View Full Version : Don't know where to start
Kayenne
19-11-2005, 11:30 AM
Hi :)
Please bear with me - although I have a British passport and surname, I didn't grow up in the UK and know very little about how things work.
I want to trace my British ancestors and I have very little to go on. I have my father's name & date of birth and my grandparents names (although not my gran's maiden name) and my gran's date of birth. I don't know whether they were born in Cornwall or whether they relocated there from somewhere else. Tricky, eh?
Any help, guidance, 'shoving in the right direction' etc will be much appreciated! Thanks!
Kristina
Nadine
19-11-2005, 11:47 AM
Try these websites
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
They will kick start your search!!
SarahK
19-11-2005, 11:49 AM
If you get a copy of your father's birth certificate that will give you your grandmother's maiden name. If you have your grandparents details (although you will need your grandmother's maiden name) you could search for their marriage certificate, depending on dates there is the freeBMD search engine (you can find it here (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl))
Kayenne
19-11-2005, 12:26 PM
Thanks! So far I can't even find myself or my brother! :unsure: This stuff is tricky enough here in Denmark - I guess I'll grow my first grey hair over the English part of my family!. :)
It is easier to trace people to start with on the net if they would have been in the 1901 census. So, probably try searching the 1901 census for Cornwall for your grandparents - checking that your grandma & grandfather's names were in the same household (if you were luck) - (and your father if he was born before 1901). That would give you approx ages and places of birth for them along with anyone else living in the house at the time. Then try the 1891 census for the same info checking the place & ages correspond. You pick up clues this way to where they were & who they lived with. Hopefully from this you can at least get details of your grandfather's birth certificate and an idea of which decade they were married in. You can close the gap down a little by considering the years of birth of the children etc. You may be lucky and find your grandmother's relatives living with her and hence her maiden name!!
It's much more difficult to find details of living people as the census is only released after 100 years!
Lucille
20-11-2005, 11:24 AM
If you would like to PM me I will talk you through getting started and I will check out the 1901 Census for you.
Kayenne
20-11-2005, 01:01 PM
Hi Lucille
Thanks that would be really great - except....I can't PM you until I have 10 posts I believe?
Lucille
20-11-2005, 01:50 PM
OK here is my email address l.hambling@ntlworld.com
Kayenne
17-12-2005, 10:58 AM
Oh boy - I don't think I'm going to have any luck with this search. The only one who could have told me anything is too senile to remember anything. :(
All I know is this:
Florence Margaret Hall nee Squire
Born in Camberwell, London on 25 January 1919
Her mother's name was Sarah and she doesn't remember her maiden name. She only knows that her father died very young from mustard gas poisoning in World War One. No name, but he's believed to be from Cornwall.
Frank Douglas Kellow Hall
Born 04 February 1919 possibly in Tavistock, Devon.
It seems that most of his family were known by nicknames, making it virtually impossible to trace them. He had a brother Charles and we presume that Kellow was his mum's maiden name.
That's it.....I'm so bummed..... :(
Can anyone help at all based on the little info I have??
Kristina have you done any searches on the 1901 census for Hall & Kellow in the same area?
Or searched the records for Hall in the WW1 records available?
Kayenne
17-12-2005, 12:42 PM
Kristina have you done any searches on the 1901 census for Hall & Kellow in the same area?
Or searched the records for Hall in the WW1 records available?
Erhm.....where would I find those WWI records? Thanks! :)
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx - try here. There's a sticky at the top of this forum for lots of other links. Just did a wuick search on Hall for WW1 & got over 3000 matches. May not be so helpful but have a go.
OOps! you'd be looking up squire in the WW1 records!
Sorry this is bitty, but as I'm thinking it through, he can't have died much before 9 months before her birth - so eg died after April?1918 He may have also joined a local regiment eg Devonshire regiment. If you click on their name it gives you more info including sometimes their parents & what town they were from.
I've done a look up on www.1837online.comfor Florence Squire and Frank Hall, gives you the mother's maiden surname and the GRO ref so you can order the birth certificates if you want (would give you father's name). Let me know if you want the info, not sure whether I'm allowed to post it on here.
There's also a couple of possible marriages for the parents on FreeBMD, March 1910 for Hall/Kellow and September 1908 fo Squire/Talliss
Wow Well done Jab!! I'd forgotten about the bmd indexes!
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 09:09 AM
Sorry this is bitty, but as I'm thinking it through, he can't have died much before 9 months before her birth - so eg died after April?1918 He may have also joined a local regiment eg Devonshire regiment. If you click on their name it gives you more info including sometimes their parents & what town they were from.
Thanks so much for your help with this. He was in Cornwall when he died (which has lead the family to believe that Cornwall was where he was from originally) so he's not a casualty of war as in died in combat. My father's family has not been very good at taking (or keeping - my Gran tossed a whole bunch of old photos when she moved into the nursing home :o ) photographs, writing information down, etc. My mum's family is much easier - I've traced back to my great-grandparents' parents and even my greatgranddad's grandparents.
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 09:12 AM
I've done a look up on www.1837online.comfor Florence Squire and Frank Hall, gives you the mother's maiden surname and the GRO ref so you can order the birth certificates if you want (would give you father's name). Let me know if you want the info, not sure whether I'm allowed to post it on here.
There's also a couple of possible marriages for the parents on FreeBMD, March 1910 for Hall/Kellow and September 1908 fo Squire/Talliss
Yeah! :D That sounds fantastic! I'd love the info. The magic 10 has been achieved. Yeah! Thank you so much! :)
Kristina the deaths ARE casualties of war.
Keep nattering on here - you only need another 3 post to get your PMs:D
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 09:50 AM
Kristina the deaths ARE casualties of war.
Keep nattering on here - you only need another 3 post to get your PMs:D
Yeah yeah yeah :P well...you know...he didn't die on the battlefield :rolleyes: So....one down two more to go until I can PM......
:lol: My great great grandfather died on the batlefield - 3 weeks into his war from shrapnel to his left buttock!:blink::blink: Now that is enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes!
Kayenne - Will send info later as I'm at work. Is that all right with you?
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 11:33 AM
:lol: My great great grandfather died on the batlefield - 3 weeks into his war from shrapnel to his left buttock!:blink::blink: Now that is enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes!
Oh what a way to go......now there's a scrappage for you..... :D
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 11:34 AM
Kayenne - Will send info later as I'm at work. Is that all right with you?
That's perfect. I'm so excited. Thanks again! :)
Kayenne
20-12-2005, 10:25 PM
Have PM'd you the info.
Thank you very much!! You've been a great help! :)
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