Genealogy Chat

Thank you to all for your suggestions, I am certainly going to try Anthony Adolphus. I would have preferred finding John myself but live in Nottingham which is a long way from Sussex record centres. I am going down to Sussex next week for 4 days and hope to dig up something then. My brother and sister-in-law have thrown a small spanner in the works by having their first baby 4 weeks early at 4am this morning, Alicia weighed 3lbs 15 ozs and will be in hospital all next week so one of my days will be taken up by going to East surrey hospital to see her. I hope you all trace your elusive relatives, happy hunting!....................Pam

Pam, I have had the same problem with finding the birth of a Great Grandmother. Her birth does not appear on the fiches in the local Family History Search Room, or on 18310nline, or freebmd. She does appear, however, on the Lancashirebmd. It might be worth while writing to the local Register Office for Brighton and explaining the situation. If you enclose a cheque for £7 and a stamped addressed envelope they will send you the certificate if they find it or if not, return the cheque. Mistakes and ommissions are not uncommon where bmd certificate registrations are concerned. Rosemary(Essex)

Hi Pam Just a suggestion although I am pretty new to this and you've probably thought of this already. I just found my great grandad's birth after searching for ages. I had his marriage when he is a George Smith in 1907. He was 26 then so I was looking around 1881 for birth. I eventually found his birth listed under mother's maiden name and no father mentioned. He is also on the 1881 census under his mother's maiden name. He was illegitimate at birth and parents never married so I wonder why he changed his last name. I just thought that this was maybe why your ancestor has disappeared too. Goo luck Lynne

Pam, Frustrating though it is, in the big scale of things an 8 month search is not so long, and I would still be wanting to find him for myself, if it were me. I have still not found the birth, - or baptism for my great grandfather after searching, on and off for over 7 years...... In your case, I would look again at the 1871 census family, do any of the family match witness names at John's wedding? Are there any wills for either John's family or the 1871 family which may link them. Where was that family in 1881? Was John a witness at any of their family marriages?..... Lewes Record Office hold some records for Brighton, but maybe they are duplicated in Brighton. I believe Brighton library has a copy of GRO index... Good hunting, don't give up yet!

Hello Pam, I had done the very basics on my tree, & decided to engage Anthony Adolph to carry on, so far he has negotiated some very difficult searching, even I imagine for a proffessional, so I am sure I would have had massive difficulties dealing with research as a total beginner, I find that his charges are very reasonable, so I suggest you approach him on the basis of a set amount for just your problem area ? At present one of my relatives is proving to be most reluctant to show himself, this is understandable as he was a pretty bad guy in the family responsibility department , I am fully confident that Mr Adolph will winkle him out presently. Steve in Chester (U.K.)

Hope this gives some ideas, this is what I have found for my husbands g grandfather Arthur Hinton. 1881 33 born Ingatestone Essex. 1891 not found but could possibly be in the Midlands as someone on GC found a possible Arthur for me born London 1901 born London City. On birth certificates of children his name is Arthur Hinton. Did not find a marriage for Arthur Hinton to Miriam Harwood but I did find one for Arthur Wells to Miriam 1874 in Winchester Arthur Wells is in the Army. Arthur was not with his wife? in 1891 but his sister was so I concentrated on Sophia Hinton born 1840 Leytonstone. Through this I have found our Arthur born Ebenezer Arthur Hinton father Henry Hinton. To make matter worst the Arthur Wells has exactly the same details as Arthur Hinton on the marraige cert. Henry Hinton was an Ironmonger, so was Henry Wells. Not many Ironmongers around then. So it either looks like he changed his name to Wells, or there was a mix up. Most strange when he is back in London in 81 using his right name. Now the question is did he change his name to go in the army as thats were he was when he married Miriam in Winchester. I was looking up dead ends for almost 2/3 years on and off and never though I would find him. Next stop the PRO to see if I can find him on the muster rolls, this will prove whether he changed his name. So don't give up, put it aside for a bit then have another go. It worked for me. Good Luck Irene

Hi Pam, my William Poole married an Emma Ransom Oct.27 1871 at Haverhill St. Mary's Suffolk, also I asked in the live chat twice about done what he suggested but still no joy Margaret

