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Hello,

Yesterday I visited my great-aunt who told me her dad had a younger brother who 'went to America and no one knows what happened to him'. So I thought I would see if I can find something. Here's what I do know:

William Baxter was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1903 to David Baxter and Margaret McLeod (m.s. Thomson). He emigrated to New York in 1926, sailing from Glasgow on 6th November.

He married Mary Collins (m.s. Low, born 1905 in Dundee, Scotland) in 1928. Mary had a son, Douglas Archibald Collins b.1927 from her first marriage to Harry Collins. Mary arrived in New York in 1923, along with her mother, step-father and siblings.

On the 1930 Census, William, Mary and Douglas are living in Bloomfield, Essex, New Jersey. Next door were her mother, step-father and family.

On the 1940 Census, Mary is living with her mother and step-father, along with her son Douglas and daughter, Betty Baxter (aged 7). Her marital status is 'Divorced'.

She applied for naturalization in 1941. Her application states that her husband's name is William, he is not naturalized, and his residence is unknown. It also says she has another daughter, Wilma Baxter, born in 1933.

So William and Mary would have separated at some point between 1933 and 1940. I cannot find William on the 1940 Census and I cannot find a record of his death. I also cannot find any military records or outgoing passenger lists that might match William. He doesn't seem to have applied for naturalization.

So can anyone help me find out what happened to William? I would like to be able to tell my aunt who is the last surviving member of the family.

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

Can anyone estimate the date of this old army photo please? I think it is of either my great-grandfather (1897-1968) or his father (1871-1898) -bottom row, second from the left. They looked really alike so I cannot tell and a date would help a lot. I thought someone might be able to tell the date from the uniforms or the guns?

Thanks for looking!

Thanks both, it is good to know that it is her as I have wondered for a while if there were any photos of her.

I case anyone is interested, here is a picture of the boys of the family, the older brothers of the girls in the first picture. I think this was taken before the girls were born, probably about 1933. My Grandad (1929-2011) is on the left. Sadly his brother Ronnie died in Belgium in January 1945, aged 20.

This is one of only 3 photos I have of my Grandad as a child and as far as I know, there are no photos of all 4 siblings together.

Hello,

I am fairly sure this is a picture of my Great-Grandfather James Casey, but would be grateful if someone might be able to give an approximate date? James Casey was born in 1883 and died in 1938.

I know it is terrible quality, and I am not expecting much but would be grateful if someone could have a go at cleaning up the picture a bit.

Many thanks in advance.

No you are correct, but in actuality that simply didn't happen in many instances, I remember reading a piece estimating that up to 15% of Irish BDMs weren't registered in the first couple of decades after 1864, from my own experience I know that registration was far from absolute right through to the early 1900s.

'Had to be' and 'were' are sadly miles apart.
When the pariah registers on NLI site were filmed back in the 50s they did them because so many BMD were never registered, they stopped at c1880 as they though registering BMD should be fully complied with by that, sadly it's proving otherwise.

Thanks both - that's very helpful. Explains why I am struggling to find some Irish records. It makes sense of course, I am not sure what/who I thought would enforce the registration during that period.

I'll keep that in mind for future searches.