Genealogy Chat

Does anyone have any ideas how I can trace the common-law 'wife' of my deceased uncle. It was only recently that I found out that they were not in fact married and am now not sure my cousin (also deceased) was actually a child of their union or was my 'aunt's ' by a previous marriage. I only have the'aunt's' first name. My uncle died in the late 1970's and sadly there is no family of that generation to refer to.
Living together unmarried was something not talked about in those days by my parents. Any clues would be very welcome.

Her death certificate might be a useful point to start from. I would also obtain your cousin's birth certificate which will have her mother's name on it.

Thank you. I can find my cousin's death in 1982 but have not been able to find her birth - possibly because it is a different surname - though her given name of Cherry is quite unusual. I will send for a copy of the death certificate and go from there. :-)

AS her parents were living together its quite possible th birth will show up in both surnames if her father is on the birth cert Was you cousin married when she died ??

Maybe his "wife" registered his death cert . that would confirm her christian name

If you want some help then give us some names and area.

It should be relatively simple to work out who might have been your cousins mother. As your cousin died in 1982 there should be a date of birth shown both on the certificate and in the death register. Whilst bearing in mind that her date of birth will have been given by whoever registered her death it should give you a reasonable clue to the year and the quarter to search for her birth registration.

Her somewhat unusual forename will make things a bit easier. Once you have established the probable year and quarter search for births of someone called Cherry (Leave surname box empty) at that time. If something shows up, if your cousin was born after 1911 then the birth registration will indicate your cousin's mothers maiden name.

It is worth remembering that parents have 6 weeks after the birth to register it, It is possible therefore that a birth in the latter half of a quarter may not show up until the following quarter.

Thank you for the advice; it gives me something to work on. No doubt if I get stuck I'll be back! :-)

If you know an address where they lived, you could check old electoral lists in a main library or archive local to that address.
That should list all people at that address who were eligible to vote.

Gwyn

Hadn't thought of that, thank you. :-)