Hi I suspect your man wasn't born in London. My family told amazing porkies about where they were born. One said she was born in Birmingham in 1871 Census, Gibraltar in 1881, Birmingham in 1891 and Waterford, Ireland in 1901. I KNOW she is the same person. I read somewhere (here?) that sometimes people said the earliest place they remembered living as their place of birth ... Good luck in Brighton, I hope the records show what you need to find. Ann

Hello Jeanette, I did intend to ask him on his last visit but my mother-in-law was taken ill and I missed the last session. I hope to catch the next one !!! Pam

Hello Jeanette, I did intend to ask him on his last visit but my mother-in-law was taken ill and I missed the last session. I hope to catch the next one !!! Pam

Pam How about asking Antony Adolph on his next live web chat? On GC Tuesday 20th April at 9pm. Jeanette

Margaret, who did William poole marry? Pam

Pam If all else fails contact Joan Allen at my folks they have had wonderful results as many members on this site can testify too. Margaret Drummond who does the Scotland side of my folks found my husband's family for him. All he had was a birth certificate with his mothers name on (no father) and date & place of birth. He his in his 60's and thought it was an impossible task. So do not give up they are wonderful. If you do go for someone to find your rellies make sure you obtain references. There are a lot of tricksters out there. Good luck Pat

i Pam I am looking for a William Poole going by his marraige cert which states he was 24 in 1871 means he should have been born in 1847 in Haverhill Suffolk thank you Pam, Margaret

Sandra and Margaret, who are you looking for? If you give me details I will add them to a list I keep of lost souls waiting to be claimed by their present day relatives. When searching censuses and records I refer to this list and have had some success in stumbling across missing people. Pam

Sandra and Margaret, who are you looking for? If you give me details I will add them to a list I keep of lost souls waiting to be claimed by their present day relatives. When searching censuses and records I refer to this list and have had some success in stumbling across missing people. Pam

Although both census appearances for John Boon give his birthplace as London ( no other information) I am not convinced that he was born there as all my other ancestors came from Sussex. He married Eliza Granger in Brighton in 1886, Eliza was Brighton-born as was her mother, all their children were born in Brighton and John died in Brighton. My mother is still alive and when I told her that her grandfather may have been born in London, she was surprised as she cannot recall her mother mentioning any London connection. I have been sent a census copy of 1871 which shows a Boon family Living in Carlton Row Brighton with a father and son named John Boon, the father's occupation is given as a painter and the son as aged 11, this information fits nicely with the details on my great grandfather's marriage certificate, aged 26 in march 1886, father John Boon deceased and a coach painter by trade. I could accept the 1871 census Boons as my family if only the place of birth for John junior tallied with the other 2 census but they don't. This leaves me with 3 possibilities: JB was born in London and not registered, he thought he was born in London but was actually born in Brighton or he lied on 2 census about his birthplace. I am going down to Brighton next week and will start to look through local records for Boon births so maybe I will have some luck then. Pam

I have the same problem but even if you searched parish records could you be sure that there is any record. I have my great/grandfathers marriage cert got him on the 1881 census but can't find him on any other census he had died by the 1891 census. I was going to buy the parish records for the area at a cost of £81 but will I find anything Margaret

Although both census appearances for John Boon give his birthplace as London ( no other information) I am not convinced that he was born there as all my other ancestors came from Sussex. He married Eliza Granger in Brighton in 1886, Eliza was Brighton-born as was her mother, all their children were born in Brighton and John died in Brighton. My mother is still alive and when I told her that her grandfather may have been born in London, she was surprised as she cannot recall her mother mentioning any London connection. I have been sent a census copy of 1871 which shows a Boon family Living in Carlton Row Brighton with a father and son named John Boon, the father's occupation is given as a painter and the son as aged 11, this information fits nicely with the details on my great grandfather's marriage certificate, aged 26 in march 1886, father John Boon deceased and a coach painter by trade. I could accept the 1871 census Boons as my family if only the place of birth for John junior tallied with the other 2 census but they don't. This leaves me with 3 possibilities: JB was born in London and not registered, he thought he was born in London but was actually born in Brighton or he lied on 2 census about his birthplace. I am going down to Brighton next week and will start to look through local records for Boon births so maybe I will have some luck then. Pam

Pam, Alot of births in that period weren't registered unfortunately. Do the census records you have give a place/borough in London. Maybe then you could look for a baptism and get him that way. Janice