RootsChat.Com

Hi all,

I have a photograph of this man as a little lad, probably about three or four years old, taken by A G Petherick in Taunton, Somerset. Further research shows that Charles was born in Taunton in 1896, went to Epsom public school, and served in WW1 in the Coldstream Guards and the RFC. He married Annie Jacklin in the late 1920s - I haven't been able to find any children for them.

Charles' father was Walter Tawell (or Tavell) Colman, a surgeon, and his mother was Minna Braid, who I believe was the daughter of a surgeon. Walter and Minna married in London in 1878.

Does anyone have this family in their tree? I would love to know more about Charles, and am happy to send a scan of the photo to anyone who is interested.

Hi all, I bought a marriage certificate recently for Robert Roe KENNEDY and Martha PARSONS who married in January 1886 at this church. It turned out to be one of the nearly-useless ones with very basic information. Robert was a widower (first wife Mary Ann LEESON d. 1880). I have a fair bit of information on Robert - his parents, marriage in Dublin, arrival in Aus from Ireland, death (result of accident), children etc.

All this cert says about Martha PARSONS is her name, spinster status, occupation domestic, UR Harwood Island. No age, no parents, nothing that can help me identify her after Robert's death in 1893. His death cert lists her as his second wife and does not say she is deceased. There were no children of the marriage. Son William from the first marriage was the informant.

Apparently these brick wall certs can be worked around, other helpful Rootschatters have told me, by going to the original church records. Does anyone know where they would be held? I've tried online searches with no luck. Should I write direct to the church, if it still exists? I'm in Victoria and know very little about the area. I believe Harwood Island was important in the local sugar industry. There quite a few PARSONS BMDs in the Clarence-Ulmarra-Maclean area but I can't link Martha to any of them.

Thank you all!

Hi all,

Richard HAMPTON died on 22 April 1852, drowned in the Shoalhaven River in NSW. John SIMMS was indicted for his murder or manslaughter but the evidence was not sufficient and he was discharged, not guilty. There are reports in several newspapers of the incident and the indictment (June that year).

I would really like to buy a copy of Richard's death certificate because I suspect he belongs in my family tree - there are no other details in newspaper reports of his death, not even his age. BUT there is no death registration for him in NSW - I've searched for every possible variation of HAMPTON in a wide year range and even just for Richard, no surname, registered 1852 or 1853. I know that many life events weren't registered at that time but I would have thought that one that appeared in newspapers, and obviously went through some sort of legal process, would have been registered.

Can anyone shed any light on Richard and/or why there is no death registration?

Thanks lots.

Hi all, after many letters and a long wait (I'm in Australia) I finally have a copy of an ancestor's original USA Social Security application. The handwriting is clear enough to read but my problem is the text underneath - I can't make out all of the fields. For instance, one field has a name in it that I don't recognise, and I don't know whether this is the name of her employer or a next of kin or what, because the printed text is so small and blurred. Some of it I can guess because I already know her parents' names etc., but it would be really useful to know what the other fields are. Ancestry used to have clean versions of census forms etc. so you could decipher what the column headings were on returns, but I haven't been able to find one for an SS application from 1945. Can anyone help? Thanks.