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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: jaxishere on Wednesday 19 October 05 11:56 BST (UK)
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hello
I am very new to this so would be grateful for any help.
I had a letter last week from someone saying they are my cousin. What concerns me is the letter is typed and so is the envelope they did not even sign there name. They did enclose a SAE but that was to a c/o name/ address (which was a man and the person who sent the letter said their name was Debbie and the address was to an engineering firm. I have not made contact as it really concerns me. My cousin from my dads side of the family who still has my maiden name and the same forenames as my dad had a phone call about a month a go from someone asking him if he was my dad , he said no and gave them know more information about knowing me so since then they have found my address. So I know this person is not from my dad’s side of the family.
Also my mom was any only child so it just does not make sense.
This did though start me thinking about tracing my family from my moms side but I am hitting brick walls and because I do not really know much about them or any thing about how to go about looking them up.
My mother died when I was just 13 and I went into care. I had a gran on my mom’s side but she was housebound and unable to look after me, also the shock of my moms death caused her to become ill and eventually she lost her mind and did not know anyone and didn’t know me or that that she had even had a daughter
I have been to the history museum and traced my moms death ref through the records and newspapers (which and am contacting the local register office for the cert. On looking up the births records on the date of birth for my mom’s birthday and her name beryl Joyce smith , The only thing that is coming up is beryl J birth place hitchin ( I was not aware she came from there so not sure if this is her.) It also says her mom’s maiden name was brown.
I have traced my grans death ref, through the records and newspapers but date of birth there only says about 1899. ( I intend to get the death cert to see if it comes up with more. I have looked up births around that time in fact from 1890 to 1900 under the name brown and found nothing.
From the elector register I have traced so far traced my gran back to the 60s at the last address I knew she lived at before she died. I intend to go back to see how long she lived there and if she was there at the time of mom’s birth, which would mean the birth ref that could be my moms would not be her
From the elector register I have traced my granddads name and when he died. But not his birth ,as there are 100s of Joseph smiths and I do not know where he was born.
The odd thing though is on the death ref it has my gran a Beatrice Georgina smith but on the elector register it says Georgina B smith so I have even looked on the records for Georgina but nothing (brick wall) My gran left me money in her will, but I am unable to get a copy of this with out knowing her dob etc
I would be very grateful of any help or advice of what to do
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Do it carefully one step at a time.
If you know the date and place of your grandfather's death find that in the GRO indexes and it should give you his age. Obtaining the certificate may give you a little more.
The next step is to find their marriage and their marriage certificate might confirm their ages and you should have confirmed your grandmothers maiden name in the process. Then move on to birth certifcates. Eventually you will get back to 1901 and you can add census details to your trail. If you get stuck you may need to use brothers and sisters
David
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Hi,
Difficult this isn't it? At first glance I have these comments...
1. Different surnames can come about because of re-marriage
2. Some people assume names that they weren't registered with, or use their middle name as a first name.
3. Tracing the living is more difficult than the usual family history research if you only use the web.
4. Sometimes there are other children in a family that you don't know about, example if someone has a child and the relationship breaks down with no further contact at all. Embarrasment can keep these facts hidden perhaps for ever.
I'm going to read your post again, see if I can come up with anything else.
Hmm, got me thinking anyway...
Mike
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Hi Jaxishere and welcome to Rootschat
I can see we are going to have fun with this one as Smiths and Brown come by the thousands LOL. however once you get a certificate of some kind we will all do our very best to try to find them for you
Happy hunting and good luck
Joe
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Would this birth record fit?
BROWN, Georgina Beatrice 1898 December Births Camberwell (1837-1919)
Volume: 1d Page: 888
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1901 Cencus re Paulines ref for birth
Deptford 1901 cencus
RG13/532-Folio 30-page46
Seldon Rd
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Alexander Brown abt 1888 Deptford, St Paul, son
Georgina Brown abt 1899 Camberwell Daughter
Henrietta Brown abt 1891 Deptford, St Paul dau
John Brown abt 1855 Bermondsey head Bricklayer
John Brown abt 1885 Deptford, St Paul son
Mary M Brown abt 1865 Deptford wife
Percy T Brown abt 1897 Camberwell son
Sydney F Brown abt 1893 Deptford, St Paul, London son
Joe
Joe
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This is the same family in 1891 although John as been transcribed as being born in 1865 the original image says he is 36.
1891 cencus Deptford St Pauls
RG12/499-23
Millers ? Road
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BROWN
John 36 head b Bermondsey Bricklayer
Minnie 34 wife b Willesden
Minnie 9 dau b Bermondsey
Mary A 8 dau b Deptford
John 6 son b "
Alexander 1 son b "
William 1? son b "
Joe
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hello again
thank you all for what you are coming up with
Iwish i had asked all these questions to my mom gran before they had died
I thought and now I relise I shoudnt havethat my family had been born and bread in worcester, which is where I was born and where they lived untill they died
posted by PaulineJ
Would this birth record fit?
BROWN, Georgina Beatrice 1898 December Births Camberwell (1837-1919)
Volume: 1d Page: 888
The name fits and the age is about right as it said about 1899 on death ref. Camberwell I have no idea but it could be. Is that any where near hitchin where the birth ref of my moms (might be birth cert) says she was born
joe
could those list of people be my family?
All I have for my gran is = death ref beatrice georgina smith june1/4 1981 vol 29 page 0708 district worcester
For my mom death ref beryl joyce turnbull december 1/4 1978 vol 29 page 0714
district worcester
and what might be her birth ref december beryl j smith 1/4 1933 vol 39, page 1110, born hitchin, mothers maidan name brown
and grandad death ref joseph smith december 1964, vol 9d, page 261
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Hi Jaxishere
Sounds like a strange letter. If I had one from someone purporting to be a cousin I would expect some explanation as to how we were related at the very least ;D Only thing I can think of is maybe Debbie is a child/teenager and so has the correspondence sent to her father's workplace for vetting !!!! Or else, she's being extra cautious - which could be a family trait!
Don't know what I'd do if I received a letter like that - the fact that they've gone to the trouble of enclosing an s.a.e. and been trying to trace you before by telephone seems like a lot of effort if it's a scam of some sort. Is it possible that your mother/father wasn't an only child? Certain subjects were a lot more sensitive back then - and never discussed even amongst the family. Did Debbie mention anything that would lead you to believe she had a connection with your family? If necessary you could always try looking up the engineering firm in the telephone book to make sure it exists and then phone to see if they have someone of that name working there......
It may be that your as gran's will mentions you, presumably by name and address and/or your parents name and address, another of the beneficiaries has decided to make contact.
What does the rest of your family think?
Regards
Helen
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With regards to the letter you basically have two choices
1. Ignore it ....... the person may persist .... who knows.
2. Respond ..... I would advise that this should be done in very general terms.
eg say that the letter delivered to your fathers address has been passed on to you ...... this should give the impression that you do not live at that address and afford some degree of protection.
Request more information .... e.g why do they think you are related ... if genuine they should have no qualms about providing proof..... you could set up a temporary email address for this ..... this could be disposed of or closed off if you decided not to pursue the matter
PS re your search for your family .... welcome to Rootschat.