RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Other Countries => Topic started by: jmp on Thursday 26 November 09 01:35 GMT (UK)
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Is there anywhere I can find information on a marriage and subsequent birth dates in Ceylon in the early 1900's please?
I am looking for a marriage between Stanley Frederick Pearce and Evelyn Maud Tippet on the 7 Nov 1908. I cannot find the marriage in England, but Stanley was a baptist missionary in Colombo and Matale at the time and it may be that they married there.
I am also looking for records for the births of their children who were born in Matale between 1913 and 1922 and how to get access to baptism records
Does anyone also know any websites which deal with the baptist missionary during this period which may also help
Many thanks for any information
JMP ;D
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Hi JMP,
Did you learn anything more on this subject? I too am looking for information on a marriage in Ceylon, in 1900.
Kim Pearce
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No sorry Kim still a blank on that one I'm afraid
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Let me know if you get any leads and I will do likewise.
Too bad it is not my "Pearce" side of the family that has the connection to Ceylon. We might have been able to compare notes on the subject. Our Pearces are rooted in Dover, Kent.
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Hi Kim and JMP
I too am looking for Ceylonese records but the records I am looking for are from the first half of the 19th century i.e. 1800-1850. I'm not having much luck either. If you do find anything can you please post a message here and I will do likewise if I find anything.
Maybe someone will have a solution for us!
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I hope someone will be able to help us. I have found some vague references to the possibility that 2 of my greatgrandmother's sisters had married the same man (how deliciously scandalous!). This would have been illegal in the UK at that time so I'm most interested in finding out more.
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Don't you just love these little scandals you find when researching family history! No one ever talks about them and you're left to go digging hoping you can find the "truth".
So were both sisters married to this man at the same time? ie the man was not widowed or divorced when he married the second sister.
I've just found out my g-g-grandparents were in Ceylon and had children there. I have never been able to find a marriage record for them in the UK so I'm hoping they married in Ceylon. They were Roman Catholic so I'm presuming there was no scandal involved and they were actually married. Just one thing that worries me is that my g-g-grandmother's death is recorded under her maiden name so there is always the possibility that they were not married.
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I love it when I find a scandal or a mystery or hear of a family rumour. Reignites my interest in finding the truth.
To make a short story long, I have photo from a family plot in a cemetery in Wales that had a grandchild in the same plot as several other family members. The grandchild was born in Poona and, based on her last name, was the child of one of my greatgrandmother's sisters. I believe we have found a reference to 2 marriages for the child's father. One to her mother and another to her sister, which appears to have taken place, overseas, after the death of sister #1.
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Hopefully the records still exist! There has been a lot of civil unrest in Sri Lanka
lets hope the records have not been attacked. But that's just being negative.
I have German ancestors and I've managed to track down a bit of info about them with the help of Google translate but not sure how I'd go using Google translate for Ceylon.
I agree - it is the scandals that fire up the interest again.
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I wish I had a time machine and could go back about 25 years. My boss, back then, was from Sri Lanka. Perhaps he could have turned me in the right direction.
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I had a similar thought - "Who do I know who is Sri Lankan?". I cannot think of anyone I currently know.
Never mind, where there's a will there's a way.
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Hi,
I wrote to the British Library hoping they'd have the Ceylon/Sri Lanka BMDs and I got a nice reply telling me they are all kept at the following address in Sri Lanka and not on-line:-
Registrar General's Office, New Secretariat, Maligawatta, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka
Hope this is of help.
Hollyd
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Hello JMP, I happened to stumble across your post dated 26th November 2009, regarding Stanley Frederick Pearce and Evelyn Maud Tippet. I am rather curious, as these two people may be my great grandparents. My grandmother, Lynley Pearce (later married Geoffrey Duckworth) was born in Ceylon on 23rd March 1922 whilst her father Stanley was a missionary there. My grandmother was the youngest of four children, one of which sadly died at sea. I am aware that Stanley re married twice following the death of Evelyn and his second wife.
Did you ever find out what you were looking for. And if I may, what is your connection or purpose for the enquiry as I am intrigued to know.
I look out for your reply to my post with interest.
Kind regards
Rob Duckworth
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HI
I'll tell you a tale my ex-next door neighbour told me years ago. the situation probably hasn't changed much since then (this was probably 1980s)
He has Sri-Lankan ancestry, I'm fairly certain not indigenous but probably British who lived there.
He was unable to find out anything long distance, so decided that one annual leave he would go there (from Australia).
He fronted up to wherever the records were kept and told them what he was looking for.
They had nothing indexed, it was all in large bound books about the size, I believe, of the big books the UK Reg.General's records are kept in. He was shown into a 'building' which was essentially concrete floors with concrete pillars supporting the next floor, etc, and no walls. [This is a fairly standard type of building for residential purposes in very hot and humid climates - to allow any wayward breezes in.] There was nothing to protect the books from rain etc. so many of them were quite mouldy.
The books were strewn all over the floor, not on shelves, and he was invited to look through them himself!
And yes he did find what he was looking for.
But he said it was a 'real education'
Sorry for the bad news
Dawn M
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Hello Rob ;D
Welcome to Rootschat. I am going to send you a personal message with my details on. You should recieve this very shortly. Let me know if you dont
Cheers
Jackie ;D
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Hi jackie, I received your email and have replied. Thank you
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Hi all, especially Rob!
I have read this post with interest as it seems to describe my relatives also. My grandfather was Derrington Stanley Pearce, son of Reverend Stanley Pearce. He was born in Sri Lanka and had a sister called Lynley who married Geoff Duckworth. I guess that makes us second cousins Rob! Not sure is I can add much to the locating of information from Sri Lanka, but I can probably fill in some blanks with some photos we have. Stanley married 3 times (Evelyn & Dorris are two names I know).
Regards
Simeon
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Hello Simeon and welcome to Rootschat.
Rob hasn't been online at RC since last June, so I sent him a PM in case he doesn't have notification turned on. Let's hope he gets it OK>
Once you have three posts up on the boards, you can send him a PM (personal email) yourself if you want. Just click on the little square under his name to get to his profile, then underneath it you click on 'send this person a personal message' (something like that, it says).
Cheers
Dawn M
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Hi Dawn, thank you for the message. it was very kind of you.
Hi Simeon, thank you for contacting me, it's great to hear from you. How did you come across my post....have you been speaking to Jackie?
I came across this website by chance shortly after my grandfather passed away in May, and was amazed to have seen Jackie's post. We subsequently made contact with one another and she kindly forwarded me a family tree she has put together. It's amazing how large our family is! It's a shame I hadn't found this website earlier, as I am sure my grandparents would have been interested to learn about Jackie compiling a family tree. Nan spoke fondly of her childhood in Ceylon and both she and Grandad often spoke about the extended family, so both would certainly have been a useful source for information for Jackie when putting the family tree together.
I met your grandfather on several occasions, the last time being at my grandparent’s diamond wedding anniversary some 7 years ago, he was a lovely man. It doesn't seem that long ago either, so it was sad to hear of his passing a couple of years ago.
I don't know if you have met my father Robert, I spoke to him today and he couldn't recall meeting you before but he asked me to say hello for him. I also spoke to Patricia (my aunt) about you contacting me, and she said that she met you at Derrington's funeral. She too said to say hello.
Are you likely to be using his website again? I haven't used it much, but do find it very interesting and the people on here are friendly, helpful (as shown by Dawn) and informative.
Thanks again for making contact with me. I t will be nice to hear from you again.
Rob
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Hi Rob, I see that Simeon has not been back on the board since posting that message, but I have sent him a personal message pointing him towards your reply. Now you have posted 3 times you can also send him a personal message by clicking on his name on the left and then going to the bottom of the page where it says "Send this RootsChatter a personal message". At the moment though because he hasnt posted 3 times he wont be able to send one back to you but if you send him your email address via this method he should recieve it.
I do hope your family are well and have had a good Christmas and may I wish you a very Happy New Year
Best wishes
Jackie :)
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I recently found Tombstones and Monuments on line. This may be of some help to folk searching for information in Ceylon.
Mackiwi
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I have just found this site and it looks like you can obtain certified copies of bith, marriage & death certs from it.
When you bring up the request form it appears to be a rather bad photocopy of a form, which struck me as strange being that this is a supposed official government site.
It also talks about sending payment in the form of stamps. But as far as i have read i cant make out what type of stamps (sri Lankan postage stamps ??) When I converted the sri lankan costs to GBP it was working out less than a £1 per copy (unless I have got it totally wrong)
There is also a phone number to contact but I dont know what the costs would be to use it.
Hopefully this is a genuine government site and fingers crossed that it is easy to use.
http://www.rgd.gov.lk
Cheers Steven
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Thank you Steven, I have emailed Fazli to find out more about that site.
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Lets hope its good news :)