General Chat

Well, I did a search for my gran - and they have her surname wrong :-0

They have my Cornish gran. Hilariously, they have her under her maiden name, but she has the name of the (married with 5 kids) man she told us all was my dad's dad in brackets next to it!!
Obviously known by two names.

Dont forget many many people lived in rooms so finding a relative + 7 others wont always be family. :-D.

more so in cities.

Kay ............

I know the free search only shows the year of birth, but for many purposes that is all you need, and certainly not worth paying the fantastic amount extra over and above the subscription rate to get the full information

It's not as if WW subscribers are getting access included in their sub.

They should have had joe public on the waggon to work out a fair pricing that would suit most low,,ish incomes.

Its of little use to me anyway.......

Maggie my dad's auntie is listed under her married name with maiden name in brackets. She was only 10 in 1939

Gosh, Claire, that's very presumptuous.
Makes you wonder how the mistake was made :-S

It's not a mistake, the registers were updated right up to the 1990s, so when she married her name was amended.

I would say your granny was known by her bracketed name but later reverted to her maiden name.

Granny eventually married in 1942 - just so my dad could have a 'father's name' on his birth certificate, so he could join the Services.
According to the adoption certificate, gran was living in Cornwall, her husband was in Devon. He didn't sign the certificate - Gran did it on his behalf!!!

When the person by whose surname she was known (before the marriage to the other man - handily his best mate) was killed in WWII - granny went to claim her widows pension - but was refused.
This man was a friend of her father, was 30 years older than her, was married with 5 children - who she must have known about - what was she thinking!!!

I have been in contact with this mans family, and have suggested a DNA test - just out of interest - but they (unsurprisingly) weren't interested!!

Also, dad was known by a variety of names as a child. Gran would send him to a public school, then, when the final demand came for the fees, he was removed, and sent to another public school under another name!

I paid £6-95 for something I already knew,age ,name where living which I got from electrol roll,won't be doing it again very disappionted :-(

That is very disappointing Lilybids.
Then there's the fact that many people moved during the war.

I know my gran, mum and her siblings were evacuated, first to someone's house in Bournemouth, then to the New Forest, when their house in Southampton was bombed. I also knew the Southampton house was repaired and rented out to someone else! (demolished after the war)
Grandad, however worked in the Docks, so had to stay in Southampton, and lived with his mother in law!!

Great Uncle who i was looking for disappeared during the war never to be seen again

It was a good time to disappear and change identity :-(

I won't be paying for info I mostly have.

Andy

On September 1st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, putting the wheels in motion for Britain to declare war on the 3rd. On September 5th, the National Registration Act received royal assent and Registrar General Sir Sylvanus Vivian announced that National Registration Day would be September 29th.

I have tried using names, addresses, DOB/no DOB and have not found anyone much.

I have found the family of a school friend!! and one great aunt, but no parents, grandparents or other relatives, nor anyone for OH. :-( :-( :-(

Certainly nothing worth paying a fortune for. :-(

Well, I'm finding the free search quite useful. Its not always possible to work out when or where a spouse was born if they married after 1911.

Using the 1939 register, there's a reasonable chance of picking up their year of birth which 'might' lead to other references.

well im temped to pay for one record that i think is of my nan and granpops
to see if it has her date of birth as there dont seem to be any bith records of her
and she was born 1892 all though her death cert give her birth of 13th feb
and marrige cert she is down as full age

see just my luck i new i would have to pay and open the record
and gess what she is closed why i dont no when her son born 1919 and died 1988
is open and my nan died 1978

i think probably because they can not comfurm her birth
i have a deth cert for her so maybe ill send them a copy and maybe thay will open it for me

I couldn't help myself and forked out for one household and YAY!!!!! A brick wall has tumbled down with a resounding crash. There he was, my Great Grandfather the elusive one. His birthdate has been a boon and now I have traced him and my Grandmother. They could have been any of the millions of Williams out there but this one unlocking of a door is the proof I needed to enable me to go back much further.....Took me over 30 years to get the right one, so you could say I am well chuffed! :-D

That's good news Susan :-)