Genealogy Chat

Well, I would look for his death first, although of course, he may still be alive..... Perhaps if you can pin down his birth first, that would at least give you an area to search. As it was wartime (as far as you know) it is quite possible that the mother gave birth in another district - expectant mothers were sent to the countryside wherever possible. Sadly, your story is more common than you might think.(If it is indeed true). I have seen a site for transcriptions of deaths in a huge county mental institution. The transcriptions are a labour of love by a man who discovered that his 'dead' baby brother was in fact in an institution until he died at the age of 42. It was the norm in those days for Doctors to tell parents to put a handicapped child into a home and forget about it. Most parents obeyed as they thought the Doctor knew best. OC

Where do i start to search? Have not come across this sort of problem before.What site do i search for homes/insitutes etc...?Could he have been adopted?Thanks.

Donna Yes, if he was handicapped, he would almost certainly have been put in a home, and people would have been told that he had died. Perhaps you need to widen your search for his death....how terribly sad. OC

Not sure what to think .Mum was their only daughter and only had this one brother.Her father was born in 1900 so was about 40 at the time and not in the war.He signed up just before baby born and came home for so called funeral.The baby did have something wrong-maybe handicaped,not sure.All seems a bit odd.My mum was taken to her grans when he was born.Could he have been put in some kind of home or Hospital if he hadn't died?

There is a birth registration in 1946 for a Robert William Wray, in Preston. (Lancsbmd). Otherwise remarkably few births/deaths for Wray - a few for Reay and Ray. OC

Hi, I checked on Cheshire BMD which covers Ashton and nothing under either surnames. Christine

Donna, What do you know about the baby's father? Sounds like it happened during the war so it could be possible he had a different father to your mother. Did your mother have any older sisters? Could he have belonged to them? Rose

I've looked at births from 1939 to 1943 and can't find him. Please don't take offence, but since this was during the war, could the baby have been born whilst his mother's husband was away at war, and the baby given up for adoption rather than died. He could have been registered in his adoptive parent's name. Just thinking out loud really to try to find an explanation of why you can't find his birth. Is your mother sure of the age she was at the time? Memory sometimes plays tricks on us. Kath. x

Hi. I have been searching through birth and death index for my mums baby brother,but can't find it anywhere.He only lived a couple of weeks, so would the birth have been registerd or would his birth be done at the same time as death reg? I thought i would find one or the other.Mums says he really did exist although she was about 4 at the time.He was Joseph William Wray or William Joseph born about 1940 ,Ashton u lyne ,Lancashire. I have even looked under his mothers maiden name of Gilbert,but found nothing.Are my eyes going or what? Thanks Donna