help needed to return items if possible

[55xtrail55]

Hi there,

I collected a load of car boot items, and among the items was a hand written diary/journal written by a school girl in 1942. I am assuming she may have passed over, but it seems a shame that this was destined for the bin along with other personal items, so I am trying to find out if she has any surviving relatives whom I could return the items to.

This is what I know:

Her name is/was Joan Hodgkinson
She was born on 7th September and was still at school in 1942
Her Father was born on March 7th  and her Mother on October 4th
She had an Aunty Laura and an Aunty Gladdys and uncle George
She lived in 1942 at 33 Woodlands Avenue, Church End, London N3

Very good friends with a brother and sister called Peter & Mary (possibly) Earthing or Farthing..

If anyone can help it would be amazing thank you.

[Treetotal]

Hi and welcome to Rootshat...You might be better posting this on Genes Reunited as we are not allowed to give out names of people who may still be living 
It's a kind offer though.
Carol

[dawnsh]

Hi

I've done a bit of speed genealogy and have quite a lot of background info.

Joan appears on the electoral registers at 53 Woodlands Avenue in 1949 so she would have been 21 by then. She is there with her parents William & Florence Amelia and a sister Patricia.

Working back from this Joan may have been born in 1925 and Patricia in 1927.

Both girls marry but dont appear to have had children.

The surname Joan marries into is quite frequently occuring and without an exact date of birth, it is hard to know what has happened to her. I have her and her husband at an address in 1956 but nothing since. They have most probably moved out of the London area and can't be picked up on the er's which are online until 1965.

I've found Patricia & her husband in the registers until 2004 ish and she may have gone into a nursing home or died since then as her husband carries on at the addrees until 2010ish.

Their mother Florence Amelia died in 1981, her death entry has the date of birth 4 Oct 1890 which ties up with your post. Their father William may have died in the 1970's but the date of birth on the death entry doesn't quite match.

As to the Farthings, I've found Peter and he has siblings but none called Mary. I've found a brother still alive unless he has died really recently and have an address for him.

The trouble with spped genealogy is that you really need to spend some money on certs to back your research up and I can understand why in this case, it would be a possible waste of money.

You need to get your post count up to 3 so that I can carry on this conversation with you off-forum as I have tracked down living people. Whether they were/are familiar with the Hodgkinsons remains to be seen but it is a lead.

Dawn

[Jolee]

There is only one Joan Hodgkinson born in September in the time scale of the oldest age of leaving school in 1942, she was born in July quarter in the Finchley area - Hammersmith district, in 1926 the area where the address is.  You could try the local library they often have electoral lists of people who live there at that time. This girls mothers maiden name was Palmer