Family of James Berner?

[Sheila Whittingham]

I am trying to piece together holes in my family tree, and would like to find anyone who can fill in gaps.
My Great uncle James Berner was born in Liverpool in 1889,I have cert. and adopted at birth by James and Elizabeth Berner.Young James was a shipping clerk in his early days,and a clerk in the army during WW1. In 1920 he marries Caroline Cornish in Liverpool,I have cert. and no trace of him until he applies to join civil service in 1937.I have no other information on James ie children etc, other than he possibly died in the London area (Greenwich) in 1956.
If you are related I would love any help you can give regarding his later life..I have James's birth mother's family tree back to the 1500's.She was my great grandmother.
Many thanks.

[suzard]

Do you know if James and Caroline divorced?

There is a marriage reg  Dec qtr 1929 Stepney Caroline Berner Frederick G Smith

and this marriage reg Dec qtr 1930 Stepney James Berner Emma R Wilson

a death reg
Emma Rebecca Berner born 21 jan 1909 death reg Dec 1979 age 70 Stepney

do you know when Caroline Cornish was born?

Also on James' military records he gives next of kin as Mr M Pye or Dye (friend)

May help in the search

Suz

[Sheila Whittingham]

Many thanks,I don't know if they were divorced I'm afraid.I have just sent for a death cert. that may be James in Greenwich in 1956,that may shed some light on his marital status,or who the informant was.Caroline Cornish states her age as 23 when they married in 1920, but I think she was born in 1900 which would have made her 20.Mr Pye was a witness at their wedding, and James probably had him as next of kin on his war record,as his adoptive father was a merchant seaman and may have been out of the country, although I have a feeling there was no love lost between father and son as James does not list James snr. on his marriage cert.it is left blank.James knew he was adopted,as on his war record when asked to name parents he just writes adopted.
I will plough on and thankyou again.I will let you know if I have the correct death cert. due next week. 

[garstonite]

Was your great Uncle James Berner born with the Berner surname - or was it changed to Berner because James and Elizabeths surname was Berner ??

[Sheila Whittingham]

Baptised James Berner Stortz, my grandmother was Ida Stortz, a single mum and domestic servant  at the time who gave birth to James in a Church home for "Fallen women" and the adoption was probably arranged even before James birth,and she had no choice but to give him up.On the 1891 census he is listed as James Berner Shultz (mistake) adopted son, but later the Stortz was dropped.He knew he was adopted, and states the fact when he enlists in the army in 1915.My lack of info. mainly starts after his marriage in Liverpool, when at some point he may have moved to the greater London area.None of my family even knew he existed, this has all come about through my family research into the Stortz side.
Many thanks  Sheila.

[garstonite]

Although the marriage was in Liverpool in 1920- there is no birth in Liverpool for Caroline A Cornish .Do you know where Caroline A Cornish was born ?
I presume you have this ?
Baptism: 14 Jul 1889 St Thomas, Seaforth, Lancashire, England
James Berner Stortz - [Child] of Ida Stortz
    Born: 13 Jun
    Abode: The Welcome
    Baptised by: F. Howell Tucker
so - did the family stay in Seaforth area until after WW1 ?...or was the baptism only in Seaforth because the home "The Welcome " was in Seaforth ??
was "Ida " actually Isabella ??
Baptism: 18 Nov 1859 St Peter, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Isabella Christina Stortz - [Child] of Philip Christian Stortz & Isabella
    Born: 27 Apr 1859
    Abode: Bold St.
    Occupation: Photographer
if so - as a photographer for a father , I would have thought she wasn`t a "fallen woman"...probably bullied by her employer...

[garstonite]

forget that Isabella Christina Stortz - she died aged 7 in Birkenhead - poor mite
added
Ida is in Chorlton upon Medlock in 1881 census - b 1862 - aged 19 - b Liverpool as a Domestic Servant and she was 27 when James was born in June 1889 - and then she married mar qtr 1890 in Rochdale...so around 6 to  8 months after the birth of James - is it possible the man she married was the father of James ?

[suzard]

If James Berner did have a 2nd marriage to Emma Rebecca Wilson in 1930 -then 2 sons followed  James Charles in 1932 -married 1955 died 1984
James Emma and Joseph & james Charles appear together on electoral rolls

Please let us know who informant was on death cert

Suz

[Sheila Whittingham]

Thankyou 
A lot to digest ..I've been researching the Stortz side of my family for 10 years, and Isabella who died aged 7 is Ida's older sister who died within 24 hours of her younger sister Maria, both of pneumonia and are buried in Flaybrick cemetary Birkenhead.Ida's father was a German portrait artist and photographer, who photographed many historical people, but went bankrupt after a disasterous fire in 1863 and seemed to be dodging creditors in Liverpool and Manchester.Around 1870 he left the family home and his wife and youngest son went back to her native Belgium, but Ida stayed in Lancashire, and after a very upper middle class life was probably left to fend for herself.Four of Ida's siblings died before the age of 10- two of Merasmus,which I think is a form of starvation.Ida also had another illigitimate child Beatrice in 1884, w,who died as a baby,death cert. states Ida was housekeeper in a normal terraced house in Manchester.The man she married in 1890 was my Great Grandfather William Cowdrey a widower with 5 children.They went on to have 7 children of their own.I'm afraid I don't know if William was James birth father,I have often wondered that myself. I don't suppose we shall ever know.Caroline Cornish was the daughter of a farmer Alfred Charles Cornish from Oxfordshire, and she married James in West Derby registry office Liverpool so were certainly there in 1920.James adoptive father dies there aged 91 in 1947,and a local newspaper is looking for claimants to his will.
I will see what the death cert. has to say, and let you know.
Many thanks
Sheila.