tracing family member who was a nun

[privateuni]

hi guys.. any ideas what would be written on a death cert fora family member who was a nun? ie would it be her name at birth or sister --- ---- ???

i would have thought it would have had both, like those who were known as something else as well as their birth name...

any ideas greatly appreciated!!

[eilo]

Don't know about death certificates but I 've been searching the records of a RC graveyard for my grandfather and lots of priests and nuns are there with the names on the tombstones as sister such and such or mother Superior not the birth name I would have thought a death certificate would be her birth name unless the convent didn't know it

[jqp]

Just had a quick look on Ancestry with sister as the first name....500 came up from 1984 - 2002.....and 43 between 1837 and really 1910...but it does give their date of birth in the latest ones.

If I can help look anything up for you, just PM me

Jacqui

[privateuni]

aww, thanks Jaqui, Her name was Sister Ruth Noel, died 1958 ish birth name elizabeth Booker - well i'm assuming it's elizabeth.. she was always called 'betty' and i cant think of any other names betty could be short for..

and i don't have any DOBs .. :( i'm kind of working backwards!

[eilo]

there's a elizabeth booker died O/N/D/1958 manchester aged 85

[privateuni]

thanks eileen, i found that one too. but i dont think that's her.. that's far too old for her! she was my nan's younger sister, and nan born in 1912.
think i'm going to have to go the census route first and then find BMD..

[new2this]

Do you know to which Community she belonged? Most of the nuns I have known belonged to a school/convent etc but that was part of a larger group i.e. the Franciscan Sisters, Cistercians, etc Their Mother House may well have records.

[privateuni]

well apparently she was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd.. there are seemingly millions of churches with this, or a similar name. But a couple of convents which could be a try. i think i need to quiz my mum a bit more to see if she remembers anything else.

[Jem]

I came across this on the Catholic Family History site...

INDEX OF NUNS
This is an index of approximately 14,000 nuns who were in the English Province of their Order. It is arranged alphabetically by the surname of each nun and usually gives date of birth, names of parents, religious name, dates of profession, date and place of death and name of Order. Request as for the census index above; there is no charge for this.

http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/index.htm

[Jem]

Just found this too, not sure if you'd be able to get hold of a copy...
http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/ancestor.htm

Catholic Ancestor 3:1 (February 1990) Top
How to Trace a Nun - 26

[Jem]

http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/index.htm

this tells you how to get hold of back issues. hth

[privateuni]

wow, jem, thanks! i'll go take a look in minute,..v grateful for your help.

i have done a bit more work, spent ages trawling through the birth registers to find my auntie! turns out she had a different name:D i mananged to find a death record for a betty. M at about the right time, and that set me off thinking that her first name might begin with an M, and it did!
I have the birth and death certs coming now, so that might give me a link to who registered teh death, perhaps someone from her order?

and we have a picture of her as well from my great aunts wedding, and a few memories of her.. apparently she liked dressing up, so loved being a bridesmaid:)

i'll let you know what i find out!

thanks again everyone, i really appreciate your help and interest

[jqp]

Brilliant Kathryn...so what year was she born in? Will help with the death search as will have an age to check it by. What was the M for?