Margaret (Maggie) Keopke/Keopky

[WexDor]

I am trying to trace some information on the Keopke family line - Margaret married William Keopke in Swansea in 1920.....William died in 1929 and I can find no trace of Margaret after this date.  I wonder whether she went to Germany where William's family were descended from...

Any information would be appreciated 

[garstonite]

I couldn`t find any records at all  for William Keopke/Keopky on freebmd ??
could you please post Margarets maiden name so we can find the marriage and research from that point ...thanks

[Manchester Rambler]

William KOEPKY m. Margaret E A JENKINS, Mar Q 1920.  (Swansea 11a 1870)

[garstonite]

AH -KOEPKE ...on record...is this the correct spelling ?
dec qtr 1929 aged 69   William Koepke  Swansea 11a 1016

so if he married Margaret in 1920 - he was 60 when he married ....found this
TWO records in 1894 -
sep 1894    Wilhelm Koepke
sep 1894    Wilhelm Koeper ...his  bride was either Mary Ann Mainwaring / Mary Powell...Swansea

it`s looking like Mary Ann Mainwaring   
birth dec 1895 William Koepke   Swansea  11a 934
birth dec  1897 Mary Ann E G Koepke  Swansea   11a 981
death sep 1898 Mary Ann E G Koepke   aged 0  Swansea  11a  483
birth sep 1903 Mary Ann Koepke    Swansea 11a   1109
death sep 1903 Mary Ann Koepke   aged 0      Swansea   11a 478

so it looks like the spelling was Koepke ....on most records
1920 marriage is spelt different
mar qtr 1920   William Koepky to ?? Jenkins   Swansea    11a[68]70
when clicked on it says the spouse  first name is unknown ....if she is your direct family - you can contact freebmd and inform them her name was Margaret ....
so - I can`t find ANY children for William and Margaret in any of those 4 surnames ...
Koepke/Koepky/Keopke/Keopky ......if they had children they may well have changed their surname to a more Anglicised name - for 5 years previous we had been fighting the Germans and ove 1 million British soldiers were killed ...so a German surname would not be welcomed anywhere ...WILHELM KOEPKE probably kept his surname re his burial in in 1929 ...aged 69
I think the William Koepke who married Margaret Jenkins in 1920 was the son and he is NOT the 1929 death...
my money is on a name change for William Jnr and Margaret just after WW1...I would appreciate any other members points of view on this Thread ...??


Thanks Rambler ...just seen your post as I was about to post ...2 fingered typist me - dead slow ...lol

[garstonite]

Rambler - can you educate me please ?
www.freebmd.org.uk  1920 marriage
your record states    JENKINS Margaret E A    Swansea  11a 1870
my record states      JENKINS                        Swansea  11a 1[68]70   
can you explain that to me please ??...why have we got different records and I have no christian name or middle initials ....first time I have seen this ...confused ....

[Manchester Rambler]

Whoever transcribed the KOEPKE marriage entry for FreeBMD was unable to read the full reference number (as shown by the figures in brackets), so clicking on the reference number doesn't bring up the spouse's full name automatically.  However, as the entry shows that the spouse's maiden name was JENKINS, I searched for all JENKINS marriages in Swansea in that quarter, and that produced Margaret's entry, showing her spouse as KOEPKE.

(For pre-1911 marriages where the spouse's surname isn't shown, you can do a similar search leaving the name blank, although there are obviously a lot more possibilities to plough through!)

Rambler

[garstonite]

Thanks Rambler - why didn`t I think of that - going back and putting the Jenkins surname in ...still learning ...lol
cheers
allan

[WexDor]

Thank you all for your input to this conundrum.....I think that that garstonite may well have the clue to the answer - William and Margaret must have changed their surname in view of the political situation at the time.  Now I have to try and discover their new name.....there were no children of the marriage as far as I am aware - William had a green grocery business throughout this time and it was, indeed, William who died in 1929 leaving Margaret a widow.  So, searching continues....

[Forfarian]

See http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=768863.0