland). I just looked up cemetary records in Maitland and found:
"WOOD,WALTER,72,08/05/1925,,CONG,East Maitland,HS,1,19,burial,,,Catherine MacPherson Wood Died 14th March 1950 Aged 80 years Walter Wood Died 8th May 1925 Aged 72 years,,,,"
I don't know who Catherine MacPherson Wood is - unless that is a second wife.

Vanessa - 1851 UK census

So we need to disregard the information we have then as that death was driving the theory of parents William & Elizabeth.

You need someone then who can do electoral roll/census look ups to try and trace backwards from what you know to be accurate.

With the electrol roll it's hard to determine correct Walter, because his son was also named Walter